Mineola Elementary: Jackson Avenue School

About Jackson Avenue School

System Type: Public School

Grade Levels: 3-4

Enrollment: Approximately 450 students

Location: Long Island, New York (Urban-Suburban)

Overview

Jackson Avenue School is a 3rd and 4th grade campus in Mineola Public Schools District. Students have opportunities to set goals, explore their passions and develop art, music, physical education, coding and STEAM skills along with reading and writing skills. There is a robust curriculum and programs around SEL and growth mindset for the entire district called Mineola Grows! It supports learners in developing self-regulation, communication and problem-solving skills. Students routinely take part in community circles and there is time dedicated in the schedule for students to reflect on their growth through portfolios. In addition, learners keep a Badge Book that helps them track their progress towards grade level expectations in literacy, social studies, science, math, STEAM, art, music, physical education, and library. For dual language learners there is an additional section to the Badge Book that documents progress on Spanish literacy skills. Much of a student’s day is spent in a variety of station rotations that include small group instruction, group work and independent work that supports them in building the skills needed to earn badges as well as have time to reflect on progress and demonstrate skills.

Technology Tools Used for Assessment and Reporting

Students keep track of their badges, aligned with standards, in a physical book.

Educators track student progress towards standards digitally in Empower, which produces a final trimester Report Card.

Outcomes: What is assessed?

Learning outcomes in Mineola are organized into Badges. Each badge has a title and a proficiency scale that represents a progression of specific learning goals, clarifying what learners must know and be able to do to earn the badge and thus demonstrate mastery of the grade level standard. The Badges are aligned to NYS Anchor Standards and may represent 1-4 standards together as a badge.

For example, the 3rd grade badge pictured below, “Central Idea” incorporates the following New York state standards in ELA:

3R1: Develop and answer questions to locate relevant and specific details in a text to support an answer or inference
3R2: Determine a theme or central idea of text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize portions of a text
3R5: In literary texts, identify parts of stories, dramas and poems using terms such as chapter, scene and stanza

Reference: NYS Next Generation ELA Anchor Standards

3rd Grade Badge Book, full example here

4th grade Math Badge

Each badge in the Badge Book defines what learners must do to earn the badge and demonstrate progress along the way. A student earns the badge when they can demonstrate evidence of applying the knowledge and skills. You can review all of Mineola’s Badge Books, grades Pre-K through 4 here.

Levels of Proficiency: How is Progress Marked?

A 4-level proficiency scale, with half points, is used to demonstrate student’s progress towards the standards and on earning badges.

The 4 levels are:

Insight
Knowledge
Application
Transfer

In between each level is a “Learning Zone” level that serves as a half level meaning learners have accomplished one level but are not quite at the next level. Students are expected to reach the Application level on all badges to signify that they have reached grade level expectations in that subject area.

Above is an image from the Badge Books that are shared with students and families about what each level means. These are also the levels used on the Report Cards.

Reporting: How is Progress Documented?

Students in 3rd and 4th grade in Mineola receive Trimester Report Cards that document students’ current progress towards each Badge.

For each trimester, the “Exp” column describes the expected level for that trimester and the “Prg” column indicates the level the student is currently at. This way, families can compare current progress to grade level expectations, which change from trimester to trimester. In addition, families are given more details about what is expected each trimester in the Badge Book. Below is an example of that detail for Trimester 1.

In the example Report Card to the left, on the Central Idea Badge, students are expected to be in the Application Level. This means there have been opportunities to develop knowledge and practice applying the skill. This particular student is currently at the Application Learning Zone, meaning they have demonstrated all of the elements required for the Knowledge Level and are working on application, but have not quite mastered that level. In the next trimester, the student will still be able to demonstrate growth but this snapshot in time gives families, students and teachers a checkpoint to reflect on where the learner currently is and where they may need extra time and support to reach the expected level.

You’ll also notice that some skills are expected in trimester 1 to be at the Knowledge Level. This means that work has just begun on that Badge or standard and it isn’t expected that students have reached the Application Level quite yet.

Although these expectations are set, these are intended to be a minimum pacing guide that helps everyone understand if a student is on track or needs more support. Some students may reach the Transfer Level on some Badges or may even start additional Badges than is the expectation. This system is truly set up to be worked on at the student’s pace with educator support.

How Outcomes are Assessed and How Final Scores on the Report Are Calculated

As students demonstrate evidence of the Knowledge and Application Levels of each Badge, they check off those discrete skills in their physical Badge Book. When they have demonstrated all of the evidence requirements, they have earned the Badge and receive a sticker or stamp in their Badge Book. This happens during station rotation time, which is built in the schedule regularly. During this time, learners receive feedback from their teachers around their badge work, request conferences to review badges they still need to master and deliberately practice skills they still need to work on.

You can watch students working on their Badges here:

Educators track student progress digitally in the Empower platform. They are able to mark a student’s current level on the proficiency scale in each of the badges. This will inform the student’s final Report Card. This is done through a system of Evidence Checks for each unit of study in ELA, Science, Social Studies and Math. After learners have spent a sufficient amount of time practicing the knowledge level of the proficiency scale and received feedback, they will then participate in an Evidence Check that will incorporate all of the skills for that level holistically, which educators will input as a score in Empower, the platform. This is repeated for the Application level of the Badge. Educators are encouraged to include at least 3 Evidence Checks per level so the Empower Platform is able to calculate a trend of the student’s current performance level.

Above is an image of a Kindergarten student’s Badge Book where they have earned the physical stickers for the Badges. The difference with a Kindergarten Badge is that they are more in the form of a checklist than a proficiency progression like the 3rd and 4th Grade Badges are. The neuron stamps you see in this Badge Book denote goals the student is working on.

Crediting, Promotion and Admission to Secondary/Post-Secondary

There is no translation to traditional grades or GPA for elementary school. See the Mineola High School profile to learn about how they have worked to create a Competency-Based Reporting structure in secondary school that does translate to traditional grades and transcripts.