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My students participate in the iReady Diagnostic Math Assessment three times a year. The iReady Diagnostic Math Assessment is a computer-based, adaptive assessment that adjusts in real-time to each student's performance. The assessment measures performance across four domains: Number and Operations, Algebra and Algebraic Thinking, Reasoning, Measurement and Data, and Geometry. I find the iReady Diagnostic to be highly informative and useful as a tool to measure my students' growth. First, the test places all students in a grade level - a measure based on their progression through math standards - based on their test performance. This makes it easy for me to see where each student stands upon entrance into my class at the beginning of the school year, and it allows me to group them strategically based on their differing proficiences on Day 1. Second, iReady creates personalized lessons for students to complete throughout the year, based on their weakest domains after the Diagnostic Assessment.
Overview of iReady
Overview of iReady
Our most significant quantitative data point, however, is our iReady Diagnostic Assessment data. All of our students are required to participate in three diagnostic assessments over the duration of the school year. iReady is an online platform that provides my students with an adaptive - meaning the test adjusts to the proficiency of students and gives students different questions based on ability - Mathematics test once at the beginning of the year, once at the middle of the year, and once again at the end of the year. The test is administered entirely online and students take the test together during the first few days of school in my classroom, usually over the course of 2 days. Students are encouraged to take their time and not get discouraged; when they are succeeding on the test, the questions intentionally become more difficult. Once students are finished with the test, students are placed to a certain grade level proficiency. This data is vital because it informs us of student proficiency at the beginning of the year and shows us how we can best support them in mastering those grade level standards both inside our classroom (direct instruction integration) and outside the classroom (with online lessons to complete from home).
To learn more, visit the website at https://www.curriculumassociates.com/products/i-ready.
iReady Diagnostic Sample Questions
iReady Diagnostic Sample Questions
The slides below present general sample questions from the iReady Diagnostic for English and Math. In order to prepare students for the Math Diagnostic, I assign iReady-designed lessons throughout the year. Students complete these lessons during class review days and at home for homework. These lessons are solid preparation for the mid-year (MY) and end-of-year (EOY) diagnostic assessment because the lessons have similar questions in the same multiple-choice format as the math questions at the end of the sample slides.
i-Ready Diagnostic Sample Items-Student Version.pdfThe document below provides exclusively math diagnostic questions that students are given on test day. The document does a nice job showing questions in each of the four different domains and varying levels of difficulty.
SampleDiagnosticItemsMath.pdfiReady Scoring Rubric
iReady Scoring Rubric
iready-norms-tables-K-8-2020.pdfThe iReady Math Diagnostic is unique in that it does not have a traditional scoring rubric that students are provided and after much research, I have been unable to find any scoring rubric that exists for the assessment. Further, my colleagues have informed me that this test does not get scored according to a specific point-based rubric.
Instead, this adaptive assessment is scored according to percentiles. As you can see on pages 2 and 3 of the PDF to the left, there are certain scores assigned to varying levels of percentiles of performance on the test. Students will receive the corresponding score to the percentile they place on the test for a given domain. In order to better illustrate the teacher and student perspectives of a scored assessment, I will pull out a few student sample test results below.
Diagnostic Results Samples
The samples below detail a high-performing outcome and a low-performing outcome for two of my students on the iReady Math Diagnostic at the BOY. In both instances, students receive grade-level placement in one of the four domains on the Diagnostic Assessment: Number and Operations, Algebra and Algebraic Thinking, Measurement and Data, and Geometry. Upon completion of the diagnostic, students receive a typical growth score and a stretch growth score. As a truly transformational teacher committed to seeing dramatic academic growth for my students, I closely monitor students' progression toward their typical growth score by assigning them iReady lessons for homework, administering practice Diagnostic assessments each quarter, and assigning other online material to improve their performance.
High-Performing Student
jv_2372100696_diagnostic-results_math_11072021.pdfLow-Performing Student
mg_2072002657_diagnostic-results_math_11072021.pdfExamples of Dramatic Academic Growth
Examples of Dramatic Academic Growth
Whole-Class Diagnostic Data
BOY (08/09/21) to MY (11/23/21)
diagnostic-growth_math__11242021.pdfIn order to assess growth in my class and give students an extra practice assessment before the mid-year diagnostic assessment in December, I assigned another diagnostic assessment to them in November. The document to the left shows student growth on the November diagnostic since their BOY assessment in August.
As is shown by the graphs on page 1, 38% of my students hit their annual typical growth mark (a number determined by iReady), and we aren't even halfway into the year. In addition, 8% of my students are now placed at mid or above grade level compared to 0% back in August.
Student #1
RD_Growth.pdfStudent #1 showed significant academic growth on the MY Diagnostic. This student met their annual stretch goal exactly. Reaching the annual stretch goal is an ambitious and highly impressive feat for a full school year, let alone halfway through the year! The student improved in each domain as well. Although this is all positive data, it is important to take a closer look and find areas for improvement. Let's look at the student's CCSS Performance document for more insights.
RD_ccss.pdfIn grade 7, the first three math units we cover contain primarily Number System and then Ratios and Proportional Relationships standards. As shown in the CCSS document above, this student gained a strong understanding of questions aligned to 7.RP.A.1, 7.RP.A.2.a, and 7.RP.A.2b, but gained a partial or poor understanding of more of the N.S. standards (as indicated by the white arrows and x's in the CCSS Performance document above). Let's look at the student's personalized instruction summary to see what else we can find out.
RD_Personalizedinstruction.pdfIn this student's personalized instruction summary, I realized the student passed only 1 Number and Operations lesson but passed 4 Algebra lessons during the semester. This helps explain why the student did stronger in algebra than number operations. This data suggests to me that this student needs more practice in the Number and Operations domain in order to achieve a strong understanding of those N.S. standards. In addition to more iReady lessons, I think this student could benefit from some in-person spiral lessons - review lessons - in the Number and Operations domain.
Student #2
TM_growth.pdfStudent #2 also showed significant academic growth on the MY Diagnostic. This student did not meet their annual stretch growth, but surpassed their annual typical growth score by 8%, an impressive achievement considering we are only halfway through the year. According to the student's Diagnostic results, his proficiency in geometry decreased one grade level but algebra proficiency increased one grade level. Let's look at this student's personalized instruction summary (to the right) and CCSS Performance document (below) to get a better idea of why these events might have occurred.
TM_ccss.pdfAccording to this CCSS Performance document, this student demonstrated mastery of all Number and System standards but demonstrated mastery for only about half of the Ratio and Proportional Relationships standards. This data suggests to me that the student might benefit from spiral lessons in that domain. More iReady lessons in the Algebra domain would be good for this student!
TM_personalizedinstruction.pdfStudent #2's academic growth can be attributed to the student's impressive commitment to his personalized instruction (iReady lessons). The student spent a total of 10 hours and 54 minutes completing lessons during the semester, and this was one of the highest totals in our class. This student even asked me to adjust his lesson placement from geometry to algebra because he wanted more practice with the content we were learning in class. Once I adjusted his lesson placement, the student passed 11 out of 13 algebra lessons. It was no surprise his algebra domain score increased from Grade 6 to Mid 7. However, his geometry decreased from Mid 7 to Grade 6. This data suggests to me that I should continue to assign this student iReady lessons aligned to our current units - like algebra - because that resulted in significant improvement, but also ensure I am balancing those lessons with lessons in Geometry so he doesn't fall off in that domain.
Student #3
NF_Growth.pdfStudent #3 showed the most significant academic growth on the MY Diagnostic. This student surpassed their annual stretch goal by 87%. Significantly surpassing the annual stretch goal is an especially rare feat for a full school year, let alone halfway through the year! Even growth this significant should be analyzed because it can provide important instructional feedback for a teacher. Let's take a look at the student's personalized instruction summary for more data.
NF_personalizedinstruction.pdfStudent #3's significant academic gains can be partially attributed to the student's dedication to all the iReady lessons I manually assigned to students throughout the semester. In geometry especially, this student increased his proficiency through hard work in passing all nine geometry lessons, but I anticipate that his performance in geometry on the BOY diagnostic might have been a low outlier because the student completed his geometry lessons in 20 minutes (this is quick) on average this semester.
Quantitative data doesn't always tell the full story. Aside from the data insights we have gained from the documents above, I have witnessed this student grow as an individual. This student has gained a lot of confidence this year - he is a student I had last year - and after several conversations with him, he attributes much of his academic improvement to learning in person again. He loves the group of students he works with. He has some great friends. His parents have a much-improved relationship. I am aware that this student excels with his current group members; they expand his mathematical capacity in ways other students haven't been able to. Since they are higher academically than him, he feels challenged every day and it has shown how much he has benefitted from working with them.
iReady Lesson Tracker
Continuous review of my growth data has made me realize that practice really does make perfect in math. Over the course of the school year, I keep an eye on my students' iReady lesson completion. We have an end-of-year goal to pass 1,500 iReady lessons as a class, and students are expected to pass at least 2 iReady lessons per week. As mentioned before, I offer time in class on review days to complete these iReady lessons. Otherwise, they are assigned as homework to students.
Conclusion
Conclusion
I effectively use the iReady Diagnostic assessment and iReady online lessons to drive dramatic academic growth for all of my students. I analyze data across math domains for my whole class as well as my individual students. The quantitative data I gather informs me of adjustments I can make in the classroom to differentiate my instruction to meet the needs of my students while ensuring academic rigor for all. This data will continue to inform me of important patterns that will lead to more academic growth for my students.
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