Dramatic Academic Growth

Introduction

Dramatic academic growth (DAG) plays a vital role in being a transformational teaching. Through intentional and individualized instruction, students are able to make measurable and rigorous gains in their academic careers, ultimately closing the achievement gap. According to Marshall (2005) high-stakes testing we see within the education system now, hasn't helped narrow the gaps between minority and non-minority students, in fact, the achievement gap between rich and poor has been steadily widening. As a teacher teaching over eighty five percent students of color, taking steps to combat the achievement gap must be at the forefront of my teaching.

The goal within my classroom is to produce academic gains that project my students to a level where they can be college and career ready. Academic growth can be assessed both quantitatively and qualitatively, and the best way to do this is to measure this growth over time collecting ample amounts of data to guide teaching within the classroom.

To gather quantitative data, my students are regularly F&P tested. The F&P test measures students' abilities to comprehend a text. There is a within the text, beyond the text, and about the text section within an F&P test. Students within my class are on F&P levels thirteen through twenty one. Through this test, I am able to gain a deeper understanding of my students' academic level in reading and adjust instruction accordingly so that I am addressing their learning needs in order for students to ‘step up’. I further utilize this data by involving students in their own academic progress, and have a step data wall within the classroom. At all times students know what step level they are at, and what their goal is.

A qualitative approach is needed in order to ensure that students are mastering the grade level content and gaining a deeper understanding of the material that is being taught and then able to demonstrate this. One qualitative way that students are assessed is through writing exercises that show their understanding of complex text. Within my classroom we call this a Meaning Statement. Twice a week, we read a text together either, non friction, function, or poetry then students produce aMeaning Statement, stating what the deeper meaning of this text was or the lesson learned, and back it up with context from the text. Each Meaning Statement is graded with the same rubric and is attached to each writing assignment, both students and I can gauge the mastery of content. The rubric gauges if the meaning statement is a zero, one, or two. Writing is an essential skill that extends far beyond the classroom and so therefore it is of the utmost importance that students gain a mastery of this skill before leaving fifth grade as they prepare for middle school, high school, and college, and to be social change agents.

In the sections that follow, I will demonstrate how I use both quantitative and qualitative data to measure student growth over time. I will dive deeper into the methods that I use to increase student academic achievement and how I adjust my teaching practice to address the needs of my students.

Quantitative Data: F&P Reading Levels

Fountas & Pinnell (F&P) Benchmark Assessment System is a comprehensive assessment used to determine readiness for reading, independent and instructional levels. The goal of F&P assessments is to provide teachers with evidence of student learning and to assist teachers in making informed decisions on revising instruction and advancing student learning along a well-defined learning progression in reading.

Students in my class are regularly F&P tested to ensure that students are in the right small groups and assigned books at their instructional levels. If students are reading at their independent level only, they are not being pushed and growing. Therefore, it is important that I am constantly testing to ensure students are at the instructional level, which tells the teacher exactly what they need to work on to step up to another level.

Within fifth grade students should be within the F&P Levels T, U, V. In my school we convert our F&P letters to numbers, I will talk about them as numbers within this section. Level T is 16, Level U is 17, and Level V is 18.

F&P Test JHU.pdf

F&P Materials

The document gives a preview of several F&P tests. We can see the F&P test monitors reading fluency, along with compression skills and beyond the text abilities, such as, what is the message or big idea from this text.

Beginning of Year F&P Student Levels

BOY F&P .pdf

This tracker shows the levels of my students in the beginning of the school year, BOY.

62.96 percent of students below grade level BOY

27 percent students on grade level BOY

Having this quantitative BOY data was essential in adjusting my teaching strategies and scaffolders for my students right at the start of the school year. One word that we strive for in my school is urgency. Having a sense of urgency within how we teach, and are meeting the needs of our students on a daily basis. Knowing my students F&P levels allowed me to make strategic small groups, pull precise texts for reading alouds, shared text, and independent work time texts.

Within knowing my students F&P Levels, I also know exactly what skill to target.

For example, Fiction texts on the F & P test in the ‘Beyond Text’ section requires students to demonstrate skills around, Character analysis (feelings, perspective motivation, traits, interactions), character lesson, and theme. The ‘About the Text’ section requires students to demonstrate skills around, craft and structure moves (why did author choose title, figurative language, foreshadowing), and what does the author do to keep you interested.

Knowing which skills to target allows me to better monitor students and make opportunities for example, deep character analysis. This has also assisted in how I collect data. Throughout the day I use a not taking template where I keep track of students demonstrating certain F&P skills, or struggling to demonstrate certain F&P skills such as theme. With this data, I am then able to craft instruction to students gaps.

F&P Note Template

Note taking template based on F&P skills

Groups are intentionally made by F&P data analysis, and scheduled at higher frequency to meet with myself and co teacher. For example, the below document reflects students in lower groups such as Red Sea and Baltic Sea, are groups that myself and co teacher meet with more regularly.

Groups Based on Data.pdf

Mid Year F&P Levels Analysis

Mid Year F&P Levels.pdf

56 students in total (two new students)

14 students MOY data falls in the levels 11 through 15, below grade level

36 students MOY data fall in the levels 16-18 on grade level

6 students MOY fall in the range 18 through 21, above grade level

From the beginning of the year in which 62.96 percent of students were below grade average, at MOY now 25 percent being below grade average. I predict that by the end of the year 5 percent of students will be below grade level.

Student #1 Moy.pdf

Above we see students #1 F&P test at the beginning of the school year and at the middle of the school year. Students 1# BOY holdbacks were reading fluency, in having 9 decoding errors. Another holdback, was the students abilities to effectively summarize the information read in the text, the student missed a lot of important information in their summary. Lastly, a holdback was the students ability to identify the authors message of the text.

Looking at students #1 mid year F&P test we can see dramatic growth in the students ability to read fluency with having three decoding errors vs 9. In addition, we see growth in the students ability to effectively summarize the information in the text. In addition, the student was able to identity the authors message, being the importance of new inventions and being willing to try new things.

Student #2 BOY.pdf

Student #2 MOY.pdf

Above we see students #2 F&P test at the beginning of the school year and at the middle of the school year. Students #2 BOY holdbacks were also the ability to effectively summarize the text. In addition, the student struggle with the ability to understand motivation behind character actions such as, why does Ray and his dad keep secrets from each other.

Through intentional small groups modeling character analysis of actions, we see students #2 ability in this increase in their MOY F&P test. The student was able to effectively identify Ethans fathers feelings, and and how his opinions changed throughout the text.

Student #3 BOY.pdf

Student #3 MOY.pdf

Above we see students #3 F&P test at the beginning of the school year and at the middle of the school year. Students #3 BOY holdbacks were reading fluency and character analysis. This student also struggles with the ability to identify the authors craft and structure moves that kept the reader interested.

Student #3 MOY F&P test demonstrates dramatic growth in the students reading fluency and in the student character analysis abilities. The student was able to identify the authors craft and structure move, of making Rachel a strong character, and starting with a nightmare, to keep the reader interested. This student was able to step up twice, MOY.

Quantitative Data Conclusion

By effectively analyzing and evaluating my students F&P levels I was able to make dramatic academic gains for my students across multiple reading skills, such as character analysis, ability to name themes, and craft and structure moves. In half a year more than half my students grew from below grade level to on grade level. From 27 percent to 64 percent of students on grade level MOY. In addition, I have now 6 students above grade level. Projecting these same gains to the end of the year, students would grow an average of about two years worth of academic growth.

The rigorous and intentional targeted instruction for students' specific needs is what allows students to experience great academic growth. If we truly wish to close the achievement gap, we must be intentional with the type of instruction and intervention strategies that we are delivering to students, which first requires that we gather and analyze data. This significant academic growth sets my students up for success in their educational careers. Although a number of my students started the year below grade level, I was able to change the trajectory of their education to place them closer if not above the reading level they need to be successful in fifth grade, preparing them for success as they continue their educational journey. These academic gains allow students to have agency within their lives and education and it is what makes a transformational teacher.

Qualitative Data : Writing

Writing Meaning Statements

Qualitative growth is used to determine progress within the classroom, and within this section is gauged by student writing samples. Students within my classroom have various opportunities to show their grasp of a Common Core State Standard (CCSS) through content-specific writing. Everyweek students engage in writing a Meaning Statement. Within the Meaning Statement, students write the lesson learned / deeper meaning of the text, and then back this up with evidence from the text. At the beginning of the unit in August, students were given the Fiction text “ Same Sun Here: Mountaintop Removal’ assignment to demonstrate their ability to make meaning of a text, and back this up with context from the text. . At the end of the unit in October, students are once again given another Fiction text to write a Meaning Statement, showcasing their ability to make meaning of a text and provide text based evidence effectively. Through intentional feedback, setting specific goals, and small group instruction, students are able to master this CCSS and demonstrate qualitative growth over time.

BOY CR.pdf

Beginning of Year Text

Our beginning of year text was for the fiction text 'Same Sun Here: Mountaintop Removal’ by Silas House and Neela Vaswani

CR 1_ Same Sun Here_ Mountaintop Removal [Phase 1] .pdf

Student facing power point presentation for Same Sun Here: Mountain Top Removal

Meaning Statement Rubric

From the rubric, the skills being targeted are can students write a meaning statement that includes the deepest meaning that is supported by the text, places the idea in context, and is accurate.

Beginning of Year Student Writing Samples

Student Sample #1.pdf

This student did a nice job at stating what their lesson learned was. Another strength is use if of the sentence frame "I know this becasue." However, the student needs to work on backing up their answer with text based evidence. In addition, the student needs to work on grammar such as their "I" being capitalized and commas.

Student Sample #2.pdf

A strength within student #2 is the students ability to add characters into their answer. The students wrote how Ms.Heap was not letting the student speak but the student did not stop trying. However, the students writing was chopping and did not provide clear context from the text to support their answer.

Student Sample #3.pdf

A strength within student #3 is the students ability to add detail from the text. The students wrote how Ms.Heap didn't care what River wanted to talk about but River did not stop. An area for growth for this student is ensuring the title of a text is always in quotes and capitalized and seen in my teacher's feedback, and to clearly connect their evidence to their answer.

The document above shows three student sample BOY Meaning Statements. Each student was provided with clear feedback on what needed to be added, such as more evidence from the text proving their lesson learned. Students were also given feedback on their grammar such as making sure the title of the text is capitalized and in quotations, along and the names of people always being capitalized as well.

In response to the students BOY writing samples, I incorporated daily grammar practice worksheets. Intentionally choosing worksheets that focused on quotations and capitalization.

Grammar Pratice JHU.pdf

This document is the resource used in response to students BOY writing samples.

Sentence STems JHU.pdf

Another response to BOY student writing samples, was providing intentional sentence stems to prompt students to back up their lesson learned/ main message with context from the text.

This document shows the student facing guide to help students craft their meaning statements.

Mid Year Text

Students were given another Fiction text, "Tomorrow Night" by Patty Johnson and then had to produce a Meaning Statement. Below is the fiction text "Tomorrow Night" and student facing powerpoint of the text.

Tomorrow Night JHU.pdf

Tomorrow Night .pdf

Mid Year Student Writing Samples

Within analysis of the mid year meaning statements it is clear that that students have made tremendous growth in the ability to provide context based evidence. Students have shifted from short summaries, to now providing in text examples from the text with the use of quotation marks. Students have also shown growth in their grammar, specifically ensuring the title of a text is in quotations and capitalized, and peoples names also capitalized.

Student Sample MOY #1.pdf

This same student within their BOY writing sample was not able to effectively back up their answer with evidence from the text. By MOY this student grew in their ability to add detail from the text that backs up their answer. Rather than just one sentence they share several contexts from the text that supports their answer, such as “Momma was breathing hard” and “If Mr and Mr.Burns found out we would be punished by beating us or even worse.”

Student Sample MOY #2.pdf

Student #2 writing in BOY was short and choppy and did not have clear evidence to back up their answer. Within their MOY writing sample this student is now using full complete sentences as they nicely weave in context and evidence from the text to support their answer. A part of my feedback was to clearly show how the evidence supports the answer. This student is now doing so by clearly stating “This evidence from the text shows” and then plugged in their answer.

Student Sample MOY #3.pdf

DAG Section Conclusion & Reflection

In order to be a transformational teacher we must be intentional and able to create dramatic academic gains within our students. This requires looking at quantitative and qualitative data over time in order to assess our students' needs and guide our instruction. Data must drive our educational decisions within the classroom so that we can positively affect the lives of our students and their academic experience. By using multiple sources of data continuously throughout the year, we paint broader pictures of the students so we can create a learning environment that meets the needs of all students. My students' growth within reading and writing prove that with targeted and intentional instruction, students are able to make the necessary academic gains to be successful in their educational journey.

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