In education, we frequently use the “Percentile Rank” score a student receives on tests to report to parents and understand how that student performs. As educators we really like the percentile rank because it seems easy and intuitive to understand. However, this article will present some cautionary concepts when using the percentile rank scores on … Continue reading Identifying the Problem of Percentile Ranks
When it comes to measuring teacher effectiveness, educators often wonder how students are performing in relation to their peers. How do they know which students are achieving higher relative to their academic peers? How do they determine if certain students are progressing at a higher rate relative to other students? In today’s classroom, it’s … Continue reading Measuring Student Learning with Student Growth Percentiles & Student Growth Targets
Many educators talk often about wanting to incorporate an assessment system into their instruction, but aren’t quite sure where to start. When it comes to building a student achievement system, the task could seem daunting: How often to conduct data analysis? How to approach developing standards schedules? How to build quality assessments? These are just … Continue reading Developing a Student Achievement System? Here’s How.
The research of John Hattie created great interest in 2009 when he published Visible Learning. In the book, he compares the statistical measure of “effect size” to the impact of a variety of influences on students’ achievement such as class size, holidays, feedback, and learning strategies. Hattie’s study was designed as a “meta-meta-study” that collects, compares, … Continue reading The “Effect Size” in Educational Research: What is it & How to Use it?
I like to think that using data while teaching is like using a GPS while driving. When you’re using a GPS, you enter the final destination. It’s the place you want to get to. Along the way, the GPS will say things like “Turn left…turn right…exit here,” and based on this new information, you adjust … Continue reading Setting Up a Data-Driven Culture
Imagine being on a sports team that’s competing in the Olympics. You belong to a very select group of individuals who are physically capable of excelling in a sport at the highest level. One day, the coach decides to cancel all scrimmages and qualifying events. Instead, she declares: “The only event that really matters is … Continue reading Building a Blueprint Around Formative Assessment
As some key states are looking to implement the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), we decided to feature a guest post to cover important changes around science education. The following post is from Dr. Melissa Backer, the NGSS Project Director at Fluence. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is a major transformation for K-12 science education. NGSS was developed … Continue reading How to Prepare for Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
Formative assessments can make a big difference in the classroom. The evidence proves it. Many studies show that the average effect size of the impact of formative assessment on standardized tests is 0.4 to 0.7. The change in “effect size” is considered as going from moderate to strong. That’s a home run in the world … Continue reading 5 Critical Steps to Doing Formative Assessments
Why did we build an Accountability Dashboard? Despite what you’ve heard in the news, ESSA is still around. Even our U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, is saying that we should honor the timeline that was already set in place. So, we’re going to keep moving forward, and all the individual states are still moving forward … Continue reading How to Track Progress & Growth with an Accountability Dashboard
Santee Education Complex is a high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), located in South Central Los Angeles. It was built in 2005 with the special distinction of being the first new four-year high school to open in LAUSD in over 35 years. Immediately after its opening, Santee dealt with issues around … Continue reading How a Low-Achieving School Uses Data to Drive Success