1 Assessment Mini-Inquiry Project

Mini Inquiry Project Rachel Kennedy EDU 741 October 12, 2011

2 Assessment Mini-Inquiry Project Big Issue: Literacy assessments effect how we organize literacy instruction. Question: What literacy assessments do you use? How do you use the results to organize and create your literacy instruction? Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZKPT7ZT I had received five respondents to the survey. They consisted of a range of teachers between kindergarten and sixth grade. Four teachers work in the Fairport School District and one works in Wayne Central School District. Data Results: The results were pretty consistent throughout the five respondents. The graphs are scaled on percentages of 100. Question 1: What type of formative assessments do you use for your literacy instruction?
120 100 80 60 40 20 0 running records anecdotal notes student writing observation other

This first survey question answers my measurable question of What type of literacy assessments do you use? As you can see, all of the teachers use more than one assessment. Three teachers use running records, four use anecdotal notes, all use student writing and observation, and three use other assessments. The other category refers to other types of assessments that were not pre-listed on the survey. One respondent uses Fountas and Pinell, another uses Bader Reading Assessment, and the third uses pre-assessments for differentiation. I will have to look into the Bader Reading Assessment.

Question 2: How do you organize the results of your assessments? (i.e. notebooks, folders, binder, notes on paper)
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 bins folders notes/paper pages binders worksheet

3 Assessment Mini-Inquiry Project

This second question was for the second part of my measurable question as to how they physically organized the data they collected from the assessments given. All of the teachers use more than one method to organize the data. One teacher uses bins with folders, while three teachers use notes on paper pages. These notes get organized either in folders or binders. One teacher uses folders, binders, and worksheets. I generally expected these answers and found some new ideas for taking notes. I was left wondering how the one teacher uses worksheets to organize the data.

Question 3: How often do you use the results to form your literacy groups?
100 80 60 40 20 0 almost always always sometimes never

I used this question to gain an understanding of how, and if, the teachers use the results from the assessments to help form their literacy groups. All of the teachers use the results. One always uses the results to form her groups, while the other four teachers almost always use the collected data. I found this interesting and then thought, what do the almost always people use besides the data to form their groups? Question 4: How often do you reassess your students?
80 60 40 20 0 daily weekly biweekly monthly quarterly

Assessment can only be helpful if it is accurate and up to date. With this in mind, I wanted to know how often these teachers reassessed their students. As you can see, one assesses daily, three assess biweekly, and one reassesses quarterly. Essentially this relates back to the big issue and measurable question because it goes to how they organize their literacy instruction. If you do not know if your

4 Assessment Mini-Inquiry Project students skills have changed then your literacy instruction will essentially remain the same along with the literacy groupings. Personally, I formally do my running records and such biweekly, but I use observation daily. I wonder if anyone else from the survey had to choose like that.

Question 5: Do you feel that you have control over your literacy instruction?

Instructional control
100 50 0 yes no other

It may seem odd to have other as a choice, but one teacher chose it! Obviously the yes answers are a feeling of control over their literacy instruction. The one teacher that chose other commented that the district tells me what to teach, but I have some control over how to teach it. This question helps to answer the measurable question by addressing the issue instructional activities. These teachers have control over their instruction and therefore they can create their own literacy lessons and implement their own ideas. Proof that we have a great district to work for!

Question 6: Has your district provided professional development on how to analyze the results of assessments to guide literacy instruction?

PD
120 100 80 60 40 20 0 yes no

The teachers in this sample were from two districts. In this case, both districts provided there teachers with professional development in this area. This was relevant because without proper training, teachers dont have the right tools to organize or create their literacy instruction. This goes with question 5. If the district values assessment and using its results to authentically plan and create literacy instruction,

5 Assessment Mini-Inquiry Project then they would, in theory, provide training on how to do just that. These two districts turn theory into reality!

Reflection: I really was not surprised by the majority of the results. I have been in these teachers classrooms, worked in the same district as four of them, and been involved in conversations around these topics. With that being said, I really liked getting an inside view of how they organize their data from their assessments. I know about giving the literacy assessments, and I use all but the Bader Reading Assessment (which I will have to find out what teacher uses that and ask about it!), but I would like to find a more effective system for organizing the results and keeping the papers to a minimum. Authentic assessments are wonderful and necessary, but the written nature of the results can cause for paper overload. The best idea that was given was through a comment on question 2. A teacher wrote, I use mailing labels as I walk around the room to make notes on and then attach the label to the childs page in my binder. Using that system could really work for me. It would help reduce loose papers and keep all the important notes in one easy to read area. I am lucky in the fact that I work in a school that respects teachers individual teaching abilities and their ideas. We usually have productive and meaningful professional development topics, a general freedom to teach our way, and the ability to run our classrooms as we see fit. This project just helped to remind me what a wonderful district I am in! If I could change anything about assessments would be to have a better time to give all of them. I would love a substitute teacher or an aide to teach the class so I could assess all of the students as often as I needed to. It gets done now as is, but I feel that it is at the cost of my sanity and the easy-going flow of my classroom. A girl can dream, right? I have never created a survey before and I found it quite easy and fun! I enjoyed thinking about how to best phrase a question and choose what format to make it. I could bring this into the classroom and create surveys for the students. I could make interest surveys, exit surveys from a unit of study, or surveys about classroom set-up or certain procedures. Using this method of data collection would be great because I would have all of the information collected paper free, it can be done when the students have a free minute or two, and I could create different ones for different groups of kids, if needed.