PHASE I, II, and III

Santiago Ser

Phase I Data Driven Decision Making Project - (10%) Due Week 3

TEMPLATE
Name: Santiago Sere

Date: February 20th, 2014

Purpose of this assignment:

This is the first phase of the three-part course Data-Driven Decision-Making Project and will be completed individually. The goal of
this assignment is to learn to organize and analyze classroom assignment data to assess student learning and begin to plan for
improvement.
Maryland Teacher Technology Standard IV: This task provides evidence of the ability to use technology to analyze problems and
develop data-driven solutions for instructional improvement. This task holds key criteria as seen in the rubric.
Submission directions:
Use the temple below. All parts of this assignment must be united into one document and then submitted to your WebTycho
gradebook. Please title your document with this format: firstname_lastinitial_Phase1
Completion directions:
You have been given an excel gradesheet holding individual student lesson grades, attendance and homework data, as well as Limited
English Proficiency (LEP), Individual Educational Plan (IEP) and State Testing Data. You are asked to average the data and write in
the Standards and Learning Objectives that youve chosen. Upload this separately to the WebTycho gradebook.
You have also been asked to sort the data and then display it through a useful visual representation. The display needs to be in the form
of tables and associated graphs. You will then analyze the data and offer suggestions for improved student learning. This and other
sections of the assignment will be placed in this template.
A rubric for completing this assignment has been provided. Review it carefully before doing a final submission. This template needs
to be filled in completely with all questions answered to the best of your ability. The template will be the second document uploaded
to the WebTycho gradebook.
After filling in the gradebook excel sheet with standards, learning objectives and averages, complete the analysis and assignment by
answering the following questions.
PART ONE - GRADEBOOK PREPARATION
1) Please list the Curriculum Area for Gradebook Analysis:
I have chosen to focus on a fifth grade writing curriculum standard. I teach fifth grade reading and writing.
2) Please list the Standards for Gradebook Analysis:
5th Grade, 4th Standards (writing), 7th Indicator
5.4.7: Locate, retrieve, and use information from various sources to accomplish a purpose
3) Please list three learning objectives that are associated with the Standards and grades you are using for your
Gradebook Analysis:
a.
b.

Identify, evaluate, and use sources of information on a self-selected and/or given topic
Use various information retrieval sources (traditional and/or electronic) to obtain information on a self-selected and/or
given topic

c.

Credit sources when paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting to avoid plagiarism

4) After analyzing the gradebook numbers, what patterns did you see? (Describe at least 3 patterns completely and be
sure to include patterns from the additional data tab on the excel gradesheet).
It is clear that after analyzing the data, one can see that for the most part, the students who perform well in class continue to
perform well in class while the students who do not show good progress continue to show that. For instance, student number 17 is a
solid student (his lowest average is a 7.2 (which is average). His averages are considered appropriate for the most part. On the other
hand, student number 24 clearly needs some help. This information can be seen on Graph 1.
Another pattern that can be seen using Graph 2 is that as time goes by, the average goes down as well. This can be explained
if the learning objectives were to build on the previous ones. If students are struggling with the first objective but they need that
information or skill for the second one, chances are that the second one might be lower. The same can be said for the third objective.
An additional pattern that can be seen using the extra information (IEPs, LEPs, and the MSA results) show that students who
have IEPs and LEP tend to test lower on the MSA as well as the learning standards. Though unfortunate, this makes sense because
students who struggle with the English language or have other obstacles in their way that require them to have an IEP tend to miss
information or are not able to grasp it as quickly or as strongly as other students.
The last pattern that I was able to see was the relation between the overall average of all the three averages and the homework
grade. Though this does not apply to everyone, for the most part, students who turned in their homework (a grade of 4 or 5) tended to
do better in the overall average. This can be seen using the chart and the newly created average to the side (Table 1).
5) Now that youve described the patterns in words, display the most important patterns by creating a table of that data
and turning the table into a graph or chart that is most appropriate for discussion. Copy/paste the table, graphs and/or
charts below.

Graph 1: This graph shows the average of each student for each of the three learning objectives. The blue represents the average of the first
learning standard. The red represents the average of the second learning standards. The green represents the average of the third learning
standard.

Graph 2: This graph demonstrates the overall average for each standard. It can be seen that as time goes by, the average goes

down as well.

Table 1: This table shows the relationship between the students overall average (calculated by adding all three averages and the dividing it
by 3) and the homework completion grade. The highlighted cells in pink and red numbers have been conditionally formatted to show two
things: 1) a homework grade higher than 3, and 2) an average higher than 7.

Graph 3: This graph (same as Graph 1) displays which students have IEPs, LEPs and scored basic on both the Reading MSA and the Math
MSA. It shows the relationship between those three things and the averages of each activity.

6) Relevant to the type of graph or chart: Why do you choose this visual to display the data to others?
I chose bar graphs because demonstrate is a comparison with other students. One can easily see where students rank against
each other by looking at the length of the bar. It is clear by the size of the bar which students are performing above a certain number.
For instance, after looking at Graph 1, it is evident that students number 2, 3, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25 are not performing very well. You

can visually see that their bars are shorter than other students. You can compare students #2 with student #4 and see that student #4 did
better overall in all standards.
Line graphs are most effective when looking at data over time. The second graph shows just thatthe overall average of all
students over the three learning objectives. One can see that as time went by, the average went down.
The one table I have shows the overall average of each student and their grade for homework completion. I conditionally
formatted the table to show homework grades of 4 or above and an overall average of 7 or above.
The last graph that I included is the same as the first graph but included a color coded key to demonstrate which students
have an IEP, and LEP and which students got basic on both the Reading and Math MSA.
PART TWO - GRADEBOOK ANALYSIS Questions to be answered
1) What patterns seem most evident, most important and why?
I think that the biggest and most evident pattern is that there is a very large discrepancy between students who have IEPs
and/or LEPs and students with neither of those. This can be correlated by many based on their MSA reports. Many of the students that
are below a 6 in their averages have either an IEP or a LEP. These same students also earned B (for basic) under both reading and
math MSA tests. This of course is not the rule for all students as there are exceptions (student #19). It is important to note this
discrepancy because students who have obstacles in their way are not meeting the standards. This may be due a number of things,
some mild and some severe: a new teacher not knowing how to work with this harder population of students, students not receiving
their accommodations or not being allowed to use their services. This would require a further look in the classroom and more
observations.
2) What groups of students are affected by each of the patterns that you see?
All students are affected one way or another but more specifically, students who have an IEP or LEP. These students are the
ones suffering academically and possibly emotionally as well. Many students put up a strong front pretending not to care but many do.
Every time they receive a bad grade, it just tears them up a bit more. These students will grow to be members in our community and
they need to have the same opportunities and access to their education.
The rest of the class (students without IEPs or LEPs) is also affected because they are making associations and assumptions
with students who have obstacles presented in front of them. Growing up with an accent people assumed I was less intelligent that the
rest of the class because I did not pronounce words the same way. Despite having all my education done in English and having a better
vocabulary than most students in my grade, people made assumptions.
3) Why do think that that these particular students in EACH pattern are affected?
There can be many reasons that students in each pattern are affected. Because all three of my patterns
do not relate to just one specific group of students, I will explain my thinking about each pattern separately.
1st Pattern: IEP and/or LEP students
This pattern talks about all students but affects mostly students with IEPs or LEPs. Students with these obstacles are clearly
struggling in the class and in the state assessments. I believe that these students are not being taught they way they learn best. Either
they are not being given full accommodations or their language is getting in the way. The language being used in class might be too
hard for some of them.
2nd Pattern: All students
This pattern affects all students. I believe that the average is going down because the skills being taught and assessed build on
each other. If students are not given enough time to master each individual skill, it will be much harder for them to learn the next
coming one. This could have a domino effect where students are falling behind more and more.
3rd Pattern: IEP and/or LEP students
This pattern affects only students with IEPs or LEPs. The pattern shows that for the most part, they test lower in the states
MSAs. I think that the reasoning for the first pattern also explains the reason for this pattern. Students are not being given or are
utilizing their accommodations and supports in a way that is allowing them to access their education.

4) What other student information or student data could help with an even more thorough analysis of each pattern?
Having more clear information I think would make the analysis more accurate. For instance, I was never sure what the 1-5 on
the horizontal bar meant. I assumed that they were either days of the week of five mini activities. Also knowing how many days the
students were absent in the six week period would have been useful because it would have given me information as to why maybe the
grades on certain days were so low. It would make sense if a student missed the day before and they did not perform well on the next
day.
I think the most important information that we could have gotten is what type of accommodations the kids would receive
based on their IEPs and how their language is being accessed for students with LEP. Though not necessary to make observations, it
would fuel the discussion of how to better teach the class and what needs to be done to better reach the students.

PART THREE STUDENT IMPROVEMENT PLANS Questions to be answered

1) Pattern 1: Based on your analysis and the students that are portraying that pattern, what plans can you provide to
improve their learning? (Please be sure to include technology tools in this plan).
The first thing I would do based on this pattern is to create
homogenous groups of students. Id divide the class into three
groups: high, average, below. The high group would consist of
students #4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19. The middle group would
consist of students #1, 6, 10, 14, 15, 20, 25. The below group would
consist of students #2, 3, 7, 13, 21, 22, 23, 24. This information can
be seen by looking at Graph 4. This way, students can work on
similar skills at the same time. Students who seem to get it can be
moved further along while students who are struggling will need the
extra time and support. I would work closely with the students who
are struggling in different ways. Id use a variety of strategies to
ensure that these students were getting the information. Id start by
making lessons that have students out of their seat and moving
Graph 4: Shows the average of the averages for each student.
(centers or other type activities). I would then introduce technology
to get them engaged. Fortunately for me, my school is very heavy based on technology and we are expected to use it on a daily basis.
Id use the iPads that the school has provided for each student to use when looking up information. They could each go to their own
place and not be distracted by other students. Having the mobility of the iPad would ensure that each student would have a place to go
to work in silence. For students who can work with others around, I would ask them to use the laptops set up on my wall. For indicator
number three, I would have them use easybib.com in order to cite their sources. It may be too complicated for them at this stage in
their education to expect them to be able to cite things using examples.
Who will be involved in helping the student or student group toward more success? (Teacher, Groups of Students,
Parents, Administration, Other classroom teachers, specialists etc)
I would try to get as many people on board as possible. I think that students learn best when they have a dedicated team of
professional working with them. ParaEducators would be a huge help as would parents.
How will they be involved to help the student(s) be successful?
ParaEducators would take care of one group while the teacher works with the struggling one. The advanced group could
work independently on other skills. Parents could help by coming to the class and helping students who are struggling. Having parents
in the classroom can either be a blessing or nightmare so Id be cautious with this approach. I would be very selective on which
parents I would invite to help.
How will you assess if this plan has helped?

Due to the skills being taught Id use smaller writing assignments to verify that students are getting to where they need to be.
I might throw in a quiz here and there to assess specific skills. For the third learning objective (Credit sources when paraphrasing,
summarizing, and quoting to avoid plagiarism), I could give them a quiz where they have to select properly cited sources, properly
quoted information and where they have to properly give credit to the author from a short passage. I would know if the plan has
worked depending on if the results were higher that the information provided. I would need a baseline of data to compare the final
results in order for me to see whether there has been change.
2) Pattern 2: Based on your analysis and the students that are portraying that pattern, what plans can you provide to
improve their learning? (Please be sure to include technology tools in this plan).
My suggestion here would be to assess skills independently and go over each assessment with the students. Prompt feedback
is a great way to ensure that students are self-correcting their mistakes. For those students who are struggling (the below group from
pattern1), Id have a ParaEducator or myself work more in depth with them. I might reassess them using ActiVotes (eggs for the
Promethean Board where one can gather data and do quizzes). Ive found that when I do assessments using the ActiVotes, students
perform better because it is less like a quiz/test and more of a fun activity for them.
Who will be involved in helping the student or student group toward more success? (Teacher, Groups of Students,
Parents, Administration, Other classroom teachers, specialists etc)
Similarly to pattern 1, I would have ParaEducators come into the class and be an extra pair of hands, ears, and ideas. Students
would have more opportunities to have their questions heard and answered which might clarify things for them. This, hopefully, would
allow them to perform better in class.
How will they be involved to help the student(s) be successful?
The ParaEducator could either take his/her own group or work one-on-one with the students that are struggling the most.
These individual or small group sessions would ensure that students ask their questions and get them answered by a teacher. In the
meantime, this frees up the homeroom teacher to work with other students or continue working with other struggling students.
How will you assess if this plan has helped?
I would assess each individual skill independently first before assessing all three at the same time. There are various ways
that I could do this. For the first learning objective (Identify, evaluate, and use sources of information on a self-selected and/or given
topic) students would have to look for quick information (dates, major events, names) for questions created by the teacher. Theyd be
given a short article to read on the iPad and then given a set of questions to answer based on the information that they find.
For the second learning objective (Use various information retrieval sources (traditional and/or electronic) to obtain
information on a self-selected and/or given topic) Id do something similar to the first objective. Students would come up with a
research question of their choice that is appropriate for school. Through the use of books and the internet (either laptops or iPads)
students will gather information to answer their question.
For the third and last learning objective (Credit sources when paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting to avoid plagiarism),
students will create a voice thread to give credit to the people where they gathered the information from. Before citing the examples,
students will have to use multimedia (voice, images, and maybe video) to explain why it is important to cite work. They will use their
own words and voices to explain what citing is, the importance, what plagiarism is and why it is bad. The last slide will contain their
cited sources.
3) Pattern 3: Based on your analysis and the students that are portraying that pattern, what plans can you provide to
improve their learning? (Please be sure to include technology tools in this plan).
As the head teacher in a classroom of 25 students, I would rely on the specialists and ParaEducators to pull students whose
grades were basic on the MSAs. In the classroom, Id create a rotation where students are in 3 homogenous groups on Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday and in 5 heterogeneous groups on Thursday and Friday. This way, I can work with a group a day while a
ParaEducator works with another. The last two days of the week, students are helping each other so that they have the opportunity to
learn from each other. It would look something like the table below:

Group 1
Below
Group 2
Middle
Group 3
Above

Monday
Teacher

Tuesday
ParaEducator

Wednesday
ParaEducator

Independent

Teacher

Independent

ParaEducator

Independent

Teacher

Thursday

Friday

Heterogeneous groups working

on similar skills

Who will be involved in helping the student or student group toward more success? (Teacher, Groups of Students,
Parents, Administration, Other classroom teachers, specialists etc)
ParaEducators, specialists and parents will be involved in helping the students raise their scores for the next year.
How will they be involved to help the student(s) be successful?
ParaEducators will work one-on-one or in small groups with students to practice individual skills. The specialists will work
with students that are really struggling and will be in charge of assessing and gathering data to document improvement and what was
done with them. Their job will also include using the data to show what worked and what didnt work. Parents will have been notified
of the students score and alerted that their children will be taken part of small group sessions to work on their skills. Parents will be
asked to help students with the extra work that their students will be given.
How will you assess if this plan has helped?
That will be the specialists job to determine in the best way that they can come up with. I am assuming that through small
assessments that focus on individual skills.
Additional Comments (Optional):
Comments about the project: I found this project extremely challenging as I was never taught how to read and analyze data. This
was a wonderful learning opportunity for me that pushed me to seek out data. Ive never had to do graphs from excel so it was great to
be able to learn and apply that knowledge. I had trouble graphing the additional data which is why I had to scan in a color coded
version of a graph I had made. I really enjoyed learning about conditional formatting and I realize that had I been taught this earlier, it
would have saved me a lot of time and pain when I had to manually graph each data point. I am not sure if this is a project that might
be kept for future classes, but I would strongly recommend keeping it.

PHASE II COLLABORATIVE CULTURE ASSIGNMENT TEMPLATE

Team member names: Santiago Sere, Naomi Perl, Kenisha Matthews, Qiana Williams
Goal of team: To develop data driven classroom strategies and a plan of action to implement in order to
improve learning conditions for all students specifically students with IEPs and LEPs.
Curriculum level of students and field of study: Early Education/ Lower School ELA
Roles of team members:
Santiago Group Leader, type up initiative 1 and 3, consolidator of project
Naomi Tech support, type up initiative type 2
Kenisha Initiative 3, editor, recorder and suggests improvements
Qiana Editor, recorder and suggests improvements
Timeframe of team interactions and plans:
Course Week
Week 4

Action Plans

Completions

Introduce ourselvesCreated the team.

Came up with rules
for the team

Week 5

Week 6
Week 7

Comments
Everyone seemed very upbeat and eager to work with
one another.
Team members responded quickly.

Santi sent initial email.

To choose our threeWe have decided on Naomi uploaded the phase 2 template on Google drive
patterns we each the following roles and given everyone access to edit and put in
posted our
and task
information.
favorites and then - Santi: group leader
discussed how to and email guru and Santi coordinated information and came up with a
improve them
type of initiative 1
schedule
- Naomi: Tech
support/ type up
initiatives 2
- Kenisha: editor/
type up initiative 3
- Qiana: recorder and
suggest
improvements
Decide age group ELA early students Group is continuing working collaboratively in Google
and field of study was chosen
Docs that was created by Naomi our Tech Support
person.
Continue working Finalized I and II
Our group has continued working developing strategies
on Phase II project.
and how to better incorporate technology. We are
Emails were sent to finalizing the initiatives and waiting for some graphs to
Begin
collect information be sent out to complete the project. A schedule has been
consolidating team
made that covers the rest of the week indicating when
suggestions.
Information for II wasthings need to be submitted to whom and by when. All
gathered.
group members have collaborated in one of our Google
Finalize Initiative I
docs and shared their ideas and analysis. Overall, the

and II.

Week 8

Gather rest of
information
Send final draft to Draft got edited and
rest of team.
revised by all group
members.
Edits are made
Completed the
Final product is
project.
turned in.

group is moving along quite well.

All members took part in the editing and revising

process.
Kenisha added the missing pieces to her initiative.
Santi submitted it for a grade.

Student learning considerations for team planning:

When creating initiatives, many factors went into consideration in regards to students. We considered their
learning needs and overall needs such us if they had IEPs or LEPs. We spent a lot of time considering their
MSA results (Advanced, Basic, or Proficient) and how they compared to their objective goals grades. We
looked at individual learning goals as well as the average of all three learning goals. Time was spent looking
into the attendance of each student and the rate of accuracy of homework. We also considered their socioeconomic status in regards to access to technology at home and family involvement in the school.
Student data considered during team planning:
This information is nested below each individual initiative.

Initiative I
Title: Raising IEP and LEP students
Goal: Taking into account the different learning needs of students, this initiative focuses on students with IEPs
and LEPs. The goal of this initiative is to breach the gap between the scores on the standardized testing, in this
case the MSA, and the learning objectives in the classroom. In order to do this, our group has come up with
several suggestions in our plan of action.

Rationale:
A pattern that can be seen using the extra information (IEPs, LEPs, and the MSA results) show that
students who have IEPs and LEP tend to test lower on the MSA as well as the learning standards. In fact, all
students who are on an IEP failed all three objectives. Though unfortunate, this makes sense because students
who struggle with the English language or have other obstacles in their way that require them to have an IEP
tend to miss information or are not able to grasp it as quickly or as strongly as other students. It could also mean

that that the objectives were not taught in ways in which the students were able to grasp the information.
Maybe the students needed the information modified differently or the delivery should have included different
learning styles.

Learning Objectives:

Lrng Objective # 1:Identify, evaluate, and use sources of information on a self-selected and/or given
topic

Lrng Objective # 2:Use various information retrieval sources (traditional and/or electronic) to obtain
information on a self-selected and/or given topic

Lrng Objective # 3:Credit sources when paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting to avoid plagiarism

Initiative Objectives:

Close the gap between testing scores and objective goals as directed by the reading specialist.

Reteach learning objectives with the goal being all students will score above 80%

Meet independently with students scored advanced on the MSA but not in the learning objective to
create an individual plan of action and contract.

DATA: Gathered and displayed visually that fuels our initiative and reasons why this needs to be addressed:

This graph (same as Graph 1) displays which students have IEPs, LEPs and scored basic on
both the Reading MSA and the Math MSA. It shows the relationship between those three
things and the averages of each activity.

PLAN OF ACTION
As the head teacher in a classroom of 25 students, it is important to rely on the specialists and
ParaEducators to pull students whose grades were basic on the MSAs. The first part of the plan must be the
collaboration meeting between the general education teacher and the special education teacher. In this meeting
the teachers should discuss the challenge for these students and why they are failing the objectives. The teacher,
special education teacher and specialists should collaborate to develop techniques and strategies for each
student. If the reason is because of reading level then the teachers should think about modifying the text.
Newsela.com is a great website that provides online reading material that is presented at different reading
levels. This way all students in the class would receive the same article, but would read it on their own level.
One suggestion would be to give the lesson as a whole group first then work in small groups In the
classroom, it would be ideal if there was a rotation where students are in 3 homogenous groups on Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday and in 5 heterogeneous groups on Thursday and Friday. This way, the teacher can work
with a group a day while a ParaEducator works with another. The focus of these smaller groups is reteaching the
material in different ways and in a smaller setting. Working in small groups allows the teacher to focus more on
three or four students at a time specific needs. Questions and concerns can be addressed on the spot as the

teacher reviews the objectives with the students. Using a SmartBoard so that students can visually see how to
identify the text features in a text would be helpful. Also, students can physically draw on the SmartBoard to
identify the text features. Being able to address different learning styles in the lesson would help all students
learn. Students can also continue practicing the objective by using the online app Tales2Go. This app can read
aloud text to students. This may help students have extra practice identifying text features. Students with LEP
may benefit most from using translation and bilingual apps. Apps that read aloud any text to the students, such
as Dragon Speak, can enhance their language development skills. Hearing the sounds and words repeatedly can
help them become familiar with how words should sound. Repetition is the key in helping LEP students excel in
writing and reading.
The last two days of the week, students are helping each other so that they have the opportunity to learn
from each other. It would look something like the table below:

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Group 1
Teacher
ParaEducator ParaEducator/
Below
with
Technology
Heterogeneous groups
technology
Center
working on similar skills
Group 2
Independent/ Teacher
Independent
Middle
Technology
Center
Group 3
ParaEducator Independent/ Teacher
Above
Technology
Center
Though the general education and Special Education teachers should be the main people who are
helping students move toward success, sharing the data with students and families would help all members of
the community get involved in mastering the objectives.

ASSESSMENT
Students should be assessed using different modes of assessment. Both formative and summative as well
as formal and informal assessment need to take place. A teacher should assess using a quiz/test but also through
a project. The test should not contain only be multiple choice but a variety of questions that would allow a
student who struggles with language and opportunity to succeed. Projects can vary in length and type.

Through our lessons, the teacher should be using some method of informal assessment to gage where the
students are. It can be done with an exit ticket, a thumbs-up/thumbs-down, through the use of an iPad and the
Socrative app, ActiveVotes (for Promethean Boards)/ equivalent for Smart Boards, or Edmodo. This will let the
teacher know to intervene earlier before they continue falling through the cracks.
The specialists should also have a large say on what type of assessment needs to be done. He or she
should be the ones conducting the assessment in order to verify validity and reliability.

Initiative II
Title: High Achieving Students Should Be High All Around
Goal: After considering the MSA scores for certain students, this initiative focuses on raising scores on
objectives in the classroom for ALL students despite their grades on the MSAs. Our group has come up with
several strategies and suggestions to do this that include different personnel in the school as well as technology
in our plan of action. The goal of this initiative is to improve achievement on exit slips for students who scored
high on the MSA exams. This improvement will lead to higher achievement on summative and formative
assessments. We will do this through improving motivation and setting high expectations for all students.
Students, families, and teachers will understand the benefit of keeping expectations high for all students so that
students understand the importance of doing their very best all the time.

Rationale:
Students who scored advanced on the MSA did not score high on all three objectives. This is a strong
indication that the objectives were poorly taught and should be retaught in a different way. Though there are
many contributing factors affecting test scores, students who overall do well on standardized testing should, for
the most part, do well in the classroom. There are, however, students are great test takers but not students. Either
way, it is apparent that students did not understand the concepts and so need a second chance.

Learning Objectives:

Lrng Objective # 1: Students will be able to identify text features such as title, table of contents,
heading, caption, glossary, and index in an online text.

Lrng Objective # 2: Students will be able to use search tools to quickly locate supporting details of a
given main idea in an online article.

Lrng Objective # 3: Students will be able to analyze a text through the use of search tools and determine
which text features are used and explain why each text feature is important.

Initiative Objectives:

Explain clear expectations for students and set goals with the class. (Example: 80% or above on all
exit slips.)

Reteach learning objectives with the goal being all students will score above 80%

Set private goals with students who scored advanced on the MSA to score above 90%

Students who scored advanced on MSA complete extra practice packets either at home or during
independent time in the classroom

7 7 8 9 10
8 9 9 9 10
7 7 7 8 7
9 10 8 9 10
7 8 8 7 8
9 9 10 9 10
8 9 9 8 8
8 8 8 9 9
9 10 10 9 10

8.2
9
7.2
9.2
7.6
9.4
8.4
8.4
9.6
8.5

7
6
9
7
7
7
7
7
7

8
8
5
8
8
8
8
8
6

9
7
7
7
5
8
8
7
7

8 7
8 9
7 6
7 7
9 7
9 10
9 9
9 9
9 8

7.8
7.6
6.8
7.2
7.2
8.4
8.2
8
7.4
7.6

Homework

4.9

attendance

Objective 3

Objective 2
5.45

Class average
4
5
8
9
12
16
17
18
19
Average of students

6.08

Objective 1

DATA: Gathered and displayed visually that fuels our initiative and reasons why this needs to be addressed:

6
7
7
7
8
7
7
7
7

8
7
8
7
8
6
7
8
6

7
8
7
7
8
8
6
7
5

8
9
7
6
8
7
7
6
5

9
9
8
8
7
7
7
7
6

7.6
8
7.4
7
7.8
7
6.8
7
5.8
7.1

90
100
78
96
82
84
100
92
94

4
5
4
5
4
4
5
4
4

Based on the above tables, students who scored advanced on the MSA scored an average of 7.7 on their exit
slips. Even though this average is well above the average of the class this is still a low average. The
expectations must be set that students should be doing their very best on all assignments. It is clear from the
visual that these students did not understand the assignments and so reteach must take place. All students
should know that in our class their best is the only thing that will be accepted.
PLAN OF ACTION
The first thing that needs to happen is to analyze the scores on the MSA and compare the type of
questions being asked with how the teacher teaches the class. This will illuminate any discrepancies between the
language on the test and the language being use to assess students by the teacher. The teacher should also
analyze the student assessments to better understand what they did not understand. This will help fuel and
guide the reteaching process which would benefit the entire classroom based on the overall low scores in each
of the objectives. Reteaching the material in a different way is the key for all students to master this material.
By differentiating the lessons to target the needs of all the students the students will then be able to achieve our

goal .Before reteaching, however, the teacher should model for students what mastery of each objective would
look like so that they have an idea of where they should be going. This should be done on a SmartBoard or
device that can visually show students what is expected of them. After the objectives are modeled then the
teacher should work with the students in a guided lesson where all students are using their own iPad or Chrome
book. The teacher will walk the students through how to master the objective. Finally students should use their
device to practice completing the assignment and show understanding of the objective.
A good way to monitor that students are engaged and learning the material before a major assessment is
to give them short quizzes and other type of assessments beforehand. This will demonstrate progression from
one objective to another. In this case, technology is a great way to assess students. Websites like Edmodo allow
one to create quizzes online and have the students take it on the computer. Apps like Socrative allow for quick
input at the beginning, during and end of lessons to gage where students are in their understanding. Instead of a
quiz just being multiple choice, it can be an essay question. If the quiz or test is better suited for multiple choice
type questions, students could explain why the other answers are incorrect or why the correct answer is in fact
the correct one. This is a great way to indicate if students are only memorizing facts or if they are truly
understanding/mastering the objective. The teacher should promptly review the questions and answers as a
whole group once a grade or score has been given.
The entire class community should be involved with the reteach. All students and families should know
why the reteach is happening and what they need to do to be successful. The administration should know about
the reteach so that they can support students when they see them in the school. Also, the school and families
should be working together to get the attendance rate up. Once students are in school more they will be more
likely to do better. High attendance shows that students value being at school. It is important that everyone is
on board with helping students be successful.

ASSESSMENT

Students will be assessed daily using the same format and types of questions as the original assessments.
This way it will be clear which students achieved their goal and which did not. Once a student completed an
assessment they will receive the assessment the next day with a score and feedback for how to improve.
Students will keep track of their scores on the tracker and will celebrate successes. It will be important to
celebrate any success and improvement to keep students motivated.

Initiative III
Title: Improving Classroom Engagement
Goal: After looking at the data presented, this initiative focuses on improving daily engagement in lessons
despite being present in the classroom. Taking into consideration the multiple reasons why students are not able
to attend school, our group focuses on the students who are in class but still demonstrate low levels in class.

Rationale:
Despite the fact that the majority of the students with better attendance had higher averages in the
learning objectives and homework accuracy, not all of them had the best classwork averages or homework
accuracy scores. 20 out of the 25 students had 80% or better attendance rates, but not all of those students had
the best classwork averages or homework scores. In fact, out of 20 students who had 80% attendance or better,
16 of those students scored a 4 or 5 in their accuracy in homework. From those 16 students, only TWO students
had an average of 80% or higher on the learning objectives.
This shows that although a student may attend school frequently, it does not necessarily mean that they
comprehend what is being taught. The attendance is also not a clear indicator that homework accuracy scores
will be higher. This is indicates that there may be a specific reason why the student is not engaged or the lesson
is not being taught sufficiently. There are many factors that can contribute to a student not doing well in school
despite having almost perfect attendance. Here is a list of some potential factors:

Lessons may be taught in ways that make it difficult for a student to understand

A student may have missed or misinterpreted something said which caused them to fall further behind

There could be a language barrier

Students needs may not be met because of lack of accommodations

Student got into a fight with a friend or family

Personal lives: divorce, death, sickness, hunger, etc.

Medication may be out of whack

There are endless more factors that will cause students to fall behind. Attendance is just a very small portion
of it. This showcases how lessons need to be taught in different ways.

Learning Objectives:

Lrng Objective # 1: Participate in a class or small group lesson using technology for shared writing or
language experience stories

Lrng Objective # 2: Participate in a class lesson using technology tools exploring, collecting, and
displaying data

Lrng Objective # 3: Reflect and discuss the advantages of collaboration supported by technology tools

Classroom Objectives:

Students will brainstorm ideas for a collaborative story writing activity

Students will use a computer processing software to prepare their writing

Students will create a Thread to record and present their stories

Initiative Objectives:

Raise student classroom assessment grades up to 80%.

Raise homework accuracy for students earning 4 below to 4 or 5.

Raise student objective averages above the class average of 5.46

Develop and/or change lessons that are more engaging

Review homework assignments before and after students are given a grade

DATA: Gathered and displayed visually that fuels our initiative and reasons why this needs to be addressed:

The two graphs show how the homework scores compare to the objective averages and how
the attendance compares to the homework scores.

This table shows three columns. The first

column shows the attendance rate. The
second column shows the homework
accuracy. The third column shows the
average of ALL three objectives put
together.
The yellow in the first column shows
students who were are at school 80% or
higher.
The yellow in the second column shows
students who received a 4 or 5 out of the
students in the first column.
The yellow in the third column shows the
only two students who had average of
80% or above in the three objectives.
This table shows that despite the high
attendance and high accuracy in grades,
many students are not performing well in
class.

PLAN OF ACTION
Getting the students to actually attend school is not the issue. The issue is making sure that the students
comprehend everything that is being taught in the classroom in order for them to complete the homework. If
they are confused about the classwork, they will be less likely to complete the homework correctly. The teachers
should review homework assignments in class prior to being assigned so that students can have the option to
clarify any questions. The teacher should do one or two problems of the homework in class with the students so

they a) see what is expected and b) hopefully clarify the confusion. As for grading homework, there should be
three different small grades that make up the entire grade: 1 point for completing it/trying, 1 point for accuracy
and 1 point for fixing the mistakes when going over it. This will ensure that students are being rewarded for
trying, for their accuracy and for their commitment to improve (which is a powerful message). Another
suggestion that could work for some teachers but not all is to include incentives. Incentives would be given for
accurate homework and classwork. Students who receive higher scores will receive a prize or if the class
improves as a whole, they will have a group rewards (ex: ice cream or pizza party). Homework could also be
delivered and accessed online. It is so easy to forget a piece of paper at home or at school or misplace it
accidentally (or on purpose). Edmodo, a very useful tool for teachers and students, allows teachers to have
online homework. This will ensure that students AND parents have access to homeworks. Online homework
assignments allow students to complete it at home while helping the teacher in the following ways: a) grades it,
b) has access wherever he/she is, c) can let parents access it, d) is a record that is online so it wont be lost, and
e) students are more likely to complete it. A possible limitation to using technology in this way is that some
students may not have access to a computer at home. Depending on their socioeconomic level, students may
only have opportunities to work on computers at school or at a library. I think that a teacher would have to use a
survey at the beginning of the year to determine whether or not students have computers at home.
It is extremely important that teachers create engaging and stimulating lessons. All teachers struggling
with this can do several things to help them create more engaging lessons. They can turn to the professional
development staff person in the school for ideas. They can turn to colleagues to observe or for suggestions.
They can become members of online communities where resources, blogs and forums can be accessed (Edmodo
is one that works well for this). They can turn to the internet for more ideas. Websites like Pinterest provide
ideas that when adapted for students can be extremely useful and engaging. It is important to note that teachers
may have to change how they speak by reflecting on their tone, voice and level of enthusiasm. Students feed off
the teachers enthusiasm and that affects how engaged they are in a lesson.
Using technology would be another way to engage students. Some students who are more
technologically savvy will be able to excel in this and help other students who are not as knowledgeable.

Students who do not have access to technology will be more engaged and invested because they may not have
other opportunities. Having students come up to the board is an excellent way to make sure that all students are
engaged. Students often want to share their thoughts and have the opportunity to interact with the board. Using
flipcharts (for Promethean Boards) and notebooks (for Smart Boards), students can visually see and interact
with the information presented. A good website to get free board resources is prometheanplanet.com. This site
contains many wonderfully created flipcharts that have students get out of their seat and move stuff on the
board. Of course, a teacher should always check the material and adapt it to meet his/her students needs.
Teachers can also use iPads in the classroom will generate more enthusiasm in the class. Students often want to
play games and do new activities. Presenting them with an iPad will hit both targets. The goal is to get students
excited about lessons so that they are both physically and mentally present.
Yet another way to ensure that all students are paying attention is using random calling sticks, also
known as equity sticks. This method is often called cold call among professionals in the field of education. A
teacher will call students by drawing sticks from a container. Once that student has been called the teacher
should place the stick back into the container so that the student may be called up again. This makes sure that
even when called up, students still need to be paying attention. Another benefit of this system is that it removes
the teacher from the equation. Students would not see it as the teacher picking on them but as something that
just happened. This sticks can also be created virtually would make things more interesting for the students.
There are many already made virtual sticks where die a rolled, or comets fly through the air, or frogs jump.
Parents can also be a huge help in order to achieve our goal. Teachers can conduct different types of
workshop with parents to help them help their students. Instead of using the typical model where parents have
to take time and come into school for the workshops, teacher can find other alternatives. For example, maybe
they can create a VoiceThread or another sort of media medium to communicate with parents. This way, parents
can go back and re-watch/re-listen the information given to them. This may also work better with families who
do not have time to come to school for a session because they are working multiple jobs. Either way,
communication is key between parents and students to ensure that the same message is being received at home
and at school.

The teacher should reach out to other school staff like a reading, math specialists and ParaEducators to
pull out students when they have specific gaps in their knowledge. Teachers should collaborate with them to
find different ways that the teacher may be able to use to teach a particular lesson. Diving the class into three
groups would be useful because there can be stations: a teacher driven station, a ParaEducator driven station and
a technology station where they can either work on their homework or practice skills using apps and/or other
websites. Groups can be created by using scores on formal and informal assessments, homeworks and overall
impressions of the students understanding. A teacher could split the class in to tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3. Tier 1
would include students who are high and can make it on their own with the regular classwork. Tier 2 would
include students who need extra intervention or may be specialized lessons from the specialist. Tier 3 would
include students who need extensive interventions to get them to level. The specialist can help you figure out
the best ways to reach all of these students.

ASSESSMENT
The students will be assessed by completing pop quizzes and will be required to reteach a lesson in a
group. The lessons will be short and will concentrate on specific objectives. The students will have creative
freedom to present the lesson in a way that is easy for them to understand. The presentations must be developed
while in class. The teacher will provide feedback to clarify any concerns or questions for the students after each
short lesson given by the students. The pop quizzes will focus more on major concepts and vocabulary words. A
final project will be the final assessment. The assessments will interpret attendance, engagement, and
comprehension. The students must be present in order to obtain credit.

PHASE III
Your name: Santiago Sere
615 DATA DRIVEN DECISION MAKING PROJECT
PHASE III and MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION

PHASE III SCHOOL LEVEL INITIATIVE PLAN (15%)

Please note that you are NOT required to follow this template in this order. You can organize your writing in way you
determine to be most logical. However, be sure that all questions in this template are answered well before you submit
Phase III.
Purpose of this assignment: This is the third and final phase of the three-part course Data-Driven Decision-Making
Project and will be completed individually based on the Phase II group work. The goal of this assignment is to plan stepby-step actions for implementation of a level-wide data-driven improvement plan for students. An individual multi-media
presentation, in which the student reflects on planning collaboratively and using data as a base for discussions and
improvement will also be included in the submission.
Be sure to copy/paste the data/graphs/charts as appropriate for some answers. A visual of a timeframe or other uses of
tables and images will add interest and clarity to the assignment. Please include these as you see fit.
1. Why did I choose this initiative and what learning will it support?
I chose to do Initiative II out my groups phase II for very different reasons. The first reason is because a
lot of attention gets placed on students who are below the average and are struggling but not a lot of focus is
placed on students who do well but may need an extra push. It makes sense why this occurs, this priority of
interest, but it doesnt mean that students who are doing well should be set aside. Students who are struggling
should be a priority for the school as they need to be given attention in order to bring them up. That same
differentiation has to apply to the students who are doing well. These students need to have differentiated
instruction to be pushed to the next level. These students have the same right for attention to be placed on them
and not placed on the back burner because they are doing well enough. These students should be pushed higher
as that is what needs to happen to create leaders and people who will eventually lead us.
I chose to focus on this initiative because I student taught at a highly gifted center where I was told time
and time again of how my students had been ignored by their teachers because they were smart enough. Once in
our classroom, my mentor and I further developed their thinking and the connection they would make would truly
amaze me. Sophisticated answers coming out of fourth graders is a wonderful thing to observe and that was only
done because we spent time nurturing their academics. That occurred because time and effort was placed on
them.

The last reason why I chose this initiative is because it is the only one that I did not have a major role in
writing it. I wanted to have the opportunity to take what someone else wrote and defend it and try to find ways that
I could get behind somebody elses work.

2. What data was used to substantiate my choice of this initiative?

All of the data came from the spreadsheets presented to us. From there, Naomi Perl, a group member,
did an amazing job in picking specific data that showcased this trend. Her graphs and background information
presented made the data readily available and understandable.
The data focuses on NUMBER OF STUDENTS and their MSA scores as well as their three learning
objective goals. The data demonstrates a disparity between the two that is worth taking a further look into. As a
group we asked ourselves, why are students scoring so high on the MSA but not high in class? Is it because they
arent being challenged? Is it because the methods instruction chosen are not meeting their needs? Or is it
because they lack the motivation in class (and what causes this lack of motivation? Is it teacher related or content
related?)? We may not know the answers for sure but we do know that there is a difference between scores on
the MSAs and scores in class.
3. What group of students will this initiative best serve? In what curriculum area?
This initiative focuses on high-performing students who may or may not be gifted and talented. It may
inadvertently help students who are not quite getting it by showing them that other students can and do well in
class. It may motivate other students in the class to work harder. The initiative will focus on the two main courses:
reading and math. In essence, the initiative is meant to bridge the gap between somewhat average to low average
scores on objectives but high performing on MSA scores.

4. What are the learning objectives for this initiative?

Learning Objectives:

Lrng Objective # 1: Students will be able to identify text features such as title, table of contents, heading,
caption, glossary, and index in an online text.

Lrng Objective # 2: Students will be able to use search tools to quickly locate supporting details of a given
main idea in an online article.

Lrng Objective # 3: Students will be able to analyze a text through the use of search tools and determine
which text features are used and explain why each text feature is important.

Initiative Objectives:

Explain clear expectations for students and set goals with the class. (Example: 80% or above on all exit
slips.)

Reteach learning objectives with the goal being all students will score above 80%

Set private goals with students who scored advanced on the MSA to score above 90%

Students who scored advanced on MSA complete extra practice packets either at home or during
independent time in the classroom

5. What are the detailed steps for initiative implementation?

Since we already have information available to us, the teacher should create the groups using the MSA
scores and the overall performance of the students. By graphing and charting both results, certain students
should be clear to see that they are doing better on standardized state assessments than in regular class.
The second step is to get a specialist or a third party member (another teacher perhaps) to come in and
conduct an assessment to gather a benchmark starting point. From there, the teacher may begin grouping
students which may mean taking students out from the original groups and regrouping them into other groups.
The teacher then must create lesson plans that that are differentiated between the amount of groups that
he/she has created. For this purpose, the teacher has created three groups: low, average and high. This initiative
focuses on the high group. These lesson plans must be submitted AT LEAST two days prior to lesson to an
administrator or other supervisor. By doing this, we are insuring that lessons are of quality and that truly push
students who are doing well do better. The day before the delivery of the lesson, the teacher must sit down with
the supervisor to receive feedback and discuss what is to be expected. From there, the teacher will deliver the
lesson ALWAYS making sure to collect some type of formal or informal assessment (anything from thumbsup/thumbs-down to exit tickets to quizzes) every day in class. This is to verify student engagement, participation
and to see if students are being motivated to work harder.
If no progress or improvement is show, teacher may need to add a motivation system in order to improve
participation thus improving performance.
Eventually, students will be required to take the MSA which will provide the last set of data necessary to
verify whether or not the implantation was successful. Once the school receives the MSA scores back, the same
group of teachers tasked with creating groups and analyzing students performance will have to meet again and

decide whether or not the initiative was successful and come with either another plan of action, or spread this
system to different teachers in the school.

6. What is the timeframe for initiative implementation?

This initiative would have to start once the MSA scores are received (which I believe is towards the end of the
summer). Teachers need to take a closer look at last years results and report card comments; they may even
have to meet with students previous teachers to discuss students. Teachers also need enough time to gather
current information about how the student performs in class. This whole step could easily take from September to
late October. This two month period will ensure students are more comfortable and are presenting reliable work.
Teacher should be ready to being pushing students starting mid-November. It will be hard to see any progress
until the year later until students take and receive their new MSA scores. This initiative should be started right
away and continued till the end of the year,
7. Who will be involved and be responsible for the successful implementation of this initiative? What role will each
member play in the implementation process and when?
In order for this initiative to be successful, the following members will have to play a role:

homeroom teachers
specialists
administrators

The teacher will obviously play the bigger role as he/she will plan, deliver and assess the lessons and students.
The specialist will obtain a bench mark for the school year so that they have a good baseline to decide which
group the students need to be in. Finally, the administrator or supervisor will ensure that the lesson presented are
of quality and make sense. Pre-delivery meetings will eventually decrease but those meetings will take time. The
feedback received from these meetings should be used to improve the original lessons in order to better meet
high-performing students needs.

8. What will be the assessment(s) of different parts of the implementation? How will the assessments take place?
By whom? When?
The assessments used will be collected daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly. They will be chosen by the teacher
after getting approved and feedback from his/her supervisor/administrator. Assessment tools in the classroom will
include exit tickets, worksheets, weekly or bimonthly quizzes, tests, and projects. The teacher will be responsible
for administering these assessments. The first baseline-gathering assessment will be administered by a specialist.

Of course, the MSA will also be used to see how the performance of this group of students compares to their
overall performance in their classroom.

9. Overall how will I know whether or not this initiative will be a success? What data, assessment processes and/or
indicators will give me this information? What are the expectations or 'criteria' for the assessment measures?
The initiative will be considered successful depending on the results on the MSAs. If students who performed well
on the MSA are performing above average in class, then the initiative was successful. If the students who are
performing high in class performed high on the MSA, the initiative was successful. According to the learning
objectives, students must obtain an 80% or above on their classroom objectives while scoring an Advance on their
MSAs.

Summary:

The chosen initiative for Phase III focuses on high-performing students and compares their overall performance in
their classroom objective to their scores on the MSAs. The goal of this initiative is to bridge the gap between classroom
performance (how low it was) to scores on the MSA (high scores) from semi to high-performing students. The initiative will
begin by taking a closer look and analyzing student performance on their previous year and a baseline assessment as
well as their scores from the MSAs by the homeroom teacher and a specialist. The teacher will be required to place
students in three different groups: low, medium, high (relevant group to initiative). From there, the teacher and an
administrator will work closely to ensure that lessons are well planned and rigorous enough for the students to push
themselves in the classroom. The final analysis of whether or not the initiative was successful will be done after receiving
the new MSA scores for that year.
Conclusion:
Often times a lot of emphasis and resources are placed on students who are struggling or arent performing as
well as they should. This, unfortunately, comes with a prize; setting aside the needs and education of students who are
doing well and can be pushed to do better. These students are often times placed to the side because we have more
pressing matters to attend. We have to make sure that all students in our class are meeting our objectives and
expectations but that usually means either lowering the bar for the entire class or not meeting some students needs. It is
imperative that as classroom teacher we take the time and cultivate and develop each and every single mind in our chairs.
We need to expend our time, energy and resources to ensure that all of our students needs are being met; this means

helping our struggling students improve but also improve our high-performing students. The question now is, how can we
do both when there is little time, little energy and little resources for just the one group?

Multimedia Presentation is available here: http://prezi.com/-vu5wtvnlpjm/edtc-615-phase-ii-project/

More information is detailed below. For the most part, however, the information is the same as in the Prezi.
1. What was the most powerful part of the team experience?
Working in groups can always be an opportunity for growth. Personally, receiving and giving feedback on work
was extremely useful. It allowed me to have my work analyzed and provided me with feedback to improve. The
other powerful part of this team was being the leader and coordinating everything. From getting things started, to
communicating with team members, to supporting team members, being the leader allowed me to develop as a
professional. The skills being developed as a leader will hopefully one day come in handy if I ever choose to take
a different position in a school.
2. What was my weakest moment?
At times I did not feel like I was not proactive enough. I feel like may have waited too long to send out a message
which then I felt responsible for the information because I had not provided sufficient time for people to get their
work done. I did feel like I put a lot of responsibilities on myself as the group leader.
3. What was my biggest challenge during the process? Why? What can I do personally to eliminate this challenge
next time?
The biggest challenge that I faced during this project was staying afloat with everything else going on in my life. I
was also the leader of another group project team for a different graduate class which caused a lot of stress. My
teacher role also caused me to put my focus elsewhere as my students come first before my own schooling. I also
made a commitment this school year to balance my work life and my social life a bit better. I tend to allow my work
and school to take over my life but I worked really hard to maintain a healthy balance between the three factors.
One thing that I can do for future classes is not take the leadership role for once. I am not used to having a leader
direct me but it might be a nice change of pace.
4. How did this Phase II team process and assignment add to my understanding of data-driven decision making in
the schools?
Working in a group presented me with opportunities where my ideas were analyzed by other professionals and
feedback was presented to improve. I also took the role of the analyzer allowing me to determine whether or not
certain initiatives could work. It put me in a position that I may be in someday giving me practice and tools to be
ready. The project also helped develop my understanding of data-drive decisions since it had me go through the
process of analyzing data, coming up with a problem to help fix, create objectives, and develop a plan to help
students. The only step that was not included was collecting the data ourselves.
5. What suggestion(s) do you have to the team and/or the instructor so that Phases I, II, and III can be better
planned for next semester's 615 students?
Moving forward, I think that there should be as many initiatives expected from each group as the number of
people in the group. That way, every person is in charge of their own initiative which is the majority of the work.
The group will review, analyze, support and provide feedback for each initiative once completed by a member of
the group.