Dramatic Academic Growth
Students make dramatic levels of academic growth (that is measurable and rigorous). Families know the level of rigor necessary for college and career readiness in the 21st century.
Introduction
It is well known that there are deeply rooted challenges in our country that have created educational inequity. Unfortunately, this impacts predominately black, brown, and Latino students in low-income communities. This results in students often needing to make dramatic academic growth to be competitive with their peers from wealthy districts. Within this section, I highlight the transformational work my students have done to grow from 6% to 81% mastery during the 2018-2019 school year.
For quantitative evidence, this section highlight Unit Assessments and their monitoring on paceline reports. These Unit Assessments are created by curriculum developers and specialists in the Achievement First Network in alignment with the fifth grade Common Core Standards. The Achievement First team works tirelessly to ensure students are assessed with the same level of depth the RICAS (Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System) will present to them.
For qualitative evidence, this section highlights the skill progression I use to transition students from fluency in the area model to fluency in the standard algorithm. Given the confidence they enter 5th grade with using the area model, this can be a challenging skill to teach. By being intentional, incorporating phase work, and encouraging students to discover mathematics, they are able to build their procedural understanding of the standard algorithm while testing its efficiency.
Using both quantitative and qualitative data is important to have a deep understanding of students' learning. Both of these data sets give me a greater insight into student misconceptions or gaps in their learning, which allows me to tailor my instruction accordingly. Being able to adapt my teaching to my students' strengths and weaknesses is critical for dramatic academic growth.
Conclusion
As an educator, dramatic academic growth is my driving force. Each year my students come in with different skills at individually varying levels. To ensure they are academically prepared, my pedagogy must be grounded in both quantitative and qualitative data. Using the Unit Assessments and paceline reports allowed me to identify and communicate with students, and their families, their progress. This included a thorough picture of the past, present, and future levels. Being able to reflect in this manner consistently ensured I was responsive with my teaching while giving students continuous feedback.
Similarly the work my students completed for qualitative data allowed them to gain a deeper understanding of each standard they worked with. Given the growing complexity and competitiveness of high-stakes testing, students must be procedurally and conceptually competent. While this work does not negate the challenges in urban education, my students have done work in our classroom is exemplary for others.