Teaching By The Numbers

Rigby, IDAHO—From the noise that spills out into the hallway one might think an athletic event is taking place nearby. But the din of energized voices punctuated by the occasional cheer can be traced, not to Rigby High School's gym, but to a usually calm language arts classroom. Inside, students are pitted against each other in a particularly competitive round of "jeopardy."

No, Alex Trebec and his Clue Crew are not recruiting for the TV game show in this farming community north of Idaho Falls. This Jeopardy!®-like competition—modeled after the TV version, but written and hosted by 12th-grade teacher Esther Henry—is helping students grasp the finer nuances of the English language, covering such topics as narrative voice, prepositions, and formal versus informal writing. Created via computer program, the game has proven helpful in motivating students to learn course material in a fun, interactive way. The activity also serves as a formative assessment through which Henry gains valuable feedback on student comprehension. And it's just one of many vehicles Henry and colleagues Donna Duerden and Gail Taylor—teachers of 11th and 10th grades, respectively—have found to collect student performance data with the objective of improving their teaching.

The three teachers, all veteran educators (Duerden with more than a dozen years in front of a classroom, Henry and Taylor with close to two decades each), are relative newcomers to the practice of analyzing data to inform their instruction. But having glimpsed the power the numbers can hold to improve student learning, they have become quick converts.

COLLECTING DATA

"Many teachers don't understand how important data are to their teaching," says Duerden. "It seems like one more thing we don't have time to do, but if we take time to analyze data, we're able to use class time more efficiently. We know where to go and what to teach."

Indeed, Duerden, Henry, and Taylor all say their teaching is more focused since they started reading the numbers.

All three use an assessment at the beginning and end of term to track student learning. Originally intended as an end-of-course exam only, the test covers key terms and concepts the teachers identified as important for each grade level. The test—based on state and district standards, as well as Elements of Literature, a standards-based Holt, Rinehart, and Winston textbook the district recently adopted—was created by Duerden, Taylor, and Henry using ExamView® software. This software, which came with their new textbook package, allows teachers to insert their own content along with questions developed by the publisher into a template for LAN-based testing.

Using the exam as a pre- as well as posttest allows the teachers to better track student progress and to identify areas that need instructional attention. "You can see areas where kids are (scoring) lowest," notes Duerden, "so if everyone gets 'first person' but struggles with 'hyperbole,' I can hit this harder in instruction. I look at the pretest for guidance in direct teaching. Then, in the posttest, I can see if they got it."

Because the test is computer-based, results are immediate. "Kids take the test online and get instant feedback," explains Duerden. "And the data are embedded. So, to open the test, I just double-click, and I know which kids missed which questions. Plus there is the ability to attach properties to questions." This allows Duerden to identify questions linked to a particular concept. If students miss questions applying to that concept, it's clear they need additional instruction in that area.

It's clear to students as well as teachers, observes Henry: "Students hardly ever say, 'Do we have to do this?' anymore because they know why we're teaching what we're teaching."

In addition to the pre- and posttest, the teachers use a range of other data-generating assessments to inform their instruction. Duerden and Taylor have found the activities and quizzes on www.quia.com—a Web site designed by Quia Corporation to help teachers deliver lesson content in fun, interactive ways— to be especially valuable. The design of the site allows teachers to insert their own course material into a range of templates—for example, games similar to Concentration™, where students match up virtual playing cards (in this case, English terms to definitions), and Quia's own Challenge Board, which is similar to Henry's Jeopardy!®-like game. The Web site also includes tools to help teachers collect and analyze data. Students "play" at least one of these online quizzes/games every week.

"Students love the games," says Taylor. "They read (course material) to get to the games. They work to get the carrot. They're having fun."

"Plus, they like tracking their own progress," Duerden adds. The students record their performance on a detailed chart so they can see areas that need attention. "This helps them take ownership in their own learning."

The teachers also use traditional writing assessments. Duerden's students, for example, write an analytical paper guided by a clear rubric for their final project. The rubric sets well-defined goals for students and ensures that scoring is consistent, whether in self-evaluation, peer review, or teacher grading.

THE NUMBERS SPEAK

In their first term of data collection last year, weekly quiz scores documented that "students were really picking up the terminology," Duerden reports. "Student growth went beyond what I thought was possible. The average class growth was 37 percent."

When students took the end-of-course exam, however, "students didn't do as well as I expected," Duerden reveals. There was growth, but not the gains expected. "I thought I had learning covered in the areas of rote memory, identification, and application, but I realized students needed more practice with application. I realized I needed to change my teaching to put more emphasis on higher-level thinking." Henry and Taylor had similar revelations.

Without analyzing the data, Duerden says she might have missed this important feedback. "Teachers sometimes have blinders on," she says. "There's a difference between thinking students are learning and actually seeing that they are (through data)."

Other members of the department weren't as quick to jump on the bandwagon. When the threesome shared their findings at staff meetings, Duerden says, "some of the teachers just about died because the data [revealed weaknesses] in some areas and they could see their names at the top of those charts down the road."

"This is one of the brick walls we had to tear down," says Taylor. "It's a comparative thing, not a competition. We need to share instead of hide in our rooms. We need to turn to each other for camaraderie and support—be able to approach each other and say, 'I can see from your scores your kids really understood that concept. What did you do?'" After all, she says, "we're all in this together. We're here to help the kids."

After a year and a half of sharing their findings, Duerden, Taylor, and Henry report they finally have department "buy-in." This year, the end-of-course exam will be administered departmentwide, and staff members—even the foot-draggers—admit they are curious to see what story the numbers will tell.

CONSIDER THIS

Technical support is critical. Duerden, Taylor, and Henry all admit that the data-collection methods they employ would not be possible without the dedicated support of their district technology coordinator.

Professional development is key. Though an administrator suggested developing end-of-course assessments years ago, it wasn't until Duerden, Taylor, and Henry attended workshops sponsored by the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation that they "caught the vision." Two Teaching With Technology workshops—the first focusing on standards, project-based learning, technology tools, and assessment; the second concentrating on leadership skills, collaboration, technology tools, and the use of data in instruction—proved immensely helpful, say the teachers.

Additionally, Duerden brought a wealth of experience and inspiration to the party after serving as a technology fellow for the foundation for a year and being awarded an Equipping the Best grant. This grant stocked her classroom with about $40,000 worth of computer equipment. It was when the foundation asked for feedback and student performance data surrounding the use of this technology that Duerden rallied the troops and got the Rigby data-train moving.

Don't be afraid of the numbers. Analyzing data can help focus instruction and improve student achievement, and helping students succeed is what it's all about.

Create a safe, collaborative environment for sharing ideas. It helps to have a colleague with whom you can brainstorm/communicate/evaluate, says Duerden. "Just comparing data with a close friend is a good beginning." Once it becomes obvious that you aren't alone, collaboration can begin.

Take the baseline pretest seriously. In addition to helping inform teachers' teaching strategies (when scores indicate areas of need), it helps students identify material they will be responsible for learning and gain an understanding of the purpose and process of instruction.

Examine data from various perspectives. Close scrutiny of assessments can yield new learning. For example, if Duerden had looked only at weekly quiz results without comparing them to end-of-course test data, she might have missed that students needed additional instruction in the application of key terms and concepts. And sometimes, a dip in scores can flag a problem with the test itself. When students consistently missed a question asking them to identify whether a phrase was an example of alliteration, consonance, or assonance, Rigby teachers looked more closely and realized the phrase applied to more than one of the terms in question.

Remember, it's a process. "Teachers get so overwhelmed," says Duerden. "You can't do it all at once. Reflect, analyze, and write yourself some notes; then make necessary adjustments the next time around."

In Idaho, students are hitting their keyboards to test their gamesmanship and writing skills online—generating a data-trail of learning that's leading their teachers to new insights.

COLLECTING DATA

THE NUMBERS SPEAK

CONSIDER THIS

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