This summer, I created assessment grids for each standard. I was excited. If students know what is expected of them (not simply the expectations you have for them but the facts and concepts they must know) and are held accountable, they will succeed. People place value on the things they are held accountable for. Simple premise, guaranteed results.
I combined the grids with Gagne's Instructional Design Model, pitched the program to my administration, and rolled it out. Then, I gave the first test of the year.... The students failed miserably...
Okay.. this is still an implementation year and this is not my dissertation yet... HOWEVER, my idea made so much sense to me.. How could it not work?
I, of course, cannot re-teach the same material this year. There's an end-of-course exam and I must keep moving. Do I go back to the old way? Do I keep going? It matters because grades and GPAs and scholarships are effected... I have decided to look closer at how the program is being rolled out to see what we missed. This is the answer.. Accountability is the answer... but maybe not..
So how to you balance those kids who don't "get it" the first time with the need to move ahead? I have this issue with my inclusion kids. Even WITH a co-teacher I can't keep going backwards!! I have inclusion kids and advanced kids in the same room. It doesn't work. When I cam through school I was in an advanced program. We had our own wing of the school. We did everything together. Classes, recess, lunch, study hall. It was great. We knew we were different and we had different expectations. Why cant we go back to that!
ReplyDeleteI think we have to focus on the needs of each student and move as quickly as we can. I try to vary presentation styles as much as possible; However, there are still kids who are bored because they should be in an advanced class and aren't for some reason.. Frustrating...
ReplyDeleteTracy, I believe it was just your original post that we couldn't comment on (I still don't know why). At any rate, very interesting that the students fared poorly on the assessment!! Hmmmm... Have you discussed with anyone else that is implementing? How did the other students do? There are a number of assessments embedded in the semester correct? So let's see how they continue to fare. In sport psychology research, when you change someone's swing or put (an automatic process) performance is expected to decrease at first. I'm not implying the students are experts, BUT it could just be that change alone caused the decrease in performance. Generally it takes time to see improvements after you implement something new. I encourage you to stick with it and see how they progress. Another option for your dissertation is to conduct a process evaluation (as opposed to or in combination with a product evaluation) to identify WHY it didn't work (if in fact it turns out that the implementation was unsuccessful).
ReplyDeleteThere is a definite decline in grades on the first assessment. However, there is also a truer focus on required material and higher level questioning on the test. I reviewed the tests by each section, tallied missed questions, and reviewed any topics where more than 1/3 of the students in that specific class had missed a question regarding the topic. The issue seemed to be test taking strategies more so than lack of understanding of the concept. I can fix that issue. My colleagues had similarly low scores and feel that it is the level of questioning at the root of the issue. I feel we can fix that with a few minor modifications to presentations. This is the answer! I really believe it is.
ReplyDeleteI can give you my test taking skills lesson if you would like. Kids love it and it really seems to work!
ReplyDeleteThat would be great!! Thanks!
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