Hi, DACs, Principals and Psychs.

Below is the 5th installment of "What's New in the HVED Data World."If you think the rest of your staff would find any of the information helpful, please forward the e-mail along to them as well.

If you have suggestions for items to include in any of these sections in future "What's New" e-mails, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thanks. Have a great day.

Dan

Districts successes to celebrate

In an attempt to better connect with your problem solving teams (TAT, SAT, SST, Special Education teams, whatever they are called in your school or district), I have been working with the psychologists to set up times to attend meetings out in your districts. During the first half of the year, I was able to visit almost all of the teams once. In the last week, I have begun a second round of visits. My purpose in making the visits is to listen to what questions the teams are asking about students and work with the teams to determine how I can help them to more easily access data to answer those questions.

During my visits, I noticed a number of successful practices that teams were using already to help them to better use data to drive instruction. For example, the most effective teams:

  1. Took time during their meetings to discuss both individual cases and systems issues (e.g., trainings in using Tier II interventions, planning for using advisory time to share data with students)
  2. Required referring teachers to submit referral forms before the meeting and copies the forms for the team members
  3. Included data printouts from the data warehouse and/or AIMSweb, NWEA websites in referral packets, and explicitly referred to them during meetings
  4. Assigned specific meeting followup responsibilities to team members, including observing in the classroom after the meeting to see how the proposed intervention was working

Data tools you can use

One data tool that problem solving teams have found helpful and that I haven’t mentioned in detail yet in a “What’s New” e-mail is the Cognos “1-click graph.” These graphs are available in Cognos to staff with “administrative” access to the data warehouse. This includes, of course, principals, superintendents, DACs, special ed directors and curriculum directors, but also includes any other staff member who works with more than just students in a class they teach (e.g., special ed teachers, school psychologists, counselors, social workers, etc.).

The graphs can be accessed by logging into Cognos (see 1-page directions for logging in and setting up your portal and accessing and navigating within 1-click graphs on “Resources”>”Data-Based Decision-Making Resources” page of website under the “Cognos training materials” subheading) and clicking on the appropriate folder and graph in your “My Portal” window on the lefthand side. The graphs problem solving teams have found most helpful, I believe, are the ones that show the percent of students who are “on track” to be proficient on the MCA-II based on their performance on the AIMSweb Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) measure (ORF Proficiency) or the NWEA MAP Math or Reading test (MAP Proficiency). These graphs are also available by “Special Population,” meaning that the graphs show what percent of students of different ethnicities, in Special Ed, on Free/Reduced Price Lunch, or receiving Limited English Proficiency (LEP) programming are on track to be proficient on the MCA-II based on their ORF or MAP scores. Users can then drill down within the graphs and see what percent of students are on track at each grade level as well. Finally, users can drill down one step further and see a list of specifically which students are not on track. Problem solving teams have used this list, along with other information they have on students, to identify students in need of more intensive intervention.

Resource highlights from the HVED website

While I have completed trainings in many of your districts in using the iCue Tests and Assessments portion of the website, fewer of you have yet been trained in using Cognos. If your staff with administrative access to the data warehouse would like training in Cognos, don’t hesitate to contact me at or 507-452-1200, ext. 128. For more information about that training and other common trainings I conduct, do to click on “Resources,” select “Data-Based Decision-Making Resources,” and choose “HVED Data Management Trainings and Presentations” toward the bottom of the page. This document will outline for you the time and resources needed, ideal number of attendees and topics covered within some trainings I often conduct out in districts. I can of course do other trainings beyond those listed depending on your district’s needs. Feel free to contact me with any specific requests.

Your problem solving team may also be interested in the problem solving resources available by going again to clicking on “Resources,” selecting “Responsiveness to Intervention Initiative” and then choosing “RTI SLD Eligibility Materials.” On this page, your teams will find, among other things:

  1. A document entitled “HVED Recs for Districts Transition to RtI” which outlines HVED’s recommendations for districts considering using the new RtI SLD eligibility criteria for determining if students are eligible for Specific Learning Disability (SLD) services
  2. Guidelines and a criteria worksheet for using the RtI criteria

Problem solving team forms recommended by HVED psychologists for use in the problem solving process