E-6, Novice, 3rd Grade, Math
Post-Observation Conversation (Excerpt)
EVALUATOR: Since this is our first post-observation conversation of the year, it’s a great time for us to make sure that you’re on the right track to meeting your big goal and making significant gains for your students. Let’s start by talking about the data.
Teacher: OK.
EVALUATOR: First, tell me how you’re assessing and tracking students’ progress toward your big goal.
Teacher: Ugh, well, this is definitely where I’m struggling. I’m trying a new assessment/tracking system, which I think will assess my students much more accurately. But I’m just really struggling with it right now, and when I tried to put my data together for this meeting, I just felt like it was a mess!
EVALUATOR: You sound really discouraged. I know when I was teaching, it always took time to perfect new systems in my classroom. Why don’t we look at the data you submitted from your first unit and you explain your system to me? Let’s figure out what we need to do to ensure that you have accurate data because that’s definitely an important starting point to accurately reflect on your teaching.
Teacher: The thing is, I have found that my students freeze up on tests. I can teach an objective and they complete their homework perfectly, they’re fine during independent class work, and all my checks for understanding are coming back great. But then when I hand them a worksheet on that exact same objective and call it a “test,” you’d think they have amnesia! It’s like the minute I tell them to put their books away and separate their desks, they panic. So I decided there must be a better way to assess my students and really get at what they know.
My whole idea came from my school’s “Everyday Math” program, which had a section devoted to a prescribed way to assess student skills. Basically, I broke my curriculum standards into measurable objectives for every unit. Then, I created an index card for each student and I wrote the unit objectives on the card. During group work or independent practice, I try to go around and assess students on these objectives.
EVALUATOR: Explain to me how you assess students.
Teacher: Well, during independent practice, I walk around the room with my clipboard and mark my students in the appropriate box on their index card with an “N” for non-emergent, an “E” for emergent, a “D” for developing, or a “P” for proficient in the skill we’re working on that day. For example, I’ll walk around the room during math class when the kids are practicing measuring circumference, I’ll watch them as they work and ask them to show me their skills, and then I’ll rate them on my index cards. I try to check students’ work twice a week, once on Monday or Tuesday and once on Thursday or Friday and note their proficiency on my index cards. This is at least how I planned to implement the system.
EVALUATOR: What actually happens?
Teacher: I just seem to run into a number of problems. First of all, most weeks I don’t get to review all of my students’ work twice. Sometimes, I don’t even get to assess students once. It takes me a lot more time to implement then I’d thought it would. Plus by the time I’ve managed to gather data on where all my students are, and I really get a chance to sit down with my cards, I’ve usually already moved onto the next unit. I’m worried about what happens to students who haven’t reached proficient by that time, because it feels too late to go back and re-teach that skill. We’re just too far past it. Also, I think I’m still struggling with how to translate this stack of cards into my excel spreadsheet that tracks students’ progress on each objective in a meaningful or efficient way.
EVALUATOR: How are students getting feedback on their performance?
Teacher: I give them immediate feedback when I work with them during the week, so they always know their assessment scores. However, I’m not sure if my students have more of a big picture idea of how they’re doing in my class. Several of them seemed pretty surprised by their mid-marking period grades when I sent reports home, especially my lower-performing students. I don’t think that they always are able to infer their grades from my weekly feedback on their work. But I do tell them at the time whether or not they’re achieving proficiency on our objectives.
EVALUATOR: How do you determine their grades for the quarter?
Teacher: Basically, I have 100 objectives that I’m teaching for the year—so 25 in each quarter. On my tracking sheet, each objective for the quarter is worth four points. I enter in the highest proficiency scores they achieve for each objective, from my 4-point proficiency scale, add up the total, and give them a letter grade based on what that adds up to. If students are proficient on all objectives, they get 100 or A+. Otherwise, they get whatever it adds up to out of 100.
EVALUATOR: I know you said that you give them their “highest proficiency scores.” Do they have a chance to re-test on their proficiency past the week when you assess it?
Teacher: I had thought about implementing a re-teaching, re-assessment system, but I’ve found that I just can’t work it into my long-term plan. Right now, they just get the highest proficiency score of the two assessments that week.