About Buffalo Island Central Elementary School
Buffalo Island Central Elementary School is a public school in Leachville, Arkansas, part of Buffalo Island Central School District 40. It serves 355 students in Pre-K - 6. The school district has a long academic heritage of high test scores. Their motto and goal are for every student to "Succeed Today, Conquer Tomorrow!"
- Tech-enhanced question types
- Timed testing
- Computerized Adaptive Testing
- Testing accommodations
- Student test experience
- Spanish language support
- Guided Practice
- Deep Remediation
- Digital Workbooks
- Worksheets
- Videos
- High-quality Item Bank
- Create Custom Assessments
- Instant Feedback
- Track mastery of standards for every student
- Lesson Insights
- Measure progress over time
The Challenges
They had some struggles like everyone else with the covid pandemic, saw a lot of learning loss, and then found themselves in a new position with declining state test scores. State test preparation, however, brings its challenges; as Dr. Kima Stewart, Principal, explains,
Our kids didn't have a lot of practice for a computerized spring assessment like the ACT Aspire that Arkansas adopted. So that was part of the challenge; we need to be more familiar with the test format. But, on the other hand, we felt our content knowledge was higher than our test scores were showing because of the lack of preparation on the computer device.
Selection Criteria
Dr. Kima Stewart describes their decision-making criteria: "I went to the Arkansas Department of Education first because earlier, before the covid pandemic, that would have an interim test. So kids would be familiar with a fall test, a mid-year test, and then the end-of-the-year test would count. Well, that stopped, so I asked for a substitute just so that we had more test practice skills to gain familiarity with the test format, and that didn't have anything to offer there. They have a sandbox, and you can pull a few single items, but I wanted a replicated test session. I wanted it to be timed and independent.
StepUp by Lumos Learning met all our checkmark boxes and criteria for getting students' practice going. The replicated test session for our students was the thing that clinched it for us. It was better than anything else that I found. And so we thought it's worth a one-year trial.
The Results
Dr. Kima Stewart states, "We purchased grades three through six for math and literacy. Everyone took the PD connected to that; some teachers used it more frequently and intentionally than others.
Fourth grade reading in the spring of 2021, so the previous year, had a proficiency rate of 44%. The fourth-grade reading spring of 2022 had a proficiency rate of 62%. And the only curriculum change we made was the practice from Lumos Learning.
The Benefits
The fourth-grade teacher built StepUp into her lesson plans. She had that as her common formative assessment with a team teacher. She was able to maximize its use, maximizing the test scores. It has every component that you would want. If you want to assess, re-teach, retest, once-a-month replicated test practice, writing, grammar - you can do it all.
The convincing criteria for us was moving from 44% to 62% proficiency with one curriculum change, which I think I've never seen. We were hoping for a 5% improvement in one year. I was probably hoping for 62% in maybe two or three years of forwarding progression. But that's the convincing criteria. It's user-friendly and a teaching tool in addition to an assessment tool.
Each teacher used the progress and standards mastery reports to set a goal based on whatever essential skill they were assessing. We also had access to how the ACT Aspire for Arkansas is weighted. For example, if there's more third-grade multiplication and what they look like. So we could pick and choose the items, and then that report would say, you know, the whole class knew this, so we use them for that individualizing component to sort of blend into our RTI, and everybody could use it. I took a third-grade level test, and then we reported, and then if they mastered that, we could move them up individually, so it's an excellent fit for our school.
We couldn't be more pleased. We just have not had that kind of success. And let me tell you, schools worldwide look for silver bullets. This program said we could better prepare your students for the assessment, and it did. It didn't promise increased test scores; it promised better preparation, and because we had better practice, we know that it's the only change we made.
It has already lessened the anxiety of the teachers. I think it'll reduce the stress for the students. It's like a rule book, and the teachers feel more confident about it - I taught my content, assessed my content, and now I can teach them how to take the test, which is not the content; it's the test replication.
So, we have seen in this horrifically anxiety-producing situation worldwide with the pandemic, we see a lessened amount of stress on the side of both teachers and students, and I think that's significant.”
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Meet grade-level expectation
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StepUp Program Evaluation Report for Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) Practice
Learn why the StepUp online program by Lumos Learning is one of the most effective tools for SBA prep, universal screening, and intervention, boosting student achievement on state-standardized assessments.
