5 Best Practices to Use PARCC Reports to Drive Remedial Instruction

Download free podcast by Lance W on 5 Best Practices to Use Parcc Reports to Drive Remedial Instruction

22404153_m

Okay, now what? That is probably the reaction many teachers in PARCC states had after receiving their students’ results. Coming to grips with the assessment being adopted last school year, for many, was difficult enough. Making sense of it without cut scores and baselines became yet another challenge at the start of this academic season. Progress is slow. Score report guides are finally available. Now it is up to teacher leaders, and teachers on the front lines, to do something with all of that student data.

Teachers are notorious for diving right in…especially the great ones. There starts to develop a common sense of guilt of not helping students, given assessment information that could be put to use addressing learning gaps. Teachers, this is the time to show a little patience and restraint. Consider the following five best practices when using PARCC reports to drive remedial instruction.

Have a party. A data party that is. Take a day to meet with your grade level, subject specific team, e.g., 6th grade English Language Arts and build a database of students based on performance. All students will have been designated Level 1-5 according to their score. It is of utmost importance that you account for every name. In addition to the Level, you should also include each student’s overall Score in a neighboring cell. Add their Reading and Writing scores, their Ethnicity, whether or not they’re in Special Education, an English Language Learner, and a participant in the Free and Reduced Lunch program. This master database will allow you to disaggregate information and determine which groups of students fell into each Level.

Develop a pyramidal strategy for remediation. Students who performed at Level 1 (base of the pyramid) will be those with most “intensive” need for immediate assistance. Students at Level 2 (middle of the pyramid) will require “strategic” assistance. Students at Level 3 (peak of the pyramid) will require tuning and “monitoring.”

Have an inventory check. What intervention programs already exist at the school and how can these be used to deal with the needs of students in cohorts 1, 2, and 3? Is there a possibility for an extended day offering? Intensive remediation students will require a longer school day, an additional core class, and lots of parent support to make the necessary leap closer to their peers already testing at grade level. Strategic remediation students could use tutorial sessions, a student skills elective, and individualized learning plans to help them catch-up.

Create individualized learning plans for each student at Level 1 and Level 2. These learning plans will detail the student’s areas of weakness and strengths, the specific skills they need to re-learn and master, and the support they will have organized by quarter or semester.

Progress checks. How will you know if students are progressing? You won’t unless you build progress checks, formative assessments that measure specifically what each student is supposed to be mastering, along the way. Giving students practice tests before the next round of PARCC assessments will guarantee a better outcome.

The challenge of using PARCC data to drive remediation is monumental. It is no easy feat with students undoubtedly performing “all over the place.” To remain sane during the remediation process, teachers and leaders should strive to find as many overlaps and redundancies in learning gaps as possible. Following individual learning plans is easier when all stakeholders agree on a methodology, and have a clear idea of what intervention looks like. Handing teachers PARCC results data and sending them off is not a plan!