Week 5 Data FAQ and Updates
Wow. Can you believe the end is near? On behalf of the entire Department of Data (all 2 of us), thank you for all of your hard data-related work this summer! Before we jump into some nitty-gritty, we’d like to re-emphasize why we think data is important: it’s not really about numbers for the sake of numbers. We care about data because we care about kids. A focus on data supports student achievement this summer, when you’re in regions, and in planning next year’s institute. We hope you agree, but either way, we’d always love to hear what you think (via email or in comments on this blog).
With that, the Department of Data is in high gear this week. We’re guessing you might have a few questions, so here’s a few answers (we’ll keep updating them as needed).
Q: What ISAT Tracking Tools do I turn in, and when?
A: We’ll take them all! Turn in any tool you’ve used this summer on Friday (usually by noon) to your CMA. Don’t wait until the last minute to enter your data!
Q: What do I do if a student left (or joined) my class during the summer? How does this impact growth goals?
A: You shouldn’t do anything special. If a student left, don’t delete them from the tool. If they joined, add them to the bottom of your student list. As for growth goals, unless a student takes both a diagnostic and a summative, their “progress toward growth goal” will not be calculated, will be blank in the tool, and won’t impact your class average.
Q: I have a student who was on a level A, 1, 2, 3, or 4 on the DRA diagnostic. What do I do?
A: Please take a look at this Summative DRA Tracking Guide. You’ll also need the new DRA Levels A-4 Tracker.
Q: I have a student who was “higher than the DRA” at the diagnostic (they scored 29+ points on Level 80), and I gave them the Gates MacGinitie assessment. What do I do?
A: Please take a look at this Summative DRA Tracking Guide. You’ll also need the new Gates MacGinitie Tracker.
Q: What does the Department of Data do the rest of the year? Sit around trying to invent new Excel formulas? Something with video games and pocket protectors?
A: Sadly, no. Despite what our respective significant others may say, it turns out we’re relatively normal people. Olin is headed into his second year as a 2007 corps member teaching high school algebra and coaching football in South Louisiana. Lewis has worked for Teach For America national staff for the past few years in a few different roles, most recently in a position where he spends his entire year working on institute planning. (Can you believe people actually get to do that all year long?)
Here’s a couple oldies-but-goodies from the Diagnostic FAQ that we thought might come up this round:
Q: What is the magical and mythical formula that calculates the individual student growth goals?
A: Good question. It’s really isn’t all that magical, or even really a specific formula. It turns out that there is not a lot of historical benchmark data out there in the world on what is an appropriate amount of growth for students in a four-week summer school program (not a big shocker). Essentially, our approach is to take different ranges of diagnostic scores and look at what collaboratives were able to achieve with students who started in those ranges in the past. Then, we used the 75th percentile as an ambitious and feasible goal. Then, we use those numbers to create a chart with growth targets for each possible diagnostic score (0-100 for the objective mastery tests). The tracking tool just looks up the right target from a chart and that’s the goal. There’s a lot more context behind why we chose this approach (and the 75th percentile number, etc.), but it is pretty much that simple. Let us know what questions you have — we don’t want anyone to think it’s magic!
Q: I’ve heard about (or had) problems with Macintoshes and the tools. What’s up with that?
A: Yes! We love us some Apple computers too, but Excel is seriously buggy on the Mac, and sometimes likes to eat our tracking tools for lunch. Check out this document we put into everyone’s mailboxes last week with more info on what to do about this.
