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| Language arts teacher Monica Mendoza in her sixth-grade class at Marine View Middle School in Huntington Beach. |
Are you proficient at interpreting data — or data-driven to distraction?
Depending upon your level of expertise, you may enjoy the challenge of measuring student achievement and interpreting results, or feel at times as though you are drowning in data. If you fall into the second group, training can help.
Monica Mendoza, a sixth-grade teacher in language arts, social studies and math at Marine View Middle School in Huntington Beach, is one of several teachers throughout the state who took advantage of professional development to help interpret data. Now, the Ocean View Teachers Association member can test, interpret and prescribe remedies for students on a scientific basis rather than guesswork.
“It’s not as complicated as it seems,” says Mendoza. “It’s almost like being a clinician where you can take data and match the program. It works well and most of the time, the kids do much better.”
Just as there is no one-size-fits-all approach to classroom teaching, there is no single curriculum that will help every struggling student to catch up. However, with the Effective Reading Intervention Academy (ERIA), the choices become easier when seeking individualized help for struggling students, says Mendoza.
This cutting-edge professional development shows teachers how to analyze fluency tests, decode California Standards Test results and recommend appropriate interventions based on that data. The training is offered by California Services for Technical Assistance and Training (CalSTAT), which is part of the Napa County Office of Education and is also a special project of the California Department of Education’s Special Education Division.
Mendoza took the training a few years ago when her school began using Response to Intervention (RtI), a model that identifies struggling students early on, and then provides “tiered” interventions to prevent a downward spiral of failure. Many of the intervention programs she prescribes to students can be used within the regular classroom setting.
CalSTAT has provided ERIA training to teachers since 2004, and typically trains “cohorts” of teachers from several schools that are located within the same area. Following the initial training is “ongoing support” for those using the program with online conferences and courses. The expectation is that the program will be used on a schoolwide basis once a teacher is trained. “We are going for schoolwide implementation, so that teachers are not left by themselves to figure out the needs of struggling students,” says Dee Wood, a CalSTAT consultant who organizes the teacher trainings. “We also have school principals directly involved and they become so supportive.”
The ERIA takes a “best practices” approach. It begins with pre-tests or “screenings” to check a student’s decoding, fluency and comprehension abilities. Testing programs include Six Minute Solution, San Diego Quick or Scholastic Inventory. Then teachers — sometimes working alongside principals — choose from intervention programs that may include the Read Naturally language arts program; the Rewards program for teaching vocabulary and decoding; and Phonics for Reading. Much of the data interpretation is done within professional learning communities, where teachers work grouped by grade level or subject.
Teachers say that the program is much more “refined” and supportive than the way they worked previously.
“It’s a great way of trying to meet the needs of all kids,” says Sandee Comacho, a reading teacher at Quartz Hill Elementary School. “And it’s nice for teachers to be able to pick and choose programs that will work best for them. It’s changed what we do.”
Comacho, a member of Westside Union Teachers Association, said her school has been tracking student performance on a regular basis and has definitely seen growth as a result of the CalSTAT program. CalSTAT helps schools monitor their progress and requests that teachers send student scores to them for that purpose.
“I think it is very helpful,” says Suzie August, a teacher at Dwyer Middle School in Huntington Beach and a member of the Huntington Beach Elementary Teachers Association. “It’s great to be trained in which data gives you the most information to guide instruction. And you also get guidelines so you can know if what you’re using is effective or not, by looking at the data to see if there’s growth.”
As RtI becomes more widely embraced by school districts, the need for such training will skyrocket. RtI is expected to proliferate, since IDEA (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) was recently changed to allow 15 percent of federal special education funds to be used to address the needs of struggling students in general education classes.
“If teachers don’t get more precise with assessing and instructing struggling readers, we’re just doing the same old stuff we’ve always done,” says Wood, a classroom teacher for 15 years. “Kids in California deserve so much better.”
Acronym helper
- ERIA:
- Effective Reading Intervention Academy
- CalSTAT:
- California Services for Technical Assistance and Training
- RtI:
- Response to Intervention
- IDEA:
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
