Week 2: Application Assignment

D. Deming L20357497 Week 2 Assignment EDLD 5333 Leadership for Accountability

Week 2 Assignment: Mining for Data

Overview In this week’s lecture, we reviewed the Texas Accountability System, a school improvement tool. The 2014 Accountability System meets both federal and state requirements as discussed in an excerpt from a September 13, 2013 TEA announcement:

Commissioner of Education Michael Williams today announced that the State of Texas has secured a conditional waiver from the U.S. Department of Education for specific provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), commonly known as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. Commissioner Williams initiated the waiver process earlier this year to give the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and more than 1,200 school districts and charters additional flexibility. Under key components of the state’s NCLB waiver, Texas schools will no longer be designated as having met or made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Instead of federal designations for all schools in Texas, only the lowest performing 15 percent of schools will be identified as Priority or Focus Schools. Those schools will be subject to a series of federally-prescribed interventions. Additionally, Texas school districts will no longer be required to set aside 20 percent of their Title I federal dollars to provide Supplemental Educational Services (SES). A district will now be free to use those funds on academic intervention programs it deems most effective for its students. This week, you will perform another step in the comprehensive needs assessment, which you will use later to develop a campus action plan. From the beginning of the waiver process, Commissioner Williams pointed out to federal officials that Texas has been a national leader in the college- and career-readiness movement. Texas was the first state to develop and implement college- and career-readiness curriculum standards, the first state to assess those standards, and is the first state to implement an accountability system to hold schools accountable for preparing students for postsecondary success.

The waiver is effective for the 2013-2014 school year. The complete waiver request – including the approval letter from Secretary Duncan – is available for viewing on the Texas Education Agency website. In this assignment, you will further explore the 2014 Accountability data, locate reports that are critical to your campus improvement team, and compare your selected campus’ performance to the Accountability standards. Your goal in completing this data analysis is to determine areas of strength and weakness and identify patterns and trends at your selected campus. You will use the campus reports that you pulled up in Week 1 (see directions in week 1 assignment if you did not print those reports). You will also pull up the 2014 Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR) which you will use to compare your campus’s 2013 and 2014 STAAR results to determine patterns and trends in the data.

If you are an out of state student, you will continue to work with data from the Texas campus you selected for the Week 1 assignment. The objective of this exercise is to learn to mine data from a data report and use it to target areas of strength and weakness.

Lamar University 2014 1 of 8 D. Deming L20357497 Week 2 Assignment EDLD 5333 Leadership for Accountability

Rubric Use the following rubric to guide your work.

Tasks Accomplished Proficient Needs Unacceptable Improvement

Week 2 Assignment: Mining for Data (ELCC 2.2 a., b., c.; 2.3 a., c.)

Part 1: Conducts Compares Does not Does not Campus Data detailed scores in each compare scores summarize Summary comparison of subject, in each subject, Campus Report. 2013 and 2014 subgroup to the subgroup to the (0 points) scores in each standards standards subject & (8 points) (7 points) subgroup to the standards (10 points)

Part 2: Compares Compares Does not Does not Distinction performance of performance of compare complete the Designation/ selected campus selected campus performance of assignment. Comparison on Index 2: on Index 2: selected campus (0 points) Group Student Student on Index 2: Summary Progress to Progress to Student others with others with Progress to same or similar same or similar others with demographics demographics same or similar (comparison (comparison demographics group). Writes a group). (comparison detailed Summary of group). summary noting trends & (7 points) trends & patterns lacks patterns by details by indicator. indicator (10 points) (8 points)

Part 3: Area of Identifies one Identifies one Identifies one This portion of Strength/Need area of campus area of campus area of campus assignment is strength and two strength and two strength and two not addressed. areas of need areas of need areas of need (0 points) from data, and from data, and with no explains choices explains choices elaboration with detailed with some (7 points) elaboration. elaboration. (10 points) (8 points)

Mechanics Responses are Responses are Responses do Responses do relevant to relevant to not reflect not reflect

course content. course content. knowledge of knowledge of Student adheres Student adheres course content. course content, to APA stylistic mostly to APA Student adheres lack clarity and guidelines. stylistic loosely to APA depth, and/or Writing is clear, guidelines. stylistic include multiple concise, and well Writing is mostly guidelines. errors in organized. clear, concise, Writing is grammar, Excellent and well unclear and/or spelling, and sentence/paragr organized. Good disorganized. punctuation, aph sentence/paragr Weak including APA construction. aph sentence/paragr errors. Thoughts are construction. aph (0 points) expressed in a Thoughts are construction. coherent and expressed in a Thoughts are not logical manner. coherent and expressed in a There are no logical manner. coherent and errors in There are three logical manner. grammar, or fewer errors There are four or spelling, or in grammar, more errors in punctuation. spelling, or grammar, punctuation. spelling, or punctuation.

Discussion Posts a See first (0 points) (0 points) Board due substantive column. dates and response to postings each discussion criteria prompt by the APA format 4th day of each required week (2 points), and responds to two colleagues in by the 7th day @ 11:59 p.m. (1 point). Total = 3 points each week. Use APA format to cite.

Discussion Board Overview: A thorough response is more than “I agree,” or “Awesome comments.” Be specific (e.g., “I agree with your comment about the first question because . . .,” or “Awesome comments – I really like your suggestions for involving parents, community members, along with teachers and students because. . .”) We encourage you to write three or more sentences in responding to other students’ posts. The professors will be monitoring your Discussion Board responses and we look forward to learning from one another. We grow from sharing insights and suggestions with one another.

Reference Citations Reference citations should be specific and preferably in APA format in order to receive full credit. General statements such as "Research indicates" or "Marzano points out" do not constitute a reference citation. Remember, the purpose of an appropriate citation is to allow readers of your work to easily identify the written work and author. For example, if you use a phrase like, “The Marzano guidelines emphasize . . .”, guide the reader to the source of this comment, Marzano (2009).

Part 1: Campus Data Summary (ELCC 2.1 a.; 2.2 a., & c.) A critical skill for an instructional leader is the ability to use data-based decision making. You will practice this skill in this Application assignment as you continue to collect data in preparation for creating an action plan for school improvement. In week 1, you selected a school and began the review of accountability data. The principal certification exam will have questions referring to a data report, so you should be familiar with reading and interpreting data reports. In this assignment, you will continue to mine data reports to determine areas of strength and need. Texas Performance Reporting System (TPRS) provides additional performance reports and results for student groups not previously reported on 2013and 2014 state accountability reports, the Texas Academic Performance Reports (TAPR), or the School Report Card. Most reports are available at the Campus, District, Region, and State. http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/tprs/2014/index.html

Directions 1. In week 1, you navigated the TEA website http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/account/2014/index.html and printed the following reports: a. Accountability Summary and the Explanation b. Index Calculations and Data Tables c. Distinction Designation d. System Safeguards

This week, you will also need the 2014 Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR). You will use this report to compare the 2013 and 2014 test results by All Students, Subject, and student subgroup as you look for trends and patterns in performance over a two year period.

Go to http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/tapr/2014/srch.html Click on Campus Report in the left menu. On the next screens, answer the questions. Click on View Report. Choose Print PDF. 2. Carefully review the data, and familiarize yourself with the format. Study the information by row title, and column heading so that you know where to locate specific information on the report (tested on the TeXes exam).  Review and compare the 2013 and 2014 data by subject and grade level, paying specific attention to the performance of each group and subgroup (e.g., All students, AA, H, White, American Indian, Asian, Pacific Islander, 2 or more races, Sp. Ed., Eco. Dis., and ELL. 3. A data summary captures patterns and trends in the data. A summary of findings is a way to synthesize the outcome of the data analysis to create the basis for the needs assessment process. Look for increases and decreases which may indicate trends and patterns in student performance. Discuss trends and patterns, strengths and weaknesses in your summary (e.g., by subject and student group).

Summarize your findings in the workspace below.

Part 2: Distinction Designation Summary (ELCC 2.1 a.; 2.2 a., b.; 3.3 c.) Prior to completing this part of the assignment, review - Review Chapter 5 (pg’s 53-62) and Appendix H (pg’s. 119-122) of the 2014 Accountability Manual “to review information about the Campus Comparison Group which is used in determining Distinction Designations for campuses. http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/account/2014/manual/index.html This information will be helpful in completing the assignment.

Directions 1. You should have already printed the 2014 Distinction Designation Summary as part of the Week 1 assignment. If not, navigate to http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/account/2014/index.html and do so. Answer the questions to select your campus. Select Distinction Designation from the list of reports available. Click on View Report. Print the report. 2. Carefully review the data, and familiarize yourself with the format.  You will see a list of Indicators, Indicator Scores, and Quartiles which allow you to compare your campus’s performance to that of your campus’s Comparison Group.  Review the Quartile your campus fell in for each indicator (Q-1 highest to Q-4 lowest).  Review each page of the report to determine how your campus performed on

each subject tested compared to your campus comparison group.  Review the page titled: 2014 Distinction Designation Summary-Top 25% in Student Progress which lists the 40 campuses in your comparison group and their index 2 score. 3. What does this tell you about the performance of your campus on Index 2: Student Progress compared to others with your same or similar demographics? Does your campus perform much higher, lower, or in the average range compared to the comparison group? 4. Summarize findings in the workspace below.

Part 3: Targeting Strengths and Need (ELCC 2.1 a.; 2.2 a., c.; 2.3 a., b., c.) In weeks 1 & 2, you analyzed the 2014 Accountability Reports and the Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR), available on the TEA website. You have compared your campus’s scores to the target scores for each Index and compared the performance of 2013 to 2014 by subject and student group using the TAPR. You have also reviewed your campus’s performance compared to your campus’s comparison group. Next, you will use the data to determine areas of strength and weakness at the campus. In a future assignment, you will use the data from this needs assessment to build an action plan for school improvement.

Directions 1. Use the analysis you have done to target one area of strength and two areas of need at the campus. 2. In the workspace below, briefly explain why you chose each area of strength and need

The boxes expand as you write.

Identified Area of Strength Why I Chose It

Identified Area of Need Why I Chose It

Internship/Practicum assignments:

Complete the Course-Embedded reflection, “II-004 Curriculum, Measurement, and Alignment of Resources”, in the Course-Embedded Summary Report template. The internship handbook and internship forms can be found at this website: http://sites.google.com/site/luedlead/ . On the left column, see internship forms. To view the entire form you must “download” it first by clicking on the blue arrow at the far right of the page. Save it if you haven’t already done so). A single template used to record “all” course-embedded reflections for the entire program which you will upload as an assignment in your final course

Remember to continue to complete Campus-Supervised activities from your internship plan, entering a reflection for each activity in the Campus-Supervised Summary Report. The Course- Embedded and Campus-Supervised reports must be completed prior to your final course.

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