SBAC segueing in, CAHSEE out turns departments toward individualized academic intervention

BY MARC CHAPPELLE
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Staff at both Roseville High School and Roseville Joint Union High School District increasingly focus efforts to accurately target and support students in need of academic support or intervention. These ongoing efforts stand in the light of a wider educational environment of standardized testing transition.

For the first time last school year, RJUHSD conducted Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium’s California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress in place of Standardized Testing and Reporting, last administered in the spring of 2013. CAASPP addresses newly-implemented Common Core state standards.

That same year was likely the last that RJUHSD campuses administered the California High School Exit Examination, as Governor Jerry Brown signed off on Senate Bill 172 that both suspended the exam through the 2017-18 school year and implored a state advisory board to explore future pathways for high school exit exams.

Having acknowledged the historical relationship between standardized tests, intervention placement, and academic support, principal David Byrd weighs the value of other approaches in achieving and maintaining effective student support systems.

“We shouldn’t say, ‘well, let’s wait and see how they do on the big test,’” principal David Byrd said. “We’ve got to get better as an institution about doing those formative assessments as we go and identifying who’s learning and who’s not. And the help and the support has got to come immediately, when a student is starting to fall behind.”

Byrd cites different modes of support that aim to put students on the right academic track, like the after-school Tiger Tutoring program, adjustments to class structures and teacher approach or placement in an intervention class that “unfortunately, take[s] an elective away from [students].”

“I think we’ve got to figure out ways to do our own internal assessing, rely on our own teachers’ expertise for who’s learning and who’s not, and to address that and be able to do something about it as we go,” Byrd said. “For that reason, I’m not one of those people lobbying for, ‘bring back the CAHSEE, bring back more ninth, 10th and 11th grade summative assessments.’ I don’t know if that’s gonna help us.”

RJUHSD superintendent Ron Severson too finds that standardized tests carry the potential to draw unreliable conclusions for staff to go by.

“The biggest problem we had with the CSTs was there was really no motivation for a college prep kid to give their best effort on the standardized test,” Severson said. “We would see a decline in scores, from the freshman to the junior year, that didn’t make any sense at all. The GPA’s were going up, they’re taking more AP classes, but their CST scores were getting lower.”

Byrd believes the first step in accurate identification of those in need of academic intervention comes with connection to RHS feeder schools in both data and curriculum.

“We’ve got to figure out as kids come to us, where they’re at, and immediately boost their skills,” Byrd said.

The groundwork continues to move into place. RHS met with principals from Buljan and Cooley Middle Schools in December and January in hopes of streamlining the connection of student data for the placement jump from middle school to high school.

“We’ve had some layers we’ve had to work through, because it’s a different school district we’re getting kids from,” Byrd said.

Taking supportive action sooner, rather than later is an educational trend that RJUHSD superintendent Ron Severson emphasizes.

“Every school’s got a different approach to how they’re trying to reach their students,” Severson said. “But what we’re trying to do is build our safety net, and have an early-warning system so that a kid isn’t in a death spiral by the time we intervene. So we can catch ‘em, right before they start to slip.”

MATH: “We’re having trouble with placement right now”

The math department grapples simultaneously with the rollout of Common Core-based Integrated Math and levels of uncertainty with the abilities of incoming freshmen when it comes to academic intervention.

Math department coordinator Michelle Walton finds that incoming RHS students vary more widely in their math skills than course offerings may have anticipated.
“We’re finding that there are kids who are five to six years behind in their math ability and struggle with whole numbers … and that’s not who, right now, Access [to Integrated Math 1] is really for,” Walton said. “We’re starting to realize we might need a class for even lower [than Access to IM1], to try and get them caught up and to find out who those kids are.”

With the realization that there are students in need of additional academic support beyond the curriculum of IM1, the department faces the issue of pinpointing and resolving the needs of incoming students quickly and accurately.

“We’re having trouble with [placement] right now, because we don’t have a lot of standardized test data on them,” Walton said. “Right now, we are pretty much relying on middle school recommendations.”

Current freshmen carry one year of CAASPP evaluation, and sophomores, none.

“It’s frustrating because we didn’t have a choice [to take IM], we were just put in there not knowing how to do anything and expected to pass with a seventy five percent or higher,” sophomore IM1 student Genesie Bryan said.
Walton believes that the department’s struggles with gathering data on incoming Integrated Math students will resolve over time, as math CAASPP scores from all three years of middle school begin to file in.

“We’re hoping, in another two years we will have CAASPP data for all of middle school,” Walton said. “And looking at sixth, seventh and eighth grades should be a pretty good predictor of the ones who need [additional support].”

Walton finds reliance on middle school teacher recommendations and standardized tests can pose more than academic issues.

“Sometimes … we get a kid who failed eighth grade math, just because they didn’t want to – they didn’t want to do the work,” Walton said. “They’re very capable, but it’s just more behavioral issues. Academically, they could’ve been in a normal classroom … they get bored by the academics and end up causing more problems. And that’s been our biggest issue. And it’s really difficult to figures out those kids.”

The department is exploring solutions to better assess student abilities and gather more data.

“We’re talking about possibly doing some sort of test to that, but often a one-shot test isn’t always the best predictor, either,” Walton said.

Walton reports that roughly one Chromebook cart serves every two math teachers, with extra carts designated for certain classes targeting students who need additional academic support, like Access to IM1. With current and future students, the math department places an emphasis on utilizing technology to foster greater individualized learning experiences.

“In my past, giving them extra worksheets is not helpful,” Walton said. “Typically, they need the one-on-one help, or something computer-based, that walks through the steps really well to improve [understanding].”

Walton and other teachers in the department enjoy supplementing their curriculum with Khan Academy, and when accessible, Carnegie Learning’s Cognitive Tutor.

Cognitive Tutor supplements IM physical textbooks, utilizing machine learning to offer students individualized practice. Tentatively, the math department has yet to plan a full rollout of the service, due to technical requirements that restrict the tutor from universal compatibility and per-user costs that give it pause.

“For those students who were able to access it and use it, we saw huge growth because it was so individualized and gave them problems and hints that were exactly what they were missing,” Walton said.

Byrd applauds the department’s willingness to experiment with technological resources to amplify support for student learning.

“Everybody thinks that Mr. Byrd’s got this binder, and I’ll open it up and say ‘here you go,’” Byrd said. “It is a messy process trying to figure out that stuff out, but I’m committed and I know our math teachers are committed to trying things. We’ve just got to think a little bit differently. You couldn’t do this when I was [high school] age – they had chalkboards and chalk. And a book. And that’s how we learned.”

Teaching the first section of IM3 this term, Walton began to find conclusion within the IM series as she and her students realize what worked and what didn’t within their IM experiences. Their conclusions and experiences help inform approaches to IM1 and 2 which make it easier to support at-risk students.

“It’s really being wrapped up pretty well in Integrated 3, the Integrated 3 kids are doing some really cool stuff,” Walton said. “They are actually really good at seeing features of graphs and how that connects to parts of the equation better than any Algebra 2 kid ever did. These are the first kids going through, and we made some mistakes, so it’s only going to get better.”

ENGLISH: “We lose a lot fewer [students] through the cracks”

The English department emphasizes Academic Detention, a weekly after-school intervention system, urging students failing a concept, test, or behind on their workloads take action and catch up more immediately.

“By keeping up on the kids like this every single week, I think we lose a lot fewer through the cracks who might have otherwise failed,” co-department coordinator Denise Weis said.

Weis sees the system helping set a positive pattern for student performance.

“We’ve actually really reduced the number of D’s and F’s in the English department in a significant manner,” Weis said. “I think our last group report from last year has less than two percent of kids failing.

Weis suggests that Academic Detention sets strong groundwork early and supports the remainder of a student’s high school career.

“I think the lower levels are really the focal point, because we want kids to develop good work study habits, good work habits, hold them accountable enough,” Weis said. “I’ve sort of found that once you start doing that with the lower levels, the upper levels start taking care of themselves in a lot of ways.”

Academic Literacy aims to support students reading significantly below grade level in preparation for CP English 9. Academic Literacy teacher Dean Gadway found inconsistent data from RHS feeders troubling when identifying intervention students. In year’s past, placement into the intervention course came through a formula between GPA, the Gates-MacGinitie reading test, and CST results.

“Last year, we were sort of at a loss,” Gadway said.

According to Gadway, eighth grade teacher recommendations don’t always prove accurate. He says Academic Literacy is currently considering revised methods for placement.

Due to CAHSEE’s suspension, the 2014-15 school year was the last the English department offered Expository Reading and Writing – a class designed to pull up juniors who failed the CAHSEE to a passing level. Former teacher KC Worden emphasizes the importance of cultivating teacher-student relationships in both her ERWC and current courses.

“Creating a safe environment for students who are either emotionally or academically at risk helps kids have a safe place to come and ask questions,” Worden said. “My new thing is saying to the kids – I learned this at a yoga class once – ‘English practice, not English perfect.’ We’re playing with English, we’re practicing English. They’re not going to come in and be perfect at English. It’s building those skills and working with them.”

“Any data is good data”

There are takeaways from the summative assessments rolling forward. Byrd does admit that, in theory, an online formative test in the vein of CAASPP and its Common

Core standards would help immediately identify which students need additional support as a class rolls forward.

Byrd also acknowledges the value behind giving all sophomores access to the PSAT this fall, citing the light the test sheds on student performance earlier, rather than later in a high school career.

“I think the PSAT could be a better alternative to the CAHSEE,” Byrd said. “And an existing one that’s already there. But even that, it’s limited. I’d rather have that than nothing – any data is good data, but I still would argue we’d have to have developed weekly, or monthly assessments.”

He believes the idea behind expanded formative assessments poses value to parents.

“As a parent, If I get the report every month on my child, math: no problem, science: no problem, English: problem – they’re behind on writing,” Byrd said. “I can do something as a parent, I’m informed. Otherwise, I get the SBAC results or the CAHSEE results, and then it’s like, too little too late.”

“They’re just trying to connect”

This school year, RJUHSD allocated $417,118 to the payrolls of eight biliterate Learning Support Specialists, $164,802 for marriage and family therapist interns, $105,775 for social work interns, and $20,000 for home visits. Severson finds that a blanketed approach to supporting students overlooks the case-by-case nature of student needs.

“We’ve got all kinds of human resources now. We have to be more nimble and be better able to identify what the kid needs,” Severson said. “Because some of them, they just need to have a healthier life, and they’re fine. Some of them need remedial skills and training to be more successful. Some of them need both.”

Intervention counselor Nancy Muñoz shares Severson’s sentiment that standardized testing doesn’t tell the whole story of the needs of target academic intervention students.

“Even as a student myself, I always felt that standardized tests didn’t accurately portray my intelligence or my capabilities,” Muñoz said.

Muñoz sees her mission to support students not solely as a numbers game, but one that stretches past academic health into both social, emotional, and physical health.

“I take a holistic approach with my students,” Muñoz said.

Muñoz finds that the demographic of those at risk or going through academic intervention can often overlap with the socioeconomically disadvantaged. This overlap underscores the reality for some students of multiple areas of need that Muñoz works to address. She supplies students with both academic supplies, and can send requests to RJUHSD to fund student necessities like clothing.

“Things like that people take for granted,” Muñoz said. “They always make it happen. The district is awesome in supporting me.”

This school year, Woodcreek High School coupled freshman students with a teacher and upperclassman mentor and organized meetings a couple times a week.

“It’s had some impact,” Severson said. “They did team building, they did study skills, how to prepare for the big test. All the things that happen to kids – ‘how do you develop the academic skills to be successful?’”

WHS struck a similar chord with their English-language learners, pairing those students with a group of native English speakers to socialize. According to Severson, it’s bridging a gap.

“They’re just trying to connect, because sometimes with kids who struggle with a language don’t connect very well with the social environment,” Severson said. “So you have some upperclassmen saying, ‘no, you’re going to the football game.’”

According to Severson, academic intervention applies to a broad level of achievement.

“A student who gets behind in an AP course, it’s really hard to recover, “ Severson said. “If you bomb the first couple units, it’s really hard to catch back up because of the pace and the pressure, so we’re looking at a school in San Jose that’s developed an early warning system for their AP kids. So that as soon as a kid starts to fall behind, there’s a plan put in place to get them caught back up.”