Using the Growth Model in Small Schools

I'm wondering what the value of the growth model is for small schools in Massachusetts. The principal of a school with less than 200 students has begun to analyze growth model data, and finds few surprises. He's unable to compare classes of students at grade levels because the school has only one class per grade, a situation that's common in our rural schools. He did look closely at a student whose growth percentile was extremely low, but he would have examined that student's progress anyway, because that student's scores had moved from advanced to needs improvement. I suggested that the growth model could provide a way to gauge the progress of students in groups that have traditionally had low performance levels on the MCAS, in this case, students identified with special needs. But the number of students is so small that their scores can be tracked and compared by hand!

So what is the value of the growth model for small schools?

Can Block Scheduling Impede Math Learning?

While working to improve standardized math scores, a high school I visited this week unearthed a troubling problem. Due to block scheduling, some entering freshmen don't take any math until February-- they have no math instruction for seven or eight months. Some even go without math for a full year. The principal compared these students' Measures of Academic Progress (MAP, creator NWEA: www.nwea.org) at the end of eighth grade with their scores at the beginning and end of their freshman math semester. Many students do not reattain their eighth grade achievement level until the end of the ninth grade math course! They have made no progress in math for a whole year!

First of all, we now know that certain groups of students (low-income and those with identified special needs) lose more ground over the summer months. This is a factor that tends to widen achievement gaps. And in this case, the students are losing even more knowledge because they do not enter a math classroom for seven months!

Second, what should this school do? They originally committed to block scheduling to give teachers more time to explore problems in depth. The principal is now planning a new course for struggling math students that would address their foundational weaknesses in the fall of freshman year. Is this a good solution? What else might be tried?

Introduction: Damon

Hello, I'm Damon Douglas, Educator and data guy. David already said everything about the work we're doing at The Center for Education Data Use. Please refer to his blather.

Introduction - David

I'm David Olsson, a technologist and data guy. Damon Douglas and I are the principal actors at the Center for Education Data Use, an arm of the Hampshire Educational Collaborative in Northampton, Massachusetts. We're supporting schools as they collect, organize, and analyze education data, using data to inform all of our efforts to give all children the very best elementary and secondary education we can provide.