Using Assessment Data to Inform Instruction

Good decisions come from good reasoning

Data disaggregation is extremely important in order to meet the needs of each individual student. This simulation is a practice in using data driven instruction and disaggregation that is regularly done in schools around the world. Data is collected frequently in classrooms from quizzes, formative assessments, summative assessments, student attendance, participation, etc. The question is: now that we have this data, what do we do with it?

Data from real classes was used to decide who needs remediation or acceleration, decide how to differentiate instruction, and form instruction groups of students for this simulation. Homogeneous and heterogeneous groupings were explored and analyzed when appropriate to create groupings in the classroom.

---

This is modeled after a program I created and ran at The American Language Center Kenitra. It is called Soliya Connect and is run in partnership with Soliya. The program puts students from around the world into groups and they talk every week over video conferencing about the shared reading assignments they had that week and about things that affect their daily lives. Soliya required an end of program paper to be written by each student discussing how they can help improve (not fix) something in their community. The participating schools can require additional work for students to do depending upon how the school chooses to integrate Soliya Connect into their curriculum.

For this simulation, we have 23 remaining students and they are roughly 50% female (one of the conditions we set for the program). One student dropped out due to family time commitments. Our focus for the program is on intercultural oral communication and writing skills. Students have completed three quizzes (10% of the final grade), two written reflection papers (10% of the final grade) for homework, a research project with written abstract in preparation for their final paper (40% of the final grade), a five page paper about one of the topics (student choice) covered during the program (20% of final grade), and a cumulative comprehension test (20% of final grade) to evaluate student understanding of the material covered and determine what needs to be retaught to prepare students for the final paper.

The scoring for the final paper will be communication related aspects (organization, message clarity, logical flow, etc.) which will take the pressure of grades off students so they can focus on reflection and communication. The final program grade is Pass/Fail with a certificate awarded to those who Pass. Through the writing revision process, students (all non-native English speakers) will gain a greater understanding of the mechanics of the other languages they speak (predominantly Arabic and French) and how to organize and communicate their thoughts which leads to increased clarity and understanding in spoken and written communication in Arabic and French.

Activity 1: Write a group paper about how you can improve something in your community

Grouping: Homogenous

Criteria: Grades

Students must write a fifteen page paper about how they can improve something in their community. This builds off of conversations students had in their online groups which had the goal of bridging cultural divides by showing students that people around the world suffer the same problems (transportation issues, pollution, unfair teachers, etc.). Students were broken up into four equal sized groups based primarily upon their writing scores.

Group 1: Grade irregularities Students’ grades showed irregularities that stood out. This could be things like late enrollment causing a student to miss significant portions of the class, exam and work grades do not align, etc. Students are likely to have varied causes for irregularities and are also more likely to be able to help each other with anything they fall short on. The teacher will make frequent check-ins with this group to ensure they are progressing. Students will be encouraged to visit the new help center for additional help and tutoring for writing.

Group 2: High writing scores The students with the highest scores will be grouped together and will work with the DataShow and the whiteboard. They have shown a high mastery of writing mechanics and are ready to begin working on nuance. They will project their papers one at a time onto the whiteboard where they will make corrections and discuss how the nuance of meaning changes with different corrections. Corrections, comments, and the change in nuance will be written on the board right next to the text. Their work will be visible to all students and their discussion audible which can help others improve their writing, particularly the ones with mid-level writing scores. The final result (writing text and corrections/explanations) will be photographed and made available to all students on the LMS.

Group 3: Mid writing scores These students are in the mid-band grade wise. They have a fair grasp of the material and writing skills are alright. They will be given sentence stems and paragraph models to help them with content organization and flow. They will do peer review and assist for each other and will be able to hear and see Group 2 as they discuss writing ideas. There are smaller whiteboards on the side walls of the classroom they can use if they want.

Group 4: Low writing scores These students have problems with basic writing mechanics. They will be given asynchronous review grammar activities to do on the LMS. They will be encouraged to use simple but clear sentences to build confidence and show them how to organize and communicate their ideas. They will also be given sentence starters and models to use, particularly for starting, transitions, and closing. Students will be encouraged to visit the new help center for additional help and tutoring for writing.

Modifications of need:

• They will be given sentence stems and paragraph models to help them with content organization and flow, starting, transitions, and closing

• They will be given asynchronous review grammar activities to do on the LMS. These will be customized by the teacher on a daily basis to the grammar they are weak on, the material they are struggling with, and the discussions they have with their online partners.

• Students will be encouraged to visit the new help center for additional help and tutoring for writing.

Modifications:

• Groups will meet in breakout rooms and have access to a virtual whiteboard that can be shared with others after the class is over for the day.

Activity 2: Group oral reflection about experiences so far.

Grouping: Heterogenous

Criteria: International partners origins (different)

The second activity is a small-group oral reflection about their experiences and what they learned talking with people from abroad. Unfortunately, the students ended up in international groups that were predominantly people from similar regions (i.e. many Western European countries, many East and South Asian countries, many Canadians, etc.) To promote the ideals of the intercultural exchange experience, students will be randomly assigned to small groups of five with one student representing each “region” (one student for whom the majority of international partners were from the United States, one student for whom the majority of international partners were from Former Soviet countries, etc.). Students will be able to get second-hand exposure to foreign cultures this way. Students will also be assigned Discord channels so they can continue talking with each other and sharing experiences outside the classroom synchronously or asynchronously. There will also be channels assigned based upon the “regions” the international partners were from where all students can discuss and share. The teacher will drop in on in person groups and monitor the Discord channels to assess how the lesson is going.

Modifications for need: No modifications are necessary. Students will talk with each other about topics that interest them and the creation of additional space to talk if they would enhance the lesson is built into the activity design.

Modifications: No modifications are necessary for online. The in person discussion will just move to Discord and start in video channels with the rest remaining the same. Reasonable modifications will be made for students with disabilities or limited access to technology.