TAC

January 30, 2019

TAC Meeting

Questions and Answers

1.What research supports students knowing and understanding their test scores/reading data/levels (the test numbers)? Robert Marzano explores empowering students with data in his book The Art and Science of Teaching. His research shows a 32 percentile gain in achievement when students track their own progress.  These are a few articles that support student data tracking:

https://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2016/02/10/empowering-students-with-data.html 

https://www.edutopia.org/article/why-student-data-should-be-students-data from 

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/37598/how-students-can-be-partners-in-data-driven-approaches-to-learning

2. Why are we spending collaboration and training time completing office administrative tasks? It was the most time efficient way to accomplish the task. Fourth and Fifth grade teachers were asked to commit 15-20 minutes, two weeks in a row, during PE time, to prepare test documents for parent pick up and put testing stickers on student files. All teachers had their specials time to collaborate.

3. What ways do Jennifer Serravallo/Lucy Calkins/current literacy specialists support the use of AR? STAR? Serravallo and Calkins advocate for volume reading. TCS uses AR/STAR to monitor volume reading and to serve as a tool for finding “just right books”. When our Reading Coaches,  McGough and Peters attended the “Teachers College” in NY, this question was asked to Lucy Calkins.  Calkins indicated that AR/STAR easily pair with LC.  Many of Serravallo’s strategies use leveled texts and Accelerated Reader offers a system to leveling text. Renaissance products, Serravallo strategies and Calkins can and should complement each other.

4. How/when is Trussville planning on adopting the Fountas and Pinnell Reading

curriculum? Textbook adoption for reading does not come up for a few more years. It is not being considered at this time.