Since its inception, SMART has monitored the performance of the students in its member school districts in science and mathematics as measured by their achievement on the Ohio Proficiency Tests. Under the Federal No Child Left Behind Act, schools are now required to disaggregate performance data by gender and ethnicity.
SMART continually tracks these data for its member school districts. It also offers assistance in helping them evaluate the educational data for their specific districts.
Emphasis is on standards alignment and the adoption of appropriate educational strategies.
To engage educators in discussions about different types of student assessment data, and to teach them how to work with data they have for their own classes, schools, and districuts, SMART has developed a one-day workshop entitled D3(Data, Data, Data): What's an Educator to Do?, which it has conducted both at the Idea Center and for various school districts. In the D3 workshop, participants:
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Review available data and measurement information from reports of the Ohio Achievement Tests, as well as other standardized tests;
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Review information provided by the Ohio Department of Education score reports for teachers and parents;
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Examine Ohio Achievement and Ohio Graduation Test items for alignment to the district's curriculum and the Ohio Academic Content Standards and for level of cognitive demand, and to identify student misconceptions;
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Discuss the use of student tests data in developing a coherent curriculum (i.e., so teachers can understand how what they teach relates to the Ohioi Content Standards) and to gain insight on how to adjust content planning and instructional strategies;
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Learn how to examine the growth of individual students from year to year, using OAT data and other online information; and
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Learn data analysis and interpretation skills and receive a a complete set of working materials in (CD-ROM format) to assist them in replicating the session in their buildings/districts.
For more information about SMART's data evaluation services and the D3 workshop, contact Anna Maria Tabernik, Ph.D. (Tab) at (216) 916-6434, 0r AnnaMaria.Tabernik@ideastream.org.