Evaluate Technological Solutions
The pressures of state testing is always an issue in school districts. Teachers are struggling with ways to integrate test preparation skills with what they are doing in the classroom. While at the Keystones Summit this summer, I was selected as one of 30 teachers to pilot a program in my district from Achieve3000 called Kidbiz3000. Kidbiz3000 is a web-based comprehensive differentiated instruction program in Reading and Writing for grades 2-8 designed to improve reading comprehension, vocabulary acquisition and writing skills. I was given a 30 seat class to use over the course of the year. Since my class list was only 19 and many of them received remedial reading support, I decided to team with the reading specialist to use the program with all of her third and fourth grade remedial students in an attempt to raise the students' reading levels and test taking skills prior to the PSSA tests. We decided on this group based on the fact that there were so many students that were performing below grade level despite the interventions that had been attempted with these students from grades K-2 and we knew that we needed to come up with an alternative solution and Kidbiz seemed like a good option. Students used kidbiz in whole class instruction at least 3 days per week.
Click here for a powerpoint presentation that details the research as presented to the Language Arts committee and building resource team in Upper Merion School District.
Need:
A way to assess student levels and differentiate instruction based on student need.
Expected Outcomes
| Correctly reply to multiple choice questions literal comprehension on grade level with 80% accuracy | |
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Correctly reply to multiple choice questions inferential comprehension on grade level with 80% accuracy |
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| Respond to reading using topic sentence, 3 details, and ending sentence with 80 % accuracy |
Data collections process:
The administrative options in Kidbiz make the data collection process simple. Teachers can collect data and then drive their instruction based on the data collected. Within the administration screen, there are Two Categories of reporting: system use—how are the students using the program and student performance—how are the student progressing
Actual Outcomes:
| class | Pre-Test Date | Rdg Level / Pre-Test Lexile | Sep 05 Act | Sep 05 Avg | Oct 05 Total | Oct 05 Avg | Nov 05 Total | Nov 05 Avg | Dec 05 Total | Dec 05 Avg | Inter Test Date | Rdg Level/ Inter Test Lexile | |
| 3 Rob | rdg | Nov-3-05 | 2.1 / 330L | 3 | 79% | 3 | 71% | Jan-6-06 | 3.2 / 575L | ||||
| 3 Hok | Sep-8-05 | BR / 1L | 10 | 68% | 8 | 85%* | 7 | 86%* | 4 | 85% | Jan-5-06 | 4.2 / 690L | |
| 4th | rdg | ADDED 1_06 | Jan-6-06 | 3.2 / 535L | |||||||||
| 3 Hok | g/t | Sep-8-05 | 5.2 / 775L | 6 | 71% | 8 | 81%* | 7 | 79%* | 4 | 100%* | Jan-5-06 | 7.2 / 1025L |
| 3 Hok | Sep-8-05 | 3.1 / 495L | 9 | 64% | 8 | 74% | 7 | 86% | 4 | 97% | Jan-5-06 | 3.1 / 495L | |
| 3 Hok | Sep-8-05 | BR / 1L | 8 | 63%* | 6 | 65% | 5 | 73%* | 4 | 88% | Jan-5-06 | 3.1 / 495L | |
| 3 Rob | rdg | Nov-3-05 | 2.2 / 425L | ADDED 11_05 | 3 | 75% | 4 | 82% | Jan-6-06 | 3.2 / 575L | |||
| 3 Hok | Sep-8-05 | 2.1 / 315L | 4 | 57% | 4 | 57% | 6 | 92%* | 4 | 82% | Jan-5-06 | 3.2 / 535L | |
| 3 Hok | Sep-8-05 | 4.1 / 630L | 6 | 75% | 11 | 70% | 8 | 78%* | 5 | 85% | Jan-5-06 | 6.2 / 910L | |
| 3 rem | rdg | Sep-8-05 | BR / 1L | 5 | 80% | 5 | 80%* | 4 | 94%* | 4 | 94% | Jan-5-06 | 4.2 / 690L |
| 4th | rdg | Sep-8-05 | 3.2 / 535L | 3 | 80% | 4 | 72% | 5 | 78% | 2 | 82% | Jan-6-06 | 4.2 / 690L |
| 3 Hok | Sep-8-05 | 4.2 / 690L | 7 | 66% | 6 | 65% | 8 | 75%* | 9 | 84% | Jan-5-06 | 5.2 / 775L | |
| 3 Hok | rdg | Sep-8-05 | 2.1 / 315L | 7 | 47% | 4 | 53% | 8 | 71%* | 9 | 81% | Jan-5-06 | 3.1 / 495L |
| 4th | rdg | Oct-3-05 | BR / 1L | ADDED 10_05 | 5 | 78%* | 6 | 88%* | 5 | 93%* | Jan-6-06 | 4.1 / 630L | |
| 4th | rdg | ADDED 1_06 | Jan-6-06 | 4.1 / 630L | |||||||||
| 3 Cr | rdg/ SP | Sep-8-05 | 2.2 / 390L | 4 | 75% | 5 | 78% | 4 | 85% | Jan-6-06 | 4.2 / 690L | ||
| 3 Hok | Sep-8-05 | 2.1 / 330L | 9 | 53% | 4 | 69% | 6 | 92%* | 5 | 95% | Jan-5-06 | 4.2 / 690L | |
| 3 Hok | Sep-8-05 | 3.1 / 495L | 8 | 64% | 7 | 65% | 5 | 85% | 4 | 78% | Jan-5-06 | 4.1 / 630L | |
| 3 Hok | Sep-8-05 | 2.2 / 360L | 5 | 65% | 5 | 90% | 6 | 94% | 5 | 88%* | Jan-5-06 | 5.2 / 775L | |
| 3 Hok | Sep-8-05 | BR / 1L | 6 | 86%* | 4 | 91% | 6 | 94% | 4 | 91%* | Jan-5-06 | 4.1 / 630L | |
| 3 Hok | Sep-8-05 | 4.2 / 690L | 7 | 65% | 5 | 73% | 8 | 77%* | 4 | 88% | Jan-5-06 | 5.2 / 775L | |
| 3 Hok | rdg / SP | Sep-8-05 | 2.2 / 390L | 6 | 44% | 5 | 63% | 5 | 58% | 4 | 79% | Jan-5-06 | 2.2 / 425L |
| 3 Hok | rdg | Sep-8-05 | 3.2 / 535L | 8 | 60% | 10 | 62% | 9 | 74%* | 3 | 79% | Jan-6-06 | 3.2 / 575L |
| 3 Hok | g/t | Sep-8-05 | 3.2 / 575L | 6 | 80%* | 4 | 97%* | 8 | 92%* | 4 | 78% | Jan-5-06 | 6.2 / 910L |
| 3 Hok | rdg | Sep-9-05 | 3.1 / 455L | 6 | 57% | 6 | 67% | 9 | 71% | 4 | 88% | Jan-5-06 | 6.2 / 910L |
| 3 Hok | rdg | Sep-8-05 | 3.2 / 575L | 8 | 58%* | 5 | 78%* | 8 | 78%* | 4 | 88% | Jan-5-06 | 4.1 / 630L |
Evaluation:
The only student that did not meet the objectives in our program as of mid year, is one of our special education students. In order to evaluate the success of this program, we will need to analyze the PSSA scores as well as student scores on the district reading and writing assessments.