Item+2+Evidence+of+Instructional+Need

= Evidence of Instructional Need =

There is strong evidence to support the ﻿instructional need for the initiatives indicated. This data has been culled from multiple sources, which include:
 *  //__HSA scores__// – 78.7% of all Grade 10 students passed the English HSA, but only 33.3% of SPED students and 69.1% of FARMS students passed. Of the 56 SPED students that took the test, 44.6% scored in the basic range, 53.6% scored in the proficient range, and only 1.8% scored in the advanced range. FARMS students fared somewhat better. Of the 121 FARMS students who took the test, 30.6% scored in the basic range, 56.2% in the proficient range, and 13.2% in the advanced range. Although both SPED and FARMS students met AYP reading proficiency for 2010, their HSA scores indicate that they need additional assistance to push them beyond the basic level of proficiency in English.


 *  //__Parent communication records__// – teachers document all communications with parents via email, notes from phone calls, and minutes from parent/teacher meetings. A particular focus has been on keeping an open line of communication with parents whose children appear to be struggling with content and related assignments. Documentation records for English Grade 10 show a pattern of teachers reaching out to parents to seek their help with their child’s homework completion, encouragement for better attendance, and concerns about participation and completion of in-class assignments. Unfortunately, less than 5% of teacher/parent communications were to provide positive feedback on student performance. Data indicates that on average 47% of all teacher/parent communications in Q1 were directed toward parents of SPED students, with parents of FARMS students receiving approximately 17% of all communications. This data is indicative of two major points – (i) these two groups represent the majority of students in Grade 10 English who are the focus of parent/teacher communications and (ii) the overwhelming majority of feedback from teachers to parents is negative in nature.


 *  //__Documented observations__// – teachers document their daily observations of student in-class performance and then share their thoughts with their co-teachers/paraeducators in weekly meetings. Minutes of these meetings are shared with the 10th Grade teaching and counseling teams, who have determined that a high percentage of in-class, one-on-one assistance is being focused on SPED/FARMS students. An analysis of the meeting minutes for Q1 of this year indicates that 62% of the in-class assistance issues were directed toward these student groups. The assistance ranged from reiteration of instruction to responding to a need for clarification of content, but the biggest focus was on reading comprehension. Although both SPED and FARMS students passed the AYP benchmark for reading, this data suggests that these student groups are still in need of assistance with development of reading comprehension skills.


 *  //__Student portfolios__// – every marking period students add six artifacts to their student portfolio, representing their best graded work. Teachers track progress in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and overall writing skills. SPED student portfolios have been consistently on the lower end of the grading scale (on average scores are <65%) and their performance is indicative of the need for a more direct teaching intervention to raise skill levels and boost student confidence.


 *  //__Progress sheets, interim reports, and report cards__// – teachers document and communicate student performance to parents through these sequential communiqués. The overall class performance in Grade 10 English for Q1 this year was 87%. This number indicates the percentage of students who attained passing grades (D or better) for this quarter. Only 73% of students attained a grade of C or better and of those students, only 26% were SPED/FARMs students.


 *  //__Student journals__// – students keep writing journals in which they are expected to create a minimum of 2-3 entries per week during class warm-up time. The topics of their entries are centered on the content they are currently studying. The journals are spot-checked for grammar, spelling, punctuation, writing, and comprehension of content. They allow teachers to informally monitor student progress in these areas and modify instruction as needed for learners who require additional assistance. This assignment has proven to be quite difficult for SPED students who only have a 57% completion rate, as opposed to FARMS students (72%) and the overall class completion rate of 91%.


 *  //__Attendance records__// – attendance for SPED students (88.7%) lags well behind other students. FARMS students fared somewhat better (90.1%), but are still in need of improvement. Low attendance rates negatively impact student performance and this is exemplified in the Student Journal completion rates for these two groups of students measured against their overall class average.