3 Key Strategies for Prepping for State Tests & Building Long-Term Formative Practices

Hi. Thanks to everyone for joining. I am Tracy Weeks. I am the senior director for education policy and strategy at Instructure, And I'm so excited today to, get to talk with a couple of amazing, colleagues about strategies for, preparing for state tests and really looking at the ways that formative assessments and formative practices really help with that prep work along the way. So I'm gonna welcome my colleagues on now and just tell you a little bit about them, and, you'll understand quickly why I'm so excited about having both of them on with me today. First, I've got Brett Vaughn, who is the executive director of curriculum and instruction for Spartanburg, seven in South Carolina.

Brett is an educational leader with extensive experience in curriculum development, instructional coaching, and assessment strategies. She's been the principal of Stone Academy of Communication Arts in Greenville, South Carolina. And in her current role as executive director of curriculum and instruction in Spartanburg School District seven, Brett brings a wealth of knowledge and practical insights, empowering educators to utilize assessment data effectively to drive student success. So, Brett, thank you for being here today. And then we also are joined by Ali Parr, who is the curriculum integration coordinator for the school city of miss Mishawaka.

Did I say that right, Ali? I'm that that's a good one for this morning. Yes. Yes. And Ally brings a robust understanding of curriculum development and data driven instruction to her leadership. She started as an English and E and L teacher and has really grown up and and come come up as a digital integration specialist, and really gets to focus on evidence based strategies.

She actively shares her insights on curriculum design, data utilization, and thoughtful technology integration through her work at the Indiana Connected Educators Board and presentations at local and national conferences. So thank you both for being here today and for sharing what's going on in your respective districts when it comes to prepping for standardized tests and how you're both leveraging formative practices in that process. So if if we kind of sort of set the stage of, you know, sort of how is assessment viewed today, you know, we went through, I would say, a real up swing before COVID of really leaning heavily into our our standardized testing, our high stakes testing. And then when COVID hit and we we had to go a little bit without having you know, we had a a year or two in some cases of actually just missing out on some data and trying to determine how we would measure things, going forward, I think that that gave everyone an opportunity to sort of step back for a moment and think about how we're doing assessments and if there are some different ways we might be able to go about supporting our students. And are there better and and more timely ways to know, you know, what our students know as we go through the day to day teaching and learning process? So let's dig in for a second.

Alright. When we think about the standardized testing season coming up. So here we are. We're at the end of March. Those end of year tests are upcoming.

So let's start. Brett, what what can be done right now to impact results? Yes. This is like, right before, you know, the your birthday when, you know, there's a present coming and you're just not sure what's inside. And, hopefully, some of you out there have had developed some sort of formative process. So you've been kind of keeping the temperature in your classrooms and in your schools along the way and, kinda preparing for the season.

So what we are doing right now is a temperature check for us. We're looking, at our last, MVPA that we may be taking through Master Connect or, some other source that we may be using. And we're just seeing what are our kids telling us right now that in the next month, they will be ready to do on that state assessment. And then we're having to have perspective. I think that's the key piece now.

It's you've had a lot of days, and we know some kids will get there, some kids will need more time. So what can you do with a little bit of perspective? One great tip I have for, teachers right now is to remember how have you been instructing your students. For example, if you are a classroom that is full of rich literacy text, they hold books all the time and you read from books. It's a good time to remember, if you're on a paper, pencil, or a computerized test. If it's a computerized test in your state like it is in mine, then encourage students to start reading from a computer for a while so they'll get used to it.

And, also, encourage them to scroll but stop. If they're scrolling while they read, their brain is engaged in two different behaviors, and they aren't able to focus clearly on text. So be very intentional about practicing because they've been reading, turning a page, reading, turning a page. So, actually spend some intentional time with that practice, of getting ready for the test. Also, when you're looking at that assessment data, kinda chunk into what you have control over.

You can stress your friends out quickly if you're trying to do too much. So pick maybe, a a particular question a day to look at and kinda dive in and approach it as a team and how would we answer this question. You know, why do we get this question right? Why would we get it wrong? But really spend some intentional time keeping perspective that you can't do everything now in the last bit of time you have left, and, you want your kids happy going into that testing window. So, do what you can to be encouraging and loving in the last phase of of this year. And that really makes sense.

Right? We've we've been, practicing with students on that that physical taking of the test for a long time. Right? We used to practice with our elementary kids on how to bubble our bubble sheets completely incorrectly. Right? So now it's just shifting to a different modality just like we practice with them before to make sure that they had everything lined up. We're now just shifting those same practices to the technology and and looking at how you you physically use that. That makes a lot of sense.

Ally, how about you? What's going on in Indiana with with prepping kids? So we have this year, piloted a through year assessment. So we have been working with our kids doing three times a year with our state assessment so far. So they've gotten in there. They've gotten to see what it looks like, but we've also received some really good data back about where we need to review and reteach. So similar to what Brett said, we are diving into that.

Where are we still needing a little extra push to get to this this summative assessment that's coming? In Indiana, we we've changed some of our laws and our policies. So, we just finished one of our very large data assessments that, require third graders to pass and or they are retained. So, we are now really diving into that those specific students who did not pass for intervention purposes. But I I we are always reiterating, getting on to the interface, doing the practice test, looking at the blueprints. But looking at one of my favorite things about MasteryConnect is that their questions mirror our state test.

So including those all year long, you know, you don't have to do this major push at the end because your students have been using it all year long. It's one of my favorite parts about it. And so I I we I echo a lot of what Brett says. We we're just hoping hoping families are supporting at home. We send out newsletters to them about loving and building that confidence in their students.

Our teachers are making their cute little notes to put on the desk, you know, making sure that we are prioritizing those areas that need to be improved, but still building that safe loving environment for our kids. And I love that idea of using consistent systems because we do see more and more districts and states doing, sort of those, through course assessments or doing benchmark assessments, but using the same platform that they would be using assessments, but using the same platform that they would be using for those end of year, tests so that, like you said, it's not necessarily they've been practicing all year long. It's not necessarily, necessarily, a a new thing that they're having to get used to at the end of the year. So that makes a lot of sense. Perfect.

Okay. Well, when we think about long term adjustments, like, you both have been working on, you know, sort of changing assessment culture in your respective districts, and and that's not something that happens overnight. Right? How how do you go about, you know, changing that and and building a different mindset over time? Ali, I'll let you go first this time. Okay. We have really focused on, like, student ownership in this piece, and and focusing on kids looking at that, looking at their own data.

We do a lot of leader in me, and so our students track their data each week. They put it in their binders. They can they can go home and show their parents. They can lead their student, student conferences. All of these things that, over time is is building this this growth mindset, rather than just this one test score.

I we really are doing a lot with that. We are actually looking to mirror it at our secondary levels, because maybe our secondary kids don't wanna color in, you know, their little bar charts and things like that. So how do we, use MasteryConnect's reports for our kids to look at and and chart their own data there or look at it and be able to reflect on it. But I think that student ownership piece is a huge part of changing this assessment culture. Because if students are seeing that growth and having that growth mindset, then, hopefully, there's not as much anxiety on one test.

They can see their growth over the year. Their teacher can congratulate them and and celebrate them, pinpoint their personalized needs, and and it becomes this learning culture rather than I'm a test score. Did it take, was it a heavy lift to get your teachers, sort of also shifted and into this mindset? How like, is that is this something that you focused on for a year? Did it take multiple years? Like, how did how did we empower our educators to really sort of lead with this as part of the teaching and learning process? So we do grade level meetings. And we we got this data wars ideas at a conference, and we brought it back to our grade level meetings, and we pull our grade level teachers. We all meet here at the ad center for half a day, and we just kind of dove into into that.

And we were like, here is where you see your here's your weekly assessments that you're working on. Here is, a plot that template you can use for these these data wars. And and they just kinda took it and ran with it. It it was an adjustment because what do all those other kids do in your classroom when you're up there working with a student? Or, you know, it's not just a coloring page. Like, you actually have to do your what you got on the on the quiz or the assessment.

So, yes, it was an adjustment, but I think it also helped our teachers focus on, like, their classroom management and their personalized learning and their small group instruction. So it kind of went big picture in order to change this assessment culture. That makes sense. Alright. Brett, how about in Spartanburg? Berg? Yes.

I echo everything again. Ali said it starts with the child. When you're building your culture, you've gotta start with your why. And I think the most important why we have is, we want kids to grow and learn in our schools. We are experiencing new standards.

So, as part of that, we, you know, may adjust our data culture because our assessment culture because we are actually trying to, you know, integrate those new standards from math or, or English language arts. But I will say once you know that why, then you've gotta know your current state. So in, our schools, we conduct learning walks. We we wanna know what's actually happening with the students and the teachers in the classroom so that we can best inform our instructional support. Our our school leadership teams go in and look and see where they can offer help.

They build their professional learning calendars based on, what's going on in the classroom and where the teacher the teachers or coaches coaches can best support one another. We also take some time, to strengthen PLCs not just at the grade level, but vertically, you know, within content areas across schools. We want teachers talking about what works well and how they can meet the needs of diverse learners across our district. And so really having that conversation and collaboration. I've also read recently a study that, you teachers that have connection with other teachers in their building are more inclined to stay longer.

And so if we're building those connections and building that, culture among teachers where they collaborate, we keep them longer, we keep them happy. And then, of course, they are able to best set those goals that Ally was talking about to help students grow and learn and and, be more successful. The the joy does come and when students see their growth over time and they're happy, the parents are happy, and then the teachers are happy. The efficacy goes up and, the cycle then kinda continues. So, having as much opportunity to get in the building, look at what's going on, talk about it, be reflective, and, that is the culture piece for us is, constant collaboration and that cycle of reflection for our schools.

The assessment is kind of like the the background to all of that. Right? Once once all of that's in place, then when the assessment arrives, it's it's not as much of a big deal because you've done all the work on the front end. And, Brett, I'm glad you mentioned parents, as part of that too. I'd love to hear more from from you and from Ali on on sort of what you've seen and heard from parents because certainly, when I I think back over the last, you know, several years, you know, we've had some highs and lows when it comes to parent response. Certainly around high stakes tests and whether or not there's too much testing going on in the classroom and so on.

So I'd love to hear a little bit about, you know, what you've heard from parents as you build this assessment culture and, how you manage those expectations. That's such a great question. And one of the favorite tools that we've used over time, like, for example, with Master Connect is really unlocking the mystery behind an assessment question or the language in an assessment question because it does connect back to actually, hopefully, what we're teaching in the classroom. And, if we give kids time to practice with different levels of a question, different continent of question, then they're not, as a fearful or nervous about attempting any question that's given to them. And we can explain, that, to parents better when their kid's not as worried about it.

Right? As a as a parent, I bring to the table my anxiety about test taking. I'm a terrible test taker. And so, you know, when I first took my child to school, I was very worried about how he would take tests because I hated taking tests. So over time, giving kids the response of it's not so bad. Look at this question I answered.

Sending some of those questions home where they can show off how they engaged in the question answering and why they got it wrong, but how they know they won't get it wrong next time. That language, m or the parent night at school, over time, you can shift that culture of fear, in the parent too. I tell parents all the time, even with standardized tests, we gotta keep the perspective of, we need to know what we're doing so that we can continue to shift how we're doing it. So, yes, they may not show up for the ultimate performance of their life, in third grade, but guess what? We've got from third grade to fourth grade to increase that performance. So we just start over and continue to work with them as partners and, tweak that assessment.

It's really while we are held accountable to, test in our state, it it also means we can use that information to help in a positive way impact the achievement of a child and kind of, like, lower the temperature and fear of assessments because the truth of it is they're gonna have to perform, later on if they're interested in, you know, going to college or if they're interested in taking an assessment for a career, technical school. I mean, assessments are a part of of their reality. So teaching them how to take the test, how not to be fearful of it, and then having those parents in the background saying you got this. I remember that hard question you approached in third grade can always be helpful. That's great.

Ali, any any specific strategies for working with parents and and bringing them into this assessment culture? Yeah. We are in, I feel like, constant contact with all of our parents. You know, we're sending Indiana, and I'm sure other states are too. We're just changing a lot of a lot of laws right now and a lot of policies. So, we have had to send these out every update we can, especially to our second and third grade families.

But we also try and make them fun. So I we sent home, like, a winter break reading challenge. In Northern Indiana, you're gonna have snow over winter break. Read a story about snow. We also have a lot of other, you know, technology platforms that our kids can access at home.

So we want them to show their parents or, work on this platform next to your parent so that our parents are really engaged with them and can see what not only they're doing in school, but that they can transfer that out of school. You know, we also I'm sure we sound like broken records when we tell them to read for twenty minutes every single night. But, you know, we just are have to be have to be there, have to be in in the homes as well as being outside of the home. So, you know, we're just in constant constant contact with those parents. And like Brett said, we ask them to celebrate with us.

We send as much, like, score report information home, in parent language because we know that the jargon that sometimes comes from other places is difficult. So we we try and try and translate that into parent language and, just continue celebrating, but also here's where our next steps are. Here's where we go next. Here's how we're gonna grow your child. Yeah.

I love that. I love the idea of keeping parents as long as they're a part of the conversation and feel included. I think that goes a long way with, helping with sort of any concerns or fears, that might come along with it. It. Okay.

So as we think about, like, what what could be, what could things look like? And when you think about sort of the dream world and dream state in your districts, how could or if maybe you've already achieved it in your district and you wanna provide some inspiration, for for folks on this webinar, like, how what is your vision for how educators can use assessment data to actually drive growth, feedback, and support? Who wants to tackle that one first? I will just say you use the assessment. Use the assessment to scaffold the learning. Use the to take a part of assessment and use it as a check for understanding before they send kids out to do independent practice. That way they'll know which kids they need to pull to the side and do a little re teaching or redirecting of information so that they can continue. And then, of course, you're gonna have that assessment at the end to inform your instruction before your you jump to the next standard that you were headed into.

We love assessments for spiral reviews. One of the favorite strategies, I have a teacher friend who when she does a spiral review, she doesn't connect it to the content block that day. If I'm practicing things that I need to make sure that I know over time in math, but I'm not super great in math, I she separates it from the math block. So it's at another segment and time of the day where the kids, again, are celebrating and getting excited about their success than when they dig into math at a different time of the day. They're not making that connection of, oh, this was math and this was hard.

Having that positive approach to answering questions so you can demonstrate how smart you are, how much you've learned, you know, and that's that's all the way up. Even at the high school level, they want to be successful, and we have to find ways to show them that they can be or that they are. And I'm practicing those assessments, in turning this assessment data into feedback. I know when I was an English teacher, you know, how many essays did I grade? How many comments did I make? And then students never look at it again. So what are different unique innovative ways to utilize feedback with that assessment growth growth? We're we're really into, like, audio feedback right now, you know, using Instructure and Canvas to, you know, put our show what we're changing or show what we're editing using audio.

We're also really big into using AI for our feedback now, making that effective, a little more efficient, with our feedback. I I always say that I would never see a first draft ever again if I was a teacher now because my students would be using it as a feedback tool. We're having a lot of lot of fun and focus on that feedback, but also the strategies to make sure students are going back seeing it and doing something with it. So that student ownership. I also think that we are diving deeper into, like, data literacy.

I don't really think, at least in Indiana, I don't think that teachers are really taught how to look and analyze data. But we're expected to do it when we are in the building. So, you know, we're we're really, again, utilizing AI to sit here and and support our data analyze analyzing. And, again, it's a lot more efficient that way. But like Brett said earlier, diving deeper into that PLC work and just collaborating and how can everybody in the building be working for this greater greater growth in our schools.

I love that you said that, Ally. Everybody is a part of that data process, in that in that school culture. That is such an important point. Yeah. I I completely agree.

I I wanna encourage, those of you who are are, listening today. If you have questions, please submit them in the q and a. So we have a a few kind of questions and comments, in the q and a now that have to do with, standards alignment and, you know, so for example, here's a question. If students have learned and demonstrated content standards during the year, why would it matter what test they are asked to complete if it's based on the same standards? Thoughts? Does it matter what test they take if they take if they are all aligned to the state standards? You know, if they've if they've shown them throughout the year, does it matter if they're taking it on the same platform? Does it matter if they're taking it on a different platform? Why does it matter? I think it's helpful to demonstrate in multiple ways how, you can understand the content. I think that because you're gonna see content in different scenarios, over your learning career for sure.

So, I think it can be helpful to see it in different ways. If I'm under understanding that question correctly, you wanna practice it in multiple ways. And and then, of course, different types of assessments can present it differently. I also think that at least, in Indiana, it all, all the data goes to the same place. So if we're taking it on the same platform, then we can see all that data across the school year in one place, which kind of supports that, PLC and collaboration and growth mindset versus having to look at one set of scores over here and one set of scores over here and one set of scores over here.

Scores over here and one set of scores over here and one set of scores over here. Doing it all on the same platform puts it all together. I also think that there's so much, information about, like, cognitive load out there where students who don't get to practice on the same interface is are spending so much time clicking all the buttons and the new on the interfaces. So if they are able to use that same interface over and over again, they can dive deeper into that rigor and in their brain, instead of learning where to click for the speech to text or learning where to click for this. Those would be my pros to using the same interface.

So so then let me ask you this question. So and and I know you know the answer to this, but I'm gonna ask for you know, so that you can share your experiences here. When you are doing these formative assessments or the three course assessments throughout the year, how do you have confidence that it's actually going to prepare your students for the actual end of year test, that it's aligned with the end of year test, and and that you have confidence that the data you're getting through the year is really gonna be accurate in helping you understand how the student's gonna perform at the end of the year. Does that make sense? It's demonstrated in multiple formats. Right? Yeah.

That's, that's the best possible way to know, and that comes up a lot in our check for understanding in our classrooms. That's where we find, a lot of the, different types of questions that Mastery Connect provides for us to be so helpful because we can pull a different question, and and a couple of different scenarios and make sure that kids are truly ready to go on, like I said earlier, to that independent practice. But, yeah, they are going to have to demonstrate it multiple ways. And we really trust our teachers on that side of things. I mean, my I can be looking at data at the curriculum level standpoint and be like, okay.

These students need to be clustered and put over here in this small group, and the teacher is gonna be like, no. That student does not go there. That student goes over here. You don't see them on a day to day. You don't see this massive growth that I see.

So I we trust our teachers. I that's my that's my answer. You do the best job. Right? They know their students better than anybody. So alright.

Here's a question. What strategy would you recommend for building students' stamina for end of year testing? Testing? Do you have any ideas? It's like incremental practice over time. You're building you're building that stamina all year long, you know, a little bits and bites and then a little more, and increasing it to that end of the year piece. That it's practicing. I think It's Yeah.

Yeah. I think that's, a pro of this through year is that they're they're getting kind of the same amount every single time. And you can see that that growth. Also, you know, we have a lot of untimed state tests now. And so talking to students about when is it time to move on, you know, when you can go back and review things like that and those test taking strategies for stamina, confidence, that kind of thing.

And, Brett, you touched on this, a little bit, but, we'd love to have you expand here. We've got a question about the daily schedule and how to fit testing in that that's best for student performance. Like, what's what are best practices you're seeing for day to day testing schedules, doing them all back to back, spacing them throughout the week or, you know, doing each subject in the classrooms where they learn that subject. Like, how do you sort of schedule in the various testing that happens? Yeah. I think, that that is we go back to culture.

That is a very important piece. You gotta know your school and know, where your kids perform best. And, you know, building those testing groups and, you know, who who they trust when they're testing. So when you're building that schedule, that's important to think about and to talk to your teachers about because they know their kids best. I would I could tell you never test on Monday, but there may be a group of kids in that building that are the best taste test takers on Monday.

So listen to your building. And then, again, we talk about stamina. Don't over test too fast. Give some breaks in between. Give some time for build up and communication with families so that they know what's coming next.

Right? You want, I think we can all agree that the good night sleep and the breakfast are very important. Communicating with those parents so they know what's coming gives them time to do that. But, know your people. Know what they need, and that's that's my best advice for the schedule. Spend time communicating and refining and making that better over time can be very beneficial.

And then again, another piece sorry, Ali. It's all hands on deck. When when, you know, when we are taking any kind of test in our building, we want we want all of that learning to be important, that demonstration of knowledge to be viewed as important. So we try really hard to treat every test in that same way, not just the state test at the end of the year. But when you get a chance to show off what you know, that's an important time.

So we try to hold that sacred and keep it pretty predictable. Right. Ali, thoughts on your side? Just having this yeah. We were just having this conversation because our state test, starts the day after we come back from spring break. Nice.

Best day to start. Right? Yeah. So we were having this conversation. You know, some principals are like, yeah. But this day is gonna be my best day in attendance.

So, like, you know, I'm gonna get the most bang for my buck there. And then others were like, we need a day to get kids back in the groove, and we'll start later in the week. We also have some buildings who know it takes longer to get all their makeup tests done. So they like to start earlier, so they have the larger end at the end to get those makeup tests. Our principals, like Brett said, they know their building.

So, I am I am lucky to be able to hand over a template, and they make their schedule and go. But I think they they know their kids, and they know when is best. And I, I would a hundred percent echo what Brett said about testing with someone that they trust. Yeah. So what I've heard from both of you is the importance of trusting teachers to know their students in their classroom, trusting the the school administrators to know their teachers and know their building so that as we built this culture of assessment, you know, they really are making the best decisions even when it comes to scheduling that keeps in mind the kids that they have in their building and in their classrooms.

Right. And, Tracy, that's why the most important question I think we discussed today is that culture. If we're having that formative assessment practice over the course of the year, you've ironed out all of those pieces. You you you teachers have learned about how their kids perform. You've learned about how your teachers, you know, get excited or get nervous, and you're able as a principal to, you know, best triage that and help encourage them too.

And, so it you know, we're like I said, we're at the last the last chance. You gotta have a perspective on there's a lot of work you just need to plan to do next year because in the last thirty days, you're just getting the little bits you can together because, it's go time, and we want them to be happy and excited to test again next year. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's gonna come again.

It's happening again. It happens every year. Alright. So here's a question. When you talk about changing the assessment culture, do you ever consider incentives to motivate growth and change student mindsets to create a more positive outlook? Yeah.

We have we party. We have a great time. No. With, you know, our our students who do grow, our students who pass, you know, our teachers do a really good job of celebrating. Our principals do a really good job of celebrating.

And then, we try at the district level to, you know, celebrate as well. We also really take the time to be intentional with thanking our teachers because they they do a lot right now. And we can feel their stress, and so we also want to to have a positive outlook with them. And so whether it's a thank you note or, we have principals who, like, will bring lunch and things like that, you know, just to say thank you in very intentional ways, but also for those same students. Yeah.

This is really where you bring those, family partnerships in that your PTAs, your school improvement councils. Let them get involved in celebrating, celebrating. Your kids are gonna grow period. We we may have a way to go to be the best in our school district, but we are celebrating that, we got from point a to point b. So, yes, there is always time for a celebration.

We've had some fun, fun, ways to celebrate over the years, and candy parties and karaoke are always a good suggestion. So do what you can again to make kids happy when that time comes. I would have been highly motivated by a karaoke party. I'll tell you that for sure. Okay.

We've got some more Go ahead, Ally. Sorry. I'll tie in real quick. We have one of our teachers or a handful of our teachers actually have, like, the parents write in a little note, for, like, testing season. And that, you know, it it may not be, like, necessarily an incentive, but, it's a big big positive outlook motivation booster when the kids come in and see a little positive note from parents or teachers in the building, things like that.

A great idea. Yeah. That is a great idea. Yeah. Alright.

So so we talked about the parent positive part. Here's here's a a question, and we certainly do see this happen in in places. What do you do when parents refuse testing? What does that conversation sound like? Do you have that happen? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, parent parents are a part of the process, and, and they they the children belong to them.

So you have to work with them, and, you know, let them know first and foremost, unlock the mystery, I think I said that earlier, of what the test is for and then how we how it's used. I think, ninety nine percent of the time, if I've had a parent that is, concerned about too much testing or the testing that they're taking or how's the testing that gonna be used, a conversation really helps that they understand our approach to gathering that data and how it helps us make their child a better student over time. But, yeah, that partnership is huge and, parents need time and and information to, be better supporters of, you know, this this what can be a high stakes test in their mind. Like I said earlier, scared of testing. So when I drop my child off at your school, I'm nervous.

And we've gotta help parents understand that too. Conversations help and respecting that, you know, they are part of that process is very important. And and our student are parents allowed to opt students out of testing in your district? K. In our state, they are. Yeah.

I've never had it, so I don't I don't know the answer from an Indiana perspective. I do know, like, third grade, you're retained if you don't pass it. So, if you don't take it, you you can't pass it. So, our second and third graders, it would just be a simple retainment. But I I think it's more our our pushback or our parent side is more so the a lot of testing.

And so we do have those same similar conversations that Brett talked about and sharing what it looks like and why we do so much testing. And with the state putting this on our plate, we've taken this off, those kind of conversations. They just wanna know. Yeah. I think it's important to state to they they there definitely are some repercussions if a child is not tested in our state.

I mean, it it's a law. We gotta know where they are. So I don't want to say, yeah. Sure. That's there's some implications if it's So you still it sounds like you still have the conversation.

It's not just a, oh, okay. You're opting out. Have a nice day. It's a Yeah. Let your client know why to see if you can dig into the is this a fear thing? Can I help you, you know, feel better about this? That makes sense.

Yes. Yes. Alright. So here's a big question hanging over everything. How can teachers, and I'll even expand this to schools, address the NAEP learning loss challenge? So we know that the NAEP scores this year were a big headline.

So, what are your perspectives? What have the discussions been in your district about, how to go about addressing those? I think we're excited about the shift in our standards. I mean, we are, especially in math, we are adopting some new standards this year and, getting our teachers on board or understanding what what each standard means and ready for next year, to begin implementing them, will be very helpful to us. We've seen incremental growth over time because we've really focused on what matters most, and that is the standard, that we want kids to learn. And so, that that's working for us right now. So, we're very aware of it.

We want our kids, all achieving at, across the board. I'm never satisfied unless a hundred percent of my kids are growing. So, you know, we're working hard, but the, you know, the reality is I think it's a standard shift and better instructional materials, can help us support teachers and getting kids where they need to be. Ally, how about you guys? Yeah. I think we we continue to grow and push, and we had, a lot of streamlined standards this past year and a lot of, you know, a three year testing now.

So our state is making a lot of these changes that we are kind of just, taken on and changed. And, we we saw a lot of great improvement with our third grade test. So we have we have high hopes for, our standardized test at the end of the year, and we are just gonna keep pushing. We're focusing a lot of time and efforts on our intervention team, and what that looks like both in the classroom and outside of the classroom. You know, the the pendulum in Indiana at least is swinging back.

So, you know, we're focusing on, like, writing and and diving deep into some of that kind of thing. So, you know, we're just pushing pushing ahead. Yeah. So here's a question for you, Brett. If you're, getting new math standards, do you also get new math assessment items and new instructional strategies to achieve them? Yes.

We are we work very hard with teams of teachers to help, create some guidance documents, focusing on those new standards and making sure that we're selective in the materials that we choose. And we're super grateful to have partners in assessment too that help us, make sure that the questions that we're asking are connected to the learning standards shift that we're having in our state, because, again, we wanna continue to practice those great questions and they need to be relevant to those new standards. So, yes, we talk about that a lot. Where are we getting the best quality resource? It that's as important as the instructional strategies that we're using. And, again, that assessment is an anchored piece and are they understanding? So we we need those best assessments to help us support those kids and know that they know what they're learning.

Yeah. Well, and here's another South Carolina based question for you, Brett. You you've got a a fellow South Carolinian, listening in, and and their students take the the SC ready, assessment. And and they're asking if there's any specific state test prep that occurs in your middle schools for end of the year testing. Yep.

We we actually are implementing, one of one of our resources right now is Mastery Connect and using those resources to help build some common informative assessments assessments throughout the year so that we get ready, for the SC ready assessment. Really paying attention to those DOK levels, and try you know, teachers can come up with great questions, but sometimes, we need to push our envelope with a question and talk about it so that we understand what's being taught and then take that question back to kids and we can better explain it so that when they encounter some of those hard questions on that SC ready test they know, and have had experience digging into a deeper question. So, Master Connect has been very helpful to us with that process. I think I answered that one. Curious for either of you, and I think, Ally, we had been talking before, maybe maybe you were the one who had suggested this.

Talk a little bit about your assessment system and looping that back into the learning management system and how using those things together is being done in your schools. So I'm gonna tie in actually what Brett just said too about our middle schools. MasteryConnect has allowed us to focus on vertically aligning our middle schools with our high schools. And so our instructional coaches, math department, science departments get together just to make sure that we are vertically aligned. The kids coming from the middle school into the high school, we're ready.

We're on the same page. It's no mystery anymore. And so Mastery Connect has really let us let us focus on that and grow in that area. You know, our our state assessments. And, you know, one of our big reasons for selecting MasteryConnect was because it does integrate with Canvas, and we've been Canvas for however many years now.

And it's just the ease for teachers to let it all mesh together. It's one Edu system, and it it just kind of goes goes flawlessly. And I think teachers don't have to recreate the wheel all the time, and I think that was beneficial in both the Canvas and the MasteryConnect. And they're just both so good at, like, feature options. Like, we hey.

We're looking for how to do this, and they're like, yep. Here it comes. And you're like, great. Thanks. And and then your new thing is there.

So Yeah. And and it's lovely when they all do work together. But also, Brett, I think if I recall correctly, you're using MasterConnect without having used Canvas. Right? It's not a requirement. You can use it.

It works beautifully with. It works beautifully without. So you can use it either way. So that's that's great to know. We have a question on, focusing on schools, students in title one schools.

Do you have any methodologies you've adopted, that are targeted intentionally for students in title one schools? Are you leveraging any of these tools or other methods, for your students in title one schools? We, we do have a title one school in our district that's had tremendous growth. And then VPAs, Sebastian Connect, and common informative assessments have been a huge part of that. That data culture in that building is very strong. And, we talk about what the, the whole school community is working for every kid in that building. Those decisions come from that information.

As well as other we have some other great, assessment resources that we use as well, but tying that data culture together. And and teachers know, and it's not in a punitive format. It's a very collaborative culture. We also have spent some time, and I've could mention this earlier, but we created a learning framework based on explicit direct instruction and really focusing on those standards, eliminating, the things that you do not need to have in a lesson so that it's distracting and and making sure kids know, what you're trying to teach before you send them out for that independent practice and then circling back around to make sure they can demonstrate what you needed them to know. And like I said, our assessments are a very helpful part of that, the different types of questions title one schools that are working.

That's fantastic. Our principals, meet with their grade level teams, whether they're in a title one building or not. They pull out their grade level teams. They sit around a table. They look at all the data.

They have their intervention teachers in there. They're exceptional learners teachers in there, MLL teacher. I mean, everybody, like Brett said, all hands on deck. Everybody's around that same table to talk about the data, talk about next steps, talk about specific personalized learning for specific students, the MTSS process. I mean, everything is just this table with everybody sitting at it.

And I think that shows that data culture and and the best areas of growth come when everybody is involved. Alright. Here's here's a a great question. Let's talk about everyone and hands on deck here. Have you ever scheduled testing around how long it typically takes certain students to test? Rather than all students testing with their class, let's say I have four students who take significantly longer, would I pull those students out and create a separate testing environment, for them? Any research you've encountered about, students testing in their own classrooms versus a different environment? Or do you leave that up to the schools? We leave it up to the schools, but this year, we've had a lot of schools do more small group testing.

And, you know, this being kind of the first time, we can't really say that our great scores were were because of it, but we can't say that they're not. I think, again, our schools know their students, and they know if this kid is gonna take longer and maybe be a distraction or not be a distraction, here's the best testing environment for them. Yeah. We do. We definitely have some, testing practices in place to make sure that, students do have a a, you know, a very safe and, and fair format for testing.

So we do have to, do make sure that we're creating that environment carefully. But, again, you know, that scheduling piece is, principals and teachers know their building and can collaborate on that and strengthen that, within the window. Now there are for state testing, there are windows. So, that's kinda nice. You know, I can remember when I was growing up, I was assigned today.

Everybody took, you know, one test on the same day, but, that window, now that we have devices can be a little more flexible. Right. And in some cases, you know, was it one of you mentioned that your state no longer has, time requirements for the test. Is that true in both states? Okay. So so no longer is that sort of standardized time that you have to start and stop and and everything they have, what they have.

You've also got students with IDP or five zero four accommodations. My my child is actually one of those students and and gets a separate setting anyways. And that doesn't necessarily disrupt sort of your standardized testing procedures. It's just grouping kids so that they have maybe the most effective testing environment. So everyone's set up for success.

It's not changing the procedures. It's just putting them in a different location, which is not necessarily violating those. Okay. Our faculty pulled out of instruction to be involved in the administration's group analysis sessions. In other words, when do these collaborative sessions take place? Yeah.

So a lot of our buildings have planned their days around common prep periods or common specials times. And so then it comes it comes during that time. We also do, some collaboration after after the after the contract time. So, actually, today is a Wednesday where our teachers will stay. And sometimes those are data dives.

Sometimes they are district provided. Sometimes they are staff meetings. We have this really beautiful color coded schedule, of what happens which week. But, yeah, those in house ones will occur during a a set time in your building. Same.

Rep. Yes. Our master schedules and our principals work really hard to create, those opportunities for teachers to collaborate. That's a key piece. And so they try very hard to pull them together and minimize the amount of outside of the daytime that we can.

Alright. So we're starting to get to the the top of the hour. So I did wanna just take a moment, to to give each of you an opportunity to share. Like, Like, is there something we didn't ask about or hit on today that has been particularly important, as as you've gone about, you know, shifting to your assessment culture, that that you wanted to share about the the assessment practices in your district or or any words of encouragement, any enlightenment you'd like to share. Brett, I'll I'll let you go first.

Ali and I have even modeled this. I mean, it's it's great to have conversations with other educators about what we're doing. And, taking some things from Indiana and putting them, you know, up for consideration here in South Carolina can always help make us better. And just being open to suggestions and ideas and, not assuming anything. You know, get to know your your your school teachers and get to know your schools and, ask questions and be curious about, what's going on there and why assessment is happening because I think sometimes you find out you can read lots of things on the Internet and then you find out face to face with other humans that, there's other reasons why we do what we do.

So, yeah, assessment isn't always a terrible thing, but communicating and collaborating can make us all better. Alright. Ally? Yeah. I I agree with Brett. I just echo Brett.

But I I really agree on that collaboration piece and and trusting your teachers and looking at a student for for a student, not just a test score. You know, they they're gonna grow in their own way. The teachers are growing. The teachers the parents are growing. I mean, we just be as communicative as possible, in fun ways because, you know, we don't want them to feel like they're going home and doing more schoolwork.

Let them have some some family time, but read and and still work towards that goal. Assessment doesn't have to be scary. It it can just be a way to learn from the child about what you taught the child. So it doesn't have to be scary. You just have to build build that positive outlook culture, and a big piece of that is the celebration piece.

So don't forget to celebrate. Yeah. Yes. It has been such a delight learning from both of you today, and it it makes me think about, my former colleague, Trenton Goble, who was one of the cofounders of MasteryConnect, and he always used to say, if you're gonna collect data from students, you have a moral imperative to use that data, to improve their learning. And I know that he would just be delighted to hear about the culture that both of your districts, have really worked hard to put together, and that you are are working daily with your teachers, with your students, and with your parents, to really continue to grow your students and to to observe that growth.

And and, Brett, I just love how you kept saying you give them multiple ways to show that. You triangulate it across all the different ways of demonstrating that learning. And and then when it gets time for that end of year test, they're ready. Right? They're they're ready. There's not gonna be the surprise, and you're good to go.

I also wanna thank everyone who attended today. Y'all asked some great questions. So I wanna thank you for your participation. And I I'd also love to to thank EdWeek, EducationWeek, for hosting this webinar today, and, just making this conversation possible. So I wish you all a great week and a great assessment season coming up. So thanks to everyone. Take care.