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BRES TIP OF THE MONTH
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
Instructional System (Curriculum + Assessment): creating systems to ensure formative
assessments are rigorous and aligned to the end of the year assessment
SCENARIO
Read the following scenario and ask yourself, “Why were the seventh grade English team’s results so
much stronger than the sixth grade results?”
Suzy is the team lead for sixth grade English. Under the direction of the school leader, she and her team set out to
implement a data driven culture at XYZ Middle School. Her team and three other teams piloted common interim
assessments (IAs) given every six to eight weeks. Within 48 hours of IA administration, the sixth grade English team
met to analyze the data and make re-teach plans for every week in between the six to eight week IA cycles. Significant
progress was made in terms of teacher follow through with re-teaching in between the IA cycles. Suzy carved time in
her schedule (as the team lead she had an extra planning period) to observe the re-teach lessons according to the
schedules and plans submitted by her teammates at the end of each data analysis meeting. Suzy was tenacious and
consistent with coaching her team and holding them accountable. As a result, team follow through was at or near 100%
by mid-November with respect to administration of IA’s, entering the data into a spreadsheet for the data analysis
meetings, attending meetings and leaving them with re-teach plans calendared for the six to eight week IA cycle, and
finally following through and re-teaching the lessons planned during the data analysis meetings. Results from the IAs
were getting stronger and stronger as the year progressed and by April, both she and the team were feeling excited
about the state test that month.
It is now June and the results of the test just arrived. Suzy is excited until she sees the results. Last year the sixth grade
English team had a 30% passing rate. This year, although there was improvement, it increased to only 38%. Suzy is
really surprised, especially given how hard she and the team worked and stayed focused on data driven instruction. She
asks the seventh grade English team lead, Marco, what their results were and learns they increased from 41% passing to
65%! She asks Marco for a copy of one of his IAs and after looking at the test she realizes why the seventh grade team’s
results are so much stronger. After further discussions with Marco, Suzy learned that in addition to spending time
running data meetings and observing re-teach lessons, he also created a system to ensure the seventh grade IA’s were
tightly aligned to the end of the year test and slightly more rigorous. By the time the students took the real test, they
were more prepared.
TIP OF THE MONTH
BRES Effective Schools Framework, Big Rock Two: Instructional System (Curriculum + Assessment)
Create a template - with a rubric and exemplar assessment examples - outlining expectations for interim assessment
format, length and rigor. Schedule time to provide feedback to teachers on the IA’s using the expectations template so
improvements can be made before the test is administered.
WHY
Although Suzy established systems ensuring effective data analysis meetings and consistent follow-up of re-teaching, she did not
have a system to ensure the interim assessments were rigorous and aligned to the end of the year assessment. Therefore, gains
were minimal. With a roadmap for assessment alignment and rigor established in the seventh grade team, the bar of instruction
and student output was more rigorous and aligned to the end of the year assessment. In addition, Marco scheduled time to
provide feedback to teachers on the IAs before administration. Therefore, gains were much higher.
A template or document that outlines expectations for teachers on interim and other formative assessment format, length and
rigor ensures that instruction and re-teaching is at a high level of rigor and aligned to the end of the year assessment. Every
student will be receiving rigorous instruction and continuous intervention as needed, thus student achievement will increase.
HOW BRES CAN HELP
BRES and the school leader work together to implement the systems in Big Rock Two (Curriculum + Assessment) in the
BRES Effective Schools Framework. Implementation of these big rocks will help the school leader and leadership team
establish systems for rigorous instruction and assessment to increase student achievement. You can reach us at:
bigrockeducation.com/contact for information.
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