Better data for better learning: for Rocklin USD, assessments linked directly to the standards produce timely reports that teachers and administrators use to fine-tune the curriculum and monitor progress.

It has been said that there is "nothing new under the sun." Well, there just may be an exception to that saying. Using technology on a regular basis in each classroom to assess student learning a tool that has arrived. Throughout California and across the nation, elected officials, business leaders, parents and educators have begun to put pressure on school districts to implement content standards in all subjects taught.

As educators, we know that what we teach is what we need to test. With content standards comes standards assessment. In California that is in the form of the state-adopted California Standards Test. The emphasis on the rest is so great that it comprises 80 percent of the Academic Performance Index.

As teachers and administrators, we all need to embrace assessment and understand how to use it as an advantage for our students. With every public school being measured by its API score and with the emphasis on standards, it is a logical next step to administer your own assessment of standards to ensure adherence to and the teaching of the content standards.

Standards assessment in Rocklin

In the Rocklin Unified School District, the need for data on student mastery of the California Content Standards was recognized as an integral piece of the curriculum design process. An assessment that was linked directly to the California Content Standards and could produce reports for teachers and administrators would be essential to fine-tune the curriculum and monitor progress toward standards mastery.

Other requirements included an assessment that could be easily administered, quickly corrected and immediately provide results. Timely data would be needed in a format that would be easily understood by parents and professionals alike. The data would need to be updated throughout the school year to give both teachers and administrators an opportunity to make on-course corrections prior to the spring high-stakes testing.

Over the course of a year Rocklin Unified School District reviewed several highly recommended assessment programs that would allow our district to meet the above stated goals. Each program offered many, if not all, of the components that our district was looking for. However, Renaissance Learning offered to create a three-year partnership with us to pilot new features and incorporated our feedback into their software.

Curriculum mapping and textbook alignment were the first steps in developing a sequence and scope of ensuring that every student would be provided with the learning opportunities to master the essential content standards for his or her grade level. Because of the sheer number of standards, our task was to group them based on the skills and knowledge being addressed. Once we had defined these standards clusters, we aligned our curriculum to ensure both depth and breadth of coverage.

Utilizing publisher information and teacher knowledge of our instructional materials, we identified where each of the standards were covered. Supplemental materials were necessary, particularly in language arts. The next step was to align our assess-talent to our curriculum to provide feedback to teachers, students and parents as well as to guide the overall district instructional program. Lastly, we developed a standards-based report card aligned to our standards clusters.

This systematic approach is managed through our use of technology. Teachers are able to tap into our database of test items, which are correlated to each of the standards. They can design their own individual assessments, score them and get individual student print-outs related to student mastery of the learning.

We have also designed district-wide assessments for each trimester at K-6 and each quarter at the secondary level. These provide both the teacher and school district information on the overall progress of our students, much like the CAT/6 and CST. This curriculum assessment integration is made possible through the use of computers, scanners and printers. Computer software has enabled our district to realize significant gains in student achievement at all levels and subgroups.

Initially, Standards Master was implemented in two of our nine elementary schools. The results of the assessments and subsequent immediate comprehensive results gave those teachers the ability to effect timely, on-target intervention to those students who had not mastered standards that had been taught, and to guide instruction in the future toward standards mastery, After that initial pilot, all schools began using Standards Master.

Four steps of assessment

How the assessment event works:

1. Assessments that are generated by Standards Master are printed and distributed to the students. The students use the familiar paper-and-pencil method to complete the assessments. Then students transfer their answers to a scan card much like they do for the CST and CAT/6 tests.

2. Using a scanner connected to a classroom computer, the teacher scans the cards. They are scored in a matter of minutes.

3. The program utilizes Web technology to instantly gather the scores, record and organize the data, and generate comprehensive reports for all users.

4. With the data in hand, teachers can identify potential areas of concern quickly, shitting resources and instruction to correct any problems and putting students on course for achieving state reading, math and language arts standards.

With a standards-based assessment, one can analyze data at every level including district, campus, teacher, class, student and test item. The data can also be disaggregated by significant subgroups such as poverty level, ethnicity, special programs and the like.

While the most critical need for continuous and ongoing student data is in the classroom, the district needs the collective results in order to analyze its instructional effectiveness. Rocklin disaggregates the data by standards to see how well students are mastering individual content areas. This data is used in determining if the instructional materials are appropriate, if additional time is necessary and if more staff training is needed. Reviewing the learning of students in specific subgroups provides information as to the effectiveness of our intervention strategies, SIP plans, Title I program, ELD and GATE.

Rather than waiting until the state test scores are returned and the year is over, Rocklin now can understand each child's learning needs long before the "testing window" arrives.

Modifications

It is also important to be able to modify the content of the assessment. For example, a district may want to focus on just a few standards per assessment event instead of the whole run of standards. Being able to modify or change the emphasis of an assessment event is a critical component of any standards assessment program you consider. These decisions on modifications should he broad-based and implemented district-wide.

Data-driven instructional practices

With the use of the data derived by the assessment event, the teachers and administrators in Rocklin were able to begin the process of making data-driven decisions about the explicit instruction in individual classes and for individual students. When an administrator and teacher can sit at a table, analyze the data and work on a plan for the instruction of students in general and for specific students, a synergy develops in this collaborative process. If the data indicates there are significant holes in the standards learning in the class, a plan can be developed for the students by the teacher, with the help of the administrator.

As the process evolved in Rocklin, it became apparent that the use of data was not threatening for the teacher, but in a larger sense it became extraordinarily useful. "Data is your friend" was not uncommon to hear, and lunchtime discussions regarding the latest assessment event have become common.

The technology

The technology is nearly as important as the program itself. All four programs that Rocklin looked at were Web-based and used a scanning technology far the assisted response items on the assessments. In addition, as a Web-based product, the in formation could be accessed anywhere at any time with a computer connected to the Internet. Also, a parent Internet viewing option is an important way of informing parents of the progress on the standards mastery of their children. Since the application resides on a Web server, it isn't as dependent on a local or wide area network and is usually more stable and reliable.

A dedicated Mark Recognition Reader is an important piece of the tool set. Standards Master uses the same Mark Reader Scanner as does the Accelerated Math program that district schools use. As a dual-purpose scanner, it stretches equipment funds.

Reporting

In addition in the use of Standards Master as a tool for making data-driven instructional decisions, the Rocklin Unified School District elementary schools also use the information as a way of reporting to parents on the district standards based report card. This has removed the burden of using district-developed assessments that are hand-scored and have little value after the reporting period. Rocklin's report card is directly aligned to the content standards and correlates with the reports from Standards Master.

Assessment essentials

To address the needs of a school, a standards-based assessment program must do the following:

* quickly and easily monitor each student's progress toward all state reading, math and language arts standards;

* provide reports that help you immediately intervene to address problem areas;

* help teachers focus instruction; and

* save time.

Rocklin has found its answer to these needs and is on the forefront of standards success. All schools in the district can now make data-driven decisions to base their explicit instruction and intervene where needed with no guessing! Without data, one is left with an opinion. Rocklin uses better data for better learning.

Kevin Brown is superintendent of the Rocklin Unified School District and has been named ACSA Superintendent and Administrator of the Year for Placer County and Region 2. Robert Capp is the principal of Sierra Elementary School in Rocklin and has been named the 2003-04 California Elementary Principal of the Year by ACSA.