Paige Taylor

EDUC 6410
October 13, 2016

I-Search Part I: Data Analysis/Professional Development Proposal

Cole Elementary School is located in Davidson County, Tennessee and is a part of the
Metropolitan Nashville Public School District. According to the Tennessee Department of Education,
during the 2014-2015 school year, 57.8% of students were Hispanic, 23.9% of students were White
(White/Non-Hispanic), 13.9% of students were African American, and 4.3% of students were Asian.
51% of the students were English Language Learners, while 93.2% of students were labeled as
economically disadvantaged.

I have analyzed various pieces of data in order to identify an area of focus for my professional
development presentation. The first data source that I analyzed was Tennessee Comprehensive
Assessment Program (TCAP). During the 2011-2012 school year, 34% of third and fourth grade
students at Cole Elementary School scored proficient or advanced on TCAP in Reading/Language. In
2012-2013, 36% scored proficient or advanced, and 32% scored proficient or advanced during the
2013-2014 school year. During the 2014-2015, 27% of the third and fourth graders scored proficient
or advanced on TCAP. The percentage of students who scored proficient or advanced on the
Reading/Language portion of TCAP is 21.4 percentage points lower than Tennessees state average for
grades 3-8, which was 48.4% in 2014-2015. In addition, the average percentage of students in grades
3-8 who scored proficient or advanced within the District during the school year 2014-2015 was
39.3%. Coles percentage of students who scored proficient or advanced on the Reading/Language
portion of TCAP during the 2014-2015 school year was lower than the District average by 12.3%.
Finally, in studying the TCAP data from 2013-2015, I observed that the third grade students
consistently performed better than their fourth grade peers in Reading/Language at Cole. For example,
during the 2012-2013 school year, approximately 40% of third graders scored proficient/advanced,
while approximately 30% of their fourth grade peers scored proficient/advanced. In 2013-2014, 43%
of third graders scored proficient/advanced, and the fourth graders scored nearly 26%
proficient/advanced. In 2014-2015, approximately 31% of third graders scored proficient/advanced,
while the fourth graders scored 22% proficient/advanced. These discrepancies in scores between the
third and fourth grades are significant.

A second data source that I analyzed was the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System
(TVAAS). I found that in 2013-2014, Coles overall composite score was a 3, which indicates that the
students were making the same amount of academic progress as the Standard for Academic Growth.
Their Literacy composite score was a 1, however. This indicates the students are making
substantially less progress than the Standard for Academic Growth, according to the Tennessee
Department of Educations data. Coles composite scores in other subject areas were better than the
literacy score that they earned; thus, they were achieving at higher rates in other subjects. During the
2014-2015 school year, Cole Elementary earned a composite score of 1 overall and a 1 for Literacy, as
well. After analyzing this data, I recognize that the students are not making adequate progress in
improving standardized test scores from third grade to fourth grade.

A third set of data that I studied was the Districts English/Language Arts benchmark test
scores for the school. The average score for third grade students was 42.5%. The lowest average score
in a third grade classroom was 21.5% and the highest was 62.9%. The average score for fourth grade
students was 38.9%. The lowest average score in a fourth grade classroom was 23%, and the highest
was 65%. Based on this data, it is clear that the differences in the scores between classrooms are vast.
Additionally, the third graders are again performing better, on average, than the fourth graders.

I also reviewed the beginning of the academic year Text Level Assessment (TLA) data for the
school. In first grade, 56% of students were reading below grade level, and in second grade 61% of
students were reading below grade level. 66% of third graders were reading below grade level, and
49% of fourth graders were reading below grade level. According to the TLA data, the first grade,
second grade, and third grade teachers all have more than one-half of their students at each grade
reading below the benchmark.

I analyzed the FASTBridge results for the CBMR-English test for second-fourth grade. In
second grade, the group average of words read correct was 44.41, and in third grade, the group
average was 67.86. In fourth grade, the group average was 103.44 words read correctly. The
percentages of students who scored in the thirtieth percentile or lower within the school on the CBMR-
English test are the following: 30% of second graders, 31% of third graders, and 59% of fourth
graders.

According to Coles 2015 Teaching, Empowering, Leading, and Learning (TELL) Survey, a
survey completed by teachers, only 53% of Cole Elementary teachers agree, professional
development is differentiated to meet the needs of individual teachers. Moreover, 50% of Cole
teachers agreed professional development provides teachers with strategies to involve families and
other community members as active partners in their childrens education. 90% of teachers at Cole
believe that the professional development offerings are data-driven, so it is clear that the teachers are
aware of the reasons for various types of professional development. Coles teachers will benefit from
professional development designed for specific groups of teachers, and they will also appreciate
receiving information about how they can encourage parents to become involved in helping their
children improve in literacy.

My professional development presentation will be created for the fourth grade teachers at Cole,
and it will involve instructional practices related to fluency. I will focus specifically on accuracy and
automaticity because the FASTBridge CBMR-English screener assesses the number of words that the
students read correctly within one minute. According to this test, 59% of fourth graders scored in the
thirtieth percentile or lower within the school, and all of these students were identified as having some
risk or high risk. Fourth grade had the highest percentage of students who scored in the thirtieth
percentile or lower within the school. I will also craft my professional development for the fourth
grade team because their students scored lowest on the benchmark assessment. These students
consistently scored lower on TCAP Reading/Language than the third grade students, and they also had
an average of not making adequate progress in improving standardized test scores in literacy from third
grade to fourth grade, based on TVAAS composite scores.

The instructional coaches at Cole Elementary are currently providing professional development
for teachers on guided reading, and they have mentioned to me that additional guided reading
professional development will be beneficial at Cole. Thus, my major research questions for this
project are the following: how can fluency instruction, focusing primarily on accuracy and
automaticity, be integrated into the guided reading framework? What are the most effective strategies
for teaching accuracy and automaticity? What strategies can be introduced to parents in order to assist
them in helping their children improve accuracy and automaticity while reading at home?