Example Of A Case Study Current Achievement Data

Identification: Truxton Academy Charter School acknowledges that all students have both strengths and weaknesses in their learning styles. We understand that students who begin to struggle academically need quality instruction and intervention strategies immediately. We know that early intervention at the kindergarten and 1st grade levels as well as early intervention in the academic year at all grade levels is very important for students’ long-term academic success. (Burns, M. K., Griffiths, A., Parson, L. B., Tilly, W. D., & VanDerHayden, A. (2007). Response to intervention: Research for practice.

One way this is accomplished is by “closing the achievement gap between high- and low performing children, especially the achievement gaps between minority and nonminority students, and between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers” (No Child Left Behind Act, 2001, Section 101). Because there is a great emphasis placed on closing the achievement gaps of those who are disadvantage, it is important to pay attention to all factors that affects the student’s academic performance. If students are experiencing chronic stress and anxiety due to community violence and/or poverty-stricken living conditions, they will experience difficulties with performing academically. Under the NCLB act, the school counselor focus on all aspects of the student, specifically their developmental needs. Teachers are responsible prepping and improving students’ academic achievement.

The experiment started when Karen Lott, the principal of Brennan-Rogers, chose to extend the school day by an hour and 25 minutes. Her reason, she wanted to close the gap between her low performing school and the neighboring high performing schools. The result, Brennan-Rogers School had exhausted teachers and students and the same test results. The question that begged for an answer was why would a principal extend a school day to bring up test scores? In 2010 the Katherine Brennan School merged with other neighboring schools due to federal funding. This merge brought together a low income school with high income schools. The result was devastating for the children. Student behavior was out of control, a student set another student’s hair on fire (Bailey, 2014). Behavior was determined as the cause of low test scores. Only 12 percent of third graders met state reading goals compared to the 57 percent met by the district.

Statement of Issue: Many minority children and children from low-income families enter kindergarten without the academic skills they need to succeed. Math and reading abilities at kindergarten entry are powerful predictors of later school success. Research shows kids who start school already behind are unlikely to ever get caught up to standards. Hispanic and African American children are anywhere from 7 to 12 months behind in reading and 9 to 10 months behind on math when they enter kindergarten. Access remains extremely low to high-quality early education do to a couple of problems. First, rates of access to early education vary widely as a function of children’s socioeconomic backgrounds. Secondly, the quality of most early education programs is not high enough to substantially improve academic readiness. Considering the tremendous potential for high-quality preschool to improve children’s outcomes, this policy brief will consider how a universal publicly funded pre-kindergarten program in the United States could decrease both disparities in access to early learning and achievement gaps at kindergarten entry.

In one research study in Tennessee researchers had elementary grade students attended the same size class for four years. The one class had more then twenty students while the other class had only fifteen students. After each year of the study the students took the Stanford Achievement Test battery and received separate scores for reading, word-study skills, and mathematics. At the end of the test they found out that the students in the smaller class of fifteen students were 0.5 months ahead of the other students by the end of kindergarten, 1.9 months ahead of the other students at the end of 1st grade, 5.6 months ahead of

Over the course of the last 35 years, traditional public school student achievement in the United States has been stagnant, despite the reform efforts and the doubling

Perhaps pre-K programs serving poor and minority children have trouble attracting good teachers. Perhaps classrooms with more disadvantaged children are more difficult to manage. Perhaps teachers offer more basic instruction because disadvantaged children need to catch up. In any event, Ms. Valentino told me, “the gaps are huge.”

The North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten Program, formerly known as More at Four, is geared towards bettering the lives for At-Risk 4-year-old children. Exposing children to an early learning experience that will promote a positive learning environment to ensure Kindergarten readiness is what drives the program. Upon arrival, each child is screened using the Brigance 4-year-old tool to assess and determine the child’s developmental skills and abilities. According to the text, “Classroom tests and assessments play a central role in the evaluation of student learning. They provide relevant measures of many important learning outcomes and indirect evidence concerning others” (Miller, Linn, Gronlund, pg. 139). While many educators and families

The role of the central office in the Response to Intervention (RTI) change initiative at Florence Middle School (FMS) began when the superintendent requested the school board approve the positions of the middle school interventionists in the district. Prior to the 2014-2015 school year, two high schools and the three middle schools in the district requested interventionists in anticipation of the new accountability model from the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE). The new accountability model calculated a school’s academic performance according to students’ growth on state assessments from one year to the next. Therefore, in 2013-2014, the schools requested interventionists be added to their faculties to better meet the needs of struggling students with significant learning gaps. The school board was unable to approve this request because the district’s budget could not afford the expense of the positions.

When analyzing the reading scores within the state of Kansas I found that overall the students are passing with at least 85% of the students tested are at or above the standards. It seems Kansas is not meeting its levels within its racial divides though. Almost 16% of African-American students are not meeting any standards in the reading level but only 3.3% of Kansas white students are failing. These statistics do not completely match up with the economically disadvantage students, over.5% of these students are at least meeting the basic requirements asked of them in the 2009 AYP. Students with disabilities who are given the same tests as all students are also falling below our line of standards.

Davis High School reading and writing report cards for the years 2011 to 2014 show a decrease in the percentage of students meeting the

Students attending John Reith Elementary are at risk because the parents are not preparing their children, teachers are not addressing the needs of each student, and the school is unable to provide additional assistances in the classroom. Parents are not enrolling their child in programs such as head start, preschool, and transitional kindergarten which will prevent the child falling behind in school. The parents and guardians are not reinforcing the topics and concepts at home to better prepare their child. Some parents are unaware of the benefits of attending school before kindergarten, and that common core changed the kindergarten standards to match the first grade standards. Teachers are unable to address every student needs and interest

The first school in the district to present was Bradford Area High School. The principle, Mr. Ray, spoke saying that overall the school scored a 77.9%. The goal he has set for his school is to improve college prep classes, mastery skills in standardized testing, and to continue to revamp the science curriculum since it is the lowest scores on the state’s testing. I feel this could affect me as a future teacher because I would know what I need to work on more with my students. In addition, this could mean more jobs available to college prep classes.

One main reason behind students not being successful later in school is related to the readiness of the child when they enter school. “Evidence suggests that children’s academic skills at school entry are linked to their later school achievement (Entwisle & Alexander, 1993), and that test scores in the elementary school years are associated with long-run economic outcomes such as employment and earnings (Krueger, 2003)” (Magnuson, Ruhm & Waldfogel, 2005).

The ability of a student to learn effectively and comprehend what they have learned depends on the interaction of multiple factors. These factors include the level of connectedness between the student and their teacher, the role of a parent in motivating the student to learn as well as the student’s own effort. For a sixth grader, who shows fluctuating classroom performance with better test performances but poor on homework, a partnership between the student, teacher and parents can be forged to improve the student’s performance. This would be done through data collection on their progress by observation, documenting, measuring and monitoring the data for implementation.