Actions Taken by Our Campus to
Increase Economically Disadvantaged Students’ STAAR Results
Due to the
accountability standards set forth by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
(NCLB) and the Texas Education Agency (TEA), our campus is looking to increase
STAAR results in all subject area tests in grades 6-8. Unfortunately, our
campus received a “Requires Improvement” from TEA rating due to the lack of
performance and progress on the 2013 STAAR tests. Specifically, our campus
failed to meet progress in Index 2 on the TEA Index Report—Student Progress. Our campus also failed to meet standards with
System Safeguards in African Americans in Math and Hispanics and Economically
Disadvantaged in Social Studies. The State Target Score for Index 2 is 29
points. Our campus achieved 25 points. According to Figlio and Loeb in the Handbook of the Economics of Education, “Accountability ratings help
community stakeholders observe school performance” (p. 384). Community
stakeholder’s support and contributions are vital to the success of students at
our campus. Raising student achievement is an issue that our campus needs to
focus on as the 2013-2014 School Year progresses.
With the
data and statistics presented to our campus, the goal of my action research project
to raise the STAAR performance results with the Economically Disadvantaged
STAAR students. Initially, my primary focus was to target specifically 6th
grade Math and Reading scores. However, as I continued to look at the
performance results from TEA, I was more inclined to research what our campus
could do to improve the overall STAAR results in Math, Reading, Writing,
Science, and Social Studies in grades 6-8. According to the TEA Student
Achievement Data Table (2013), 66% of our student population tested at the
campus performed at Phase-in 1 Level II or above with 58% of the Economically
Disadvantaged population meeting standards on the 2013 STAAR tests subjects. The
significant lack of progress has placed our campus under the Texas
Accountability Intervention System (TAIS).
Our Campus Leadership Team (CLT), under
the guidance of a Professional Service Provider (PSP), came up with measurable
goals for our campus to achieve for the 2013-2014 School Year as part of the
TAIS. One of the main questions that was asked was what could we do differently
as a campus to improve student achievement? Other questions that were
frequently asked in our CLT: what interventions could we implement/improve,
what classroom strategies could our campus instill to meet the needs to
struggling learners, and what resources are other local middle school using to
be successful?
Our CLT was composed of Yoakum Jr.
High department heads, our two principals, and our Superintendent of Curriculum.
The CLT analyzed multiple sources such as previous STAAR/TAKS results,
attendance, and discipline to determine what target areas our campus will be
focusing on this school year. The CLT also looked at the programs such as
Response to Intervention (RTI), Special Education, and English as a Second
Learner (ESL) to determine their effectiveness for students. Additional
resources and data were analyzed as our team worked through the process of
establishing targeted interventions that could make an impact on student
achievement.
This study was conducted at Yoakum
Jr. High. Yoakum Jr. High, which is part of a Title I school district, consists
of approximately 328 students and is located in rural South Texas. According to
the latest Texas Academic Performance Report (2013), demographics at our campus
are as follows: African American 11%, Hispanic 54.6 %, White 33.2 %, Asian .3%,
and Two or More Races .9%. The Economically Disadvantaged student
sub-population is at 73.5%. In the article, Strategies
for Closing the Gap: Predicting Student Performance in Economically
Disadvantaged Schools, Tajalli and Opheim (2005) points out that educators
in Economically Disadvantaged schools face constant pressure to improve
performance and to close the achievement gap between minorities and other
students. As a result, I will research other local middle school in the area
with similar demographics to determine how they are utilizing their resources
to meet the needs of various sub-population groups. This sub-population continues to be the
majority of our student campus population. Therefore, by making improvement
with this sub-population student group, it would lead to increase with other
sub-population groups across all categories.
One of the main challenges when
conducting this study was the influx of new teachers. There were a total of 12
new teachers during the 2013 School Year. This is a significant amount since
there are only about 25 total teachers at the Jr. High campus. Half of the new
teachers were first year teachers teaching a core subject. New teachers, at
times, have difficulty with introducing a variety of instructional strategies
to students and classroom management because a lack of experience and
professional development. In a study by Rieckhoff and Larsen (2012), teachers
are not the only ones under increasing pressure to meet the school improvement
goals. School leaders are expected and looked upon to give teachers the support
they need to create a vision that can clearly articulate the goals for sustainable
change. The turnover for the 2014 School Year was better than the year before.
Our campus only had to replace two core teachers. In a previous conversation,
Mr. Frank (principal and site mentor) acknowledged the fact that it is
difficult to build consistency with the constant retention level. In fact, he
admitted that he needed to send teachers to more professional development this
year and share with other faculty member on what was learned at the conferences
during the newly integrated half day department planning sessions. He would
like for teachers with less than five years of teaching experience to gain more
strategies which would help them with their overall teaching approach in the
classroom.
There no doubt that our teachers
want our students to learn and parents want their kids to learn. However, data
indicates that our campus needs to make some sort of drastic change to improve
the Yoakum Jr. High 2014 STAAR results. This will require that teachers monitor
data throughout the year to ensure that short-term benchmarks are being
achieved. If not, then this leaves room for teachers to adjust
methods/interventions to ensure that students will continue to be on track to
meet expectations of the STAAR tests.
Background
Finding
strategies to improve standardized test results is a topic that many school
districts struggle with on a yearly basis. Numerous researches and studies are being
conducted across the United States to see what works at a campus and to see if these
interventions could prove to be successful at other campuses. Schools can have
similar demographics and campuses can implement similar proven interventions.
However, schools are different in many ways. Demographics, teacher experience,
and discipline can often play a role in the outcome of student performance on
standardized tests. As mentioned previously, our campus is comprised of 73.5 %
of Economically Disadvantaged students where many of these students come from
single households or the students live with somebody other than their parents.
At times, it is difficult to gain consistent support from parents or guardians
with regards to discipline. Discipline in a classroom does not only have a
consequence for the offender, but it can affect the classroom climate and the
ability to learn for others as well. As a result, teachers need continued
guidance and professional development from school leaders to gain experience in
handling a variety of situations that can occur in the classroom and when
communicating with parents/guardian. School administration has acknowledged
that there has been a recent upward trend with student discipline in the last
few years. This could a result of a teacher retention level, lack of teaching
experience, and establishment of new principals within the last three years.
The ability to meet student’s needs is an issue that our campus will need to
focus on for years to come until there is consistency within the school climate
and culture.
Problem Statement
Many
teachers indicate that discipline and loss of instructional time in the
classroom can contribute to the lack of student progress. This seems to be a
problem since most office referrals often lead to In School Suspension (ISS) or
in server cases, Alternative Education Placement or expelled from school for up
to three days. If students are not in the classroom, how can they learn what
they need to in order to be successful? Another problem can be the lack of
parent support and communication. How can increased before/after school tutorials,
implementation of six-weeks tests, increased professional development
opportunities for teachers, implementation of Remind101, and increased student
incentives help raise student achievements in Math, Science, Reading, Social
Studies, and Writing?
Significance
of the Study
A variety of
stakeholders can use information from the action research project to determine
what additional changes our campus needs to make in order to make student
progress as determined by TEA. This will also give teachers the ability to look
back on previous interventions and strategies implemented to determine
effectiveness. The 2014 STAAR results will determine the outcome of the next
school year’s goals and objectives. The ultimate goal is to receive a “Met
Standards” rating by TEA and to show that using specific interventions can help
Yoakum Jr. High continue to make progress for years to come. Overall, this
study will add to knowledge of what can be done by schools with a majority
sub-population of Economically Disadvantaged students to raise STAAR results
across all tested subjects.
Definitions
The following words will be defined to explain educational significance for this study:
Economically
Disadvantaged: The State of Texas
defines this group of students as receiving free or reduced school lunch.
Student
sub-population group: No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) requires that
schools are accountable for meeting the achievement of specific groups of
students on state’s standardized tests. For Texas, the sub-population student
groups are as followed: all students,
African Americans, American
Indian, Asian, Hispanic,
Pacific Islander, White, two or more races, Economically disadvantaged, English Language Learner, and Special education
STAAR:
The State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness is Texas’s current
standardized test for students in grades 3-12.
State
Accountability Ratings: Schools in Texas can receive ratings of a Met
Standard, Improvement Required, or Not Rated based on the school’s performance
of the STAAR tests.
Distinctions Designations- Awards given
to campus for Academic Achievement in Reading, English Language Arts, Math and
for being in Top 25% of schools with Student Progress.
Performance Index Reports- There is a
total of four Indexes that are used to evaluate campuses in Texas. The four
Indexes are as followed: Student Achievement, Student Progress, Closing
Performance Gaps, and Postsecondary Readiness (applies only to High School
campuses). Each index as a target goal for schools to meet based on results and
performance of student groups.
Safeguards-This indicator is used to
disaggregate the performance of results of one or more student population
groups.
TAKS:
The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills was the previous standardized
tests that took place from 2003-2011. Beginning in 2012, TAKS was beginning to
be phased out by State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR)
test.
TAPR:
Previously known as the Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS), the Texas
Academic Performance Report contains a wide range of information about the
performance of students at each school. It also gives data about school
demographics, information about school staff, finances, attendance rate, and
school programs.
Title
I: This is a program that uses federal funding to help schools achieve high
quality instruction where many families have low-income households.
Review of the
Literature
A review of literature
will show the educational purpose of conducting this study on improving
standardized testing results upon a specific student population. There are
three sections in this description that show there is still a need for
additional research and studies to be conducted. Each section will show a
connection that validates the significance of my action research project.
Economically
Disadvantaged Students Across the Nation
Blank (2011)
indicates that “A central goal of the NCLB Act was to close the gap in student achievement
between students from different social and economic backgrounds” (p. 1). In
Blank’s report, his goal was to see if achievement gaps have been reduced since
the implementation of NCLB in states across America. Blank’s (2011) study used
state student assessments, such as the STAAR and TAKS in Texas, and the
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to determine his findings. The
NAEP (2010) is mandated by Congress as a method to gain statistical information
on student’s performance of various subjects and grade levels given to different
schools based on certain criteria to represent each state. The information is
presented in the Nation’s Report Card to be used to compare states or to see
how the nation did as a whole. For this study, I will not be using data from
the NAEP. I will focus on what Blank’s research indicates about Economically Disadvantaged
students in correlation to state’s standardized testing.
According to Blank
(2011), “The state requirements for reporting each school’s Adequate Yearly
Progress (AYP) and identifying schools in need of improvement that are not
making progress for consecutive years have placed new emphasis on tracking
performance and improvement of low achieving schools and their students” (pp.
2-3). Since our campus did not meet the standards according to TEA, we were
place as a campus that “Requires Improvement.” The shift has forced school
leaders to determine what strategies and interventions could help raise STAAR
scores in the tested subjects. As mentioned previously, 58% of our Economically
Disadvantaged student populations met a passing standard on the STAAR test in
2013. According to the TEA Accountability Summary for the State (2013), the average
for Economically Disadvantaged students passing the 2013 STAAR tests (all
subjects and grade levels included) was 69%. The hope is that by implementing
our campus specific interventions, we will close the gap achievement gap at our
campus and get this student group population closer to the state average.
Findings from Blank’s
(2011) indicate mixed results on whether improvements by the Economically
Disadvantaged students improved on state standardized tests across the Nation. One-third
of states made progress in 8th grade Math and one-fifth of states
made progress in 4th grade Reading towards closing the achievement
gap for economically disadvantaged students on the state’s assessments. A
positive is that progress is being made primarily because schools are continuing
to focus on this target population. However, there is much room for improvement.
Verstegen and King’s study ( as cited in Tajalli and Opheim), “Claim that a
growing body of research is using better databases (technology) and more
sophisticated methodological strategies to provide evidence that school polices
(procedures) can make a positive difference in student’s outcome” (Tajalli
& Opheim, 2004, p. 44). This will lead to the next sections of the review
of literature which addresses professional development, implementation of strategies
in the classroom and school, and periodic assessments used to track performance
throughout the year.
Effective
Professional Development
