Improve Your Children's Learning With Insights From STAAR Test Scores

Sometimes, when I am pondering the debate over standardized testing in Texas, I recollect dorsum about an experience I had equally a higher student. I majored in history, but I sought out courses from a particular professor in the Business Administration department because, not only was he a good lecturer, simply also his tests were consistently fair. He taught marketing, but his Ph.D. was in psychology, and he had studied psychometrics—the psychological theory or technique of mental measurement. He used information to make his tests ameliorate each time; for example, he would discard whatever questions that didn't correlate with overall scores. Every bit a result, I felt similar as long as I studied hard I would do well, and the tests would accurately measure out what I had learned from the course.

It'south been a journeying for me to acquire to see the STAAR test in the same way. I've heard from many families and teachers who have negative feelings about the STAAR examination. They feel like it does not meet their expectations for validity, reliability, or fairness. The electric current system of standardized testing has its pros and cons, but as a applied affair, families who are trying to amend our children's learning tin can gain insights from STAAR test scores. Nathan Balasubramanian, Ph.D., besides known as "Dr. B," is the founder, CEO, and Superintendent of 7Cs Academy, a proposed charter school. While I was learning about the 7Cs Academy school model from Dr. B, I also picked his brain nearly his background in psychometrics and standardized testing. He explained how, since 2017–18, while ETS has managed STAAR testing, the report cards have included information that parents can use to find personalized learning resource for their students. I want to share this information with families who can use this noesis during the pandemic, and encourage stakeholders to await at standardized testing in a new way.

Agreement STAAR Test Scores

In Texas, education policy leaders have a vision of a highly educated workforce—the 60x30TX plan—that will be set for the jobs of the future. But we are yet a long manner from coming together those aggressive goals. The curriculum standards—the TEKS—and assessments—STAAR, etc.—are meant to runway whether students are mastering the subjects they will demand to know to succeed in college. Teachers and experts similar Dr. B work to draft and evaluate examination questions to make certain they align with the TEKS, they measure what they are meant to evaluate, and they are at the correct level of difficulty for that grade level test. And so, the questions are released, and the test writers have to go back to work.

The onset of STAAR testing season in the jump can exist stressful for students, families, and teachers. We all know that testing and beingness evaluated is part of life, simply sometimes schools make a big deal out of the test and add unnecessary pressure. At my kids' school, they treat STAAR testing equally routine, like the MAP testing they practise periodically throughout the school year. Still, I tend to feel nervous when I become the emails with links to my kids' STAAR test scores.

Have you accessed your child's STAAR test scores before? The portal is at TexasAssessment.gov. You volition demand a half dozen-character unique access code and your child'south birthday.

The STAAR written report card is surprisingly user friendly, but it can also seem dense with data. Dr. B helped me focus on some central numbers on my girl'southward written report card. On the examination results tab, the scale score tells us whether a pupil is in one of four categories: Masters Class Level, Meets Grade Level, Approaches Grade Level, or Did Not Meet Grade Level. On other tabs, I tin see how my daughter answered particular questions, and even read the actual questions. But Dr. B advises against focusing on the questions and why your child may have missed some; he recommends using the report carte as a tool for the future.

Further down the page, the written report carte du jour offers Lexile scores for reading and Quantile scores for math. The purpose of a Lexile score is to help match students with reading materials that are at the right level of difficulty. Students learn best when they are doing work at the correct difficulty level. If it's easy and fast, they go bored. If it's hard and slow, they get frustrated. If it's simply right, they will have fun and feel challenged—a state of menstruum. Information technology'south even improve when they are reading something on a discipline that they care about, whether that'south sports, animals, mysteries, or something else.

The parent portal includes a link to literacy and Lexile tools, including a Find a Book Tool that allows you lot to enter a Lexile score and an area of interest to search for book recommendations. For my daughter, I entered an guess of her Lexile score, searched for fantasy books, and got hundreds of suggestions. With this data, I tin can log in to the library itemize, place holds on several of these books, and pick them up presently so my daughter tin start reading them.

A Quantile score works the same mode, simply with math skills. The parent portal as well includes math and Quantile tools. Dr. B recommends using Math@Dwelling to find materials, including videos and trouble sets, that will exist at the correct challenge level and on the right topics to assistance your students abound in math.

Unlocking Personalized Learning

At present that I have the secret decoder ring to plow STAAR examination scores into something useful, I want other parents to know how to unlock these resource, too. It's more than but checking out books or downloading math problems; information technology'due south almost setting aggressive goals for how much growth our children tin make each year. In our word, Dr. B referred to a quote by Norman Vincent Peale: "I believe that if you want to become somewhere, you lot must decide definitely where you want to exist or what y'all desire to reach." We need to think in terms of setting goals and executing strategies to go there.

As parents, we want our own kids to excel, simply the accountability organisation has incentives that sometimes don't make sense. Dr. B explained that schools tend to focus on the students who are scoring depression to bring them upwardly to the center. The organisation assumes that students who are high performing are also growing, but that may non be true. Parents need to encounter the scores and make certain their students are getting the support they need to keep making progress. Personalized learning means that students who are testing the "masters" range will notwithstanding exist challenged and growing.

On the 7Cs Academy website, parents can admission an app to explore their own children's schools. Making the connection betwixt our own children'southward report cards, to school and district report cards, helps parents to become effective stakeholders and advocates for improving the quality of educational activity in our community.

Looking at Standardized Testing in a New Fashion

Students have experienced more than a year of disruption due to the pandemic, only it feels like amend days volition be here soon. No standardized tests were administered in 2020, only students did accept the tests in 2021, and this summer families volition receive a new set of reports, including STAAR and EOC exams. Depending on the age of the student, the written report cards may include data from 2022 or earlier.

Looking at my daughter's STAAR report bill of fare, I no longer see it as just a snapshot of a particular time catamenia; now I run into information technology as a tool to program her learning for two or iii years to come. I tin look for reading and math resources that will adapt her now. I now have a better understanding about how these elements are meant to work together: TEKS to STAAR, report card to Lexile and Quantile scores, and books and lessons that requite students just enough claiming to assist them grow. But I too appreciate that it takes more than just presenting these materials to my kids for effective learning to happen; students need to exist in the right mindset to larn. Dr. B has adult a set of cadre principles for 7Cs University that include elements of social emotional character development.

To aid me understand the emotional intelligence side of learning, Dr. B customized a story for me to share with my daughter. We read together the story about "Talking Treasure" (our inner voice), and my girl agreed that it would be a helpful tool for education children how to recognize their emotions. My daughter said that she does this herself, and gave the instance of asking herself if she was feeling restless and wanted to play in the backyard, or noticing if her hands were feeling tired from swinging on the monkey bars. This year, the SA Charter Moms team has shared numerous posts about social emotional learning, including posts about mindfulness (in parenting, with yoga), understanding and managing our emotions, and expressing ourselves through crafts (pants and masks). The broader lesson is that we need to have care of ourselves at a deeper level so that our higher minds can function. Dr. B made the analogy of a tiny rider—our cognition and conation—riding a huge elephant, our motivation.

Standardized testing may seem unimportant compared to the obstacles we have faced in the by year, and we are all feeling stressed from the disruptions acquired by Covid. I know my children's teachers and principals all worked very hard, just I still worry almost whether my kids made good progress while doing altitude learning. It's a relief to know how we can use STAAR test scores to find personalized learning resources so our children can work at the right level of challenge and make the about efficient progress. At present that I know how to employ the report cards to access personalized learning resources for my children, I am learning to expect at STAAR testing in a new fashion, and I promise you volition, besides.

Charter Moms Chats

Watch Nathan Balasubramanian, Founder, CEO, and Superintendent of 7Cs Academy, speak with Inga Cotton on Charter Moms Chats on May 26, 2022 at 4:00 PM Central live on Facebook and YouTube.

As well, catch an earlier interview with Dr. B from Oct 21, 2020.

Nathan Balasubramanian (Dr. B) is a scholar-practitioner. He serves as the Main Pedagogy Officeholder of 7CsThrive. He is also the Primary Academic Officer of 7Cs Academy. He knows and understands the value of whole child education. He is adamant to make whole child pedagogy attainable and available to every kid. The Triangle Model is 1 of his innovations. Virtually recently, Dr. B served as the Executive Director of Schoolhouse Improvement and Accountability at Manor Contained School District in Texas. Prior to joining the Manor ISD squad in November 2017, Dr. B served in the rank of Assistant Superintendent at Broward County Public Schools every bit their founding Executive Director of Strategy and Continuous Improvement for v years. Dr. B holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Educational Leadership and Innovation from the University of Colorado (U.s.), a main's in educational management from the University of Sheffield (UK), and a primary's in physics from the Academy of Madras (India).

Improve Your Children's Learning With Insights From STAAR Test Scores

Agreement STAAR Test Scores

Unlocking Personalized Learning

Looking at Standardized Testing in a New Fashion

Charter Moms Chats

Read More About STAAR Examination Scores and Personalized Learning

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