The Rochester School Committee on January 9 listened to a brief presentation from Rochester Memorial School Principal Derek Medeiros about the way teachers and school administrators assess student performance and skill growth beyond MCAS score data.
During the last month’s meeting, Medeiros presented the RMS MCAS data, which Medeiros was relatively proud of; however, School Committee Chairman Sharon Hartley was not as impressed with the results, which led to her questioning whether any analysis of the data was performed in order to make changes to curriculum and instruction to improve student performance.
Medeiros explained during that meeting that the school would continue to utilize its school-wide “flex-time” for intervention to target specific skills and areas of learning where individual students struggle, and that the MCAS does not quite capture all the evidence of growth in students’ learning.
RMS teacher Tara Nelson also spoke out that night against putting too much emphasis on MCAS scores as the most important assessment of students’ overall performance in school, advocating for the inclusion of other data such as report cards, teacher comments, and other proof of performance.
Medeiros asserted that he and his administration and teachers are “constantly looking at [student performance]” and “constantly looking at ways to improve.”
On January 9, Medeiros presented the school’s main medium for performance assessment in Math and ELA, an online platform called Freckle, that collects data generated from students completing assignment questions in targeted areas that are then looked at by teachers and both the principal and vice-principal.
Using that data, students are grouped and oftentimes assigned a different teacher as a group during the students’ flex-time. Teachers, Medeiros, and West then meet twice a month as a group to review the data to assess student performance and skill proficiency in each grade level.
The Freckle assessments can then shift to practice assignments students complete at the individual level on a computer, which is then used for further reassessment.
Freckle, said West, is aligned with the school’s Math curriculum, Go Math!, and used to supplement the curriculum.
“Which is a nice option to have and can be utilized in a number of ways,” said West, adding that this platform leads to more targeted intervention methods.
This system is only used for grades 2-6, Medeiros said, since it is not practical for the younger students at RMS.
Medeiros assured the committee that the Freckle data is looked at closely every six to eight weeks as a whole team and discussed.
“It’s one of the major focuses of planning time,” said Medeiros.
West added that teachers appreciate the ability to have conversations as a team to reassess benchmarks, identify where students are struggling to keep up, and how to set learning goals.
“We’re now heading back in as we approach [MCAS],” said Medeiros. “Teachers are starting to think about what they’re going to be doing in preparation for that as well, and how we can support them as well.”
The next meeting of the Rochester School Committee is scheduled for February 6 at 6:30 pm at Rochester Memorial School.
Rochester School Committee
By Jean Perry