Target Population SelectionPACE High School

Christopher ChoppAbigail Stolz Monks

Kathryn Smoot

School Wide Focus

• School Wide Focus: There is a lower percentage of students that passed the USH regents than any other required regents in our school.

School Wide focus: Evidence Collected

Regents Exam Average % pass rate

Cohorts: graduation year

U.S. History 73% 2008, 2009, 2010

Global History 87% 2008

English 98% 2008

Living Environment

81% 2008, 2009, 2010

Math A 91% 2008, 2009

School Wide Focus: Description of Evidence Analysis

U.S. HistoryLiving

Environment Math AGlobal History

English

Average % pass rate

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Ave

rage

pas

s ra

te

Regents

Major Regents Pass rate at PACE

School Wide Focus: Strengths and Weakness

• Strengths: Over the past three years, three different teachers have taught the US History regents course. We consider this positive because it confirms that scores are based on students’ skills, not the quality, or type of teaching.

School Wide Focus: Strengths and Weakness

• Weaknesses: One major weakness of our data is the fact that no teacher has taught the US History regents course for more than one year.

Year one Year two Year three

School Wide focus: Conclusions

• We concluded that our ninth grade students are coming into high school unprepared to take the USH regents examination.

Target Population

• Students who failed the U.S. History Regents exam and scored a 2 or lower

on the 8th grade ELA exam.

Target Population: Evidence Collected

• 8th grade ELA scores – All scored 2 or lower.

• US History Regents exams• History Department Teacher Survey

Target Population: Description of Evidence Analysis

• Our data analysis finds that our school has 51 students that haven’t passed the U.S. History regents yet. We whittled that number down to a target population of 26 students by eliminating 25 students that were SPED, ELL, or transfer students that never took a U.S. History class or exam.

Target Population: Description of Evidence Analysis

• History content teachers confirmed through surveys that reading and writing are skills needed to pass the US History Regents. Based on this we concluded that ELA is the main factor in passing the US History regents exam

Target Population: Description of Evidence Analysis

Target Population: Strengths and Weakness

Strengths: We independently gave a survey to all four members of the PACE High School history department. Reading and writing was rated of moderate to great importance by each teacher. Other skills were rated of little to no importance. .

Target Population: Conclusions

• Conclusions: Our students that are weak on the 8th grade ELA tests also do poorly on the language-intensive U.S. History regents.

Skill: Reading

Skill (reading): Evidence Collected

• Scantron Non-fiction reading test• Scantron Vocabulary test• US History Regents exam task analysis

(multiple choice, document-based short answer questions, document-based essay, thematic essay)

• US History Regents Exam Essay Rubric• History Department teacher survey

Skill (reading): Description of Evidence Analysis

Task Student Score Multiple Choice 38%Document Based Question Short answer

80%

First Essay 2/5Second Essay 2/5

By looking at the scores, we noticed that students performed the lowest on the multiple choice which is reading intensive.

Skill (reading):

Description of

Evidence Analysis

Skill (reading):

Description of

Evidence Analysis

Skill (reading): Description of Evidence Analysis

Task Student Score Scantron non-fiction reading comprehension assessment

66%

Scantron vocabulary assessment

61%

This confirmed that the students were below grade level in reading.

Scantron assessment Ninth grade level

Skill (reading): Strengths and Weakness

• Strengths: According to Active Literacy Across the Curriculum by Heidi Hayes Jacobs, 35-40% of test errors are reading errors. This statistic reinforces our evidence.

• All of our data consistently points to reading as the skill that students are lacking and most need for the US History regents exam.

Skill (reading): Conclusions

• Our target population is below grade level in reading, which is negatively affecting their U.S. History regents scores.

Sub-Skill:

• Comprehension focused on vocabulary

Sub-Skill: Evidence Collected Students Average Scores for Scantron Assessment

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Conte

xt of W

ord M

eaning

Antonym

s

Analogi

es

Homony

ms

Senten

ce Co

mpletion

Synony

ms

Multiple

Mean

ing W

ords

Synony

ms in Iso

lation

Nonfict

ion

Homoph

ones

Sub skill

Scor

e %

Sub-Skill: Evidence Collected Task Student Score Context of Word Meaning 97%Anonyms 58%Analogies 57%Homonyms 61%Sentence Completion 44%Synonyms 50%Multiple Meaning Words 67%Synonyms in Isolation 57%Homophones 63%Total 61%

Sub-Skill: Evidence Collected

Task Student Score Nonfiction 63%

Sub-Skill: Description of Evidence Analysis

Task Student Score

Multiple Choice 38%

Document Based Question Short answer

80%

First Essay 2/5

Second Essay 2/5

Sub-Skill: Description of Evidence Analysis

• In a document-based essay question from the June 2007 regents we counted 14 high-frequency vocabulary words. These are terms that students encounter across the curriculum. We also counted four specialized terms, or terms that were specific to the study of history.

Sub-Skill: Strengths and WeaknessScore of 3

•Addresses all aspects of the task in a limited way by providing few details to compare and contrast the effect of geographic factors on the political and economic development of Great Britain and Japan or addresses most aspects of the task fully•Incorporates some information from some of the documents•Incorporates little or no relevant outside information•Includes some facts, examples, and details, but the discussion is mostly descriptive•Is a satisfactorily developed essay, demonstrating a general plan of organization•Introduces the theme of the effect of geographic factors by repeating the historical context and concludes by•simply repeating the theme

Score of 2•Attempts to address some aspects of the task•Makes limited use of the documents or may only restate the contents of the documents•Presents no relevant outside information•Includes few facts, examples, and details and may contain some inaccuracies•Is a poorly organized essay, lacking focus; may contain digressions or extraneous information•May lack an introduction and/or a conclusion or these elements may not refer to the theme

Sub-Skill: Strengths and Weakness

• Both student and teacher surveys support our results by indicating that vocabulary was of high importance in taking the exam.

Sub-Skill: Conclusions

• Our target population needs to strengthen their high-frequency and specialized vocabulary skills.

Learning Target:

Learning Target: Students need to

• Learn study strategies for vocabulary– Teachers should continually expose students

to high frequency words throughout the curriculum and throughout the school year

– Study strategies for specialized terms– Test taking strategies focusing on vocabulary

Learning Target: Students need to

• Learn to decipher vocabulary within the context of essay questions and how to apply them to essay responses– Teacher modeled essay writing– Analyzing essay responses– Continual exposure to regents style essay

prompts

Learning Target: