Class act: At-a-glance system key to student improvement in Clovis
It’s tough enough to keep a classroom full of elementary students engaged and on task, but how many teachers could tell you—at a glance—each child’s progress on standardized tests, fitness level, and special needs? Better yet, how many could instantly surmise the progress of a child in another teacher’s class?
That’s what teachers and administrators at Clovis Unified School District’s Temperance-Kutner Elementary School can do, and not because they all have photographic memories.
Grade-level teams there have created a system of color-coded cards that hang on the wall, displaying key indicators of each child’s achievement. At the beginning of every school year, teachers assess their students to note their scores on English-language arts and math tests and in physical fitness, and indicate behavior plans on index cards that stay with the student from year to year. Teachers constantly pull these cards out of their descriptive outer envelopes to document and log new assessment data and to list intervention or support services the child is receiving.
The teams have devised symbols that make the child’s needs instantly recognizable. English learner? The card gets a green dot. On a behavior plan? That’s a red dot. A perfect score on the state’s standardized tests earns a heart. Improvement or decline on the standardized tests is shown by a red or blue line.
At the end of the year the cards are updated for a final time, and the teams of teachers in each grade level meet to talk about what strategies worked best.
“We know exactly where we are, what our students’ issues are, what programs are working, and can identify ‘emergency’ situations for our students, teachers or team when they come up,” says principal Randy Hein. “We feel we are better at meeting all student needs and developing our professional skills, both individually and collectively, utilizing our new system.”
By targeting attention to each child, the school has achieved remarkable results with a student body that is majority non-white and economically disadvantaged. More than one in four students is an English learner. Still, the school scored 892 on the Academic Performance Index in 2011, and it consistently meets all of its federal targets for adequate yearly progress. Temperance-Kutner was named a California State Distinguished School in 2011, and its color-coded card system won CSBA’s Golden Bell Award in 2012.
Teacher morale remains high, as measured by an annual district survey, and principal Hein was named the district’s administrator of the year. About half the students met the state’s fitness goals—far exceeding the state average—and suspensions have dropped as students participate in behavior support groups and plans.
Hein credits the Visual Data Tracking System with helping the school fulfill the governing board’s vision to “be the best you can be in Mind, Body and Spirit.”
“Our staff’s work is directly related to this board vision, and our data practice is making it possible for us ... to more efficiently and effectively address the needs of each student,” Hein says.
—Kristi Garrett