using student assessments to inform teacher practice fred cohen nassau boces consultant 516-608-6640...

Using Student Assessments to Inform Teacher Practice

Fred Cohen Nassau BOCES Consultant

516-608-6640 [email protected]

1 Merrick Ave Westbury NY 11590

• How can New York State Assessment results be used to improve the practice of teaching?

• Getting the right information into the right hands is the key to success!

Using Student Assessments to Inform Teacher Practice is Entirely Different from Using Student Assessments to Measure

Teacher Effectiveness


Someone recently said that using test scores to measure teacher effectiveness is more akin to informing “on” teacher practice than actually informing teachers on ways to improve the practice of teaching.

Today’s presentation makes no judgment about using test scores to evaluate teachers.

A brief reminder:

A Teacher’s need to be informed about her or his own students— and the teacher’s own instructional practices—was the original purpose of most Instructional Data Warehouses.


• FC’s first observation

What must every teacher know about her or his students? (What FC did not know did indeed hurt him and his students!)


• The Data Warehouse’s first “report”—the Child Assessment Profile (ChAP) Report

• Other reports to inform teachers about student performance.

1. Required Information prior to the opening of school—The Child Assessment Profile (ChAP) Report or any other summary of

student assessment histories


2. On Nov 1, detailed information about each student’s performance on the previous assessments.


2B. Information available NOW for 2011-2012 teachers on the current Teacher Interface


Including Constructed Response Questions


These analyses inform me how my students performed on last year’s assessments.


• Compare these reports to other reports on teacher performance.

• Is a teacher’s HEDI score more or less informative?

• What other reports are available from a typical data warehouse?

1. A District ELA 4 Gap Report


2. Teacher A ELA 4 Gap Report


3. Teacher B ELA 4 Gap Report


Living Env. District Gap Report


One Teacher’s LE Gap Report


Wrong Answer Pattern Analysis


HEDI—Single Evaluative Metric for a Teacher


• Gap Reports offer1. Question by question analysis of teacher

strengths and weaknesses when compared to a benchmark

2. Opportunity for collaboration with colleagues who display different (or similar) patterns of success

3. Skill by skill or genre by genre analysis of teacher strengths and weaknesses (MC vs CR)

Subgroup Analysis Reports


• Subgroup analyses offer important insights for districts, schools and teachers.

• How can districts, schools and teachers with many at-risk students compete with districts, schools and teachers that have mainly low-risk populations?

• Subgroup analysis is the key.

District Snapshot


• Imagine a District Derf in Nehoc County on planet Farfaraway with the following characteristics.

• There are three population groups on the planet—the Long-ears, the Wide ears, and the No ears.

• Derf’s LE students outperform county LE; Derf’s WE students outperform county WE; and Derf’s NE students outperform county NE. Yet Derf’s overall performance is well below the County Nehoc’s. Huh?

Planet Farfaraway


District X

And finally, do teachers, administrators and counselors encourage participation at the highest level of study?


• Test one—a more nuanced assessment of Regents results—“percent of enrollment passing”

• Test two—a more nuanced assessment of Advanced Placement result—“percent of enrollment passing”

Regents Participation and Performance


AP Participation and Performance


Using Student Assessments to Inform Teacher Practice

Fred Cohen Nassau BOCES Consultant

516-608-6640 [email protected]


• How can New York State Assessment results be used to improve the practice of teaching?

• Getting the right information into the right hands is the key to success!

using student assessments to inform teacher practice fred cohen nassau boces consultant 516-608-6640...

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