A Parent Guide to the 2017 State Assessments

Superintendent’s Message to Parents

We are delighted to share the 2017 State assessment results with you. We have many areas of achievement and student academic growth to celebrate. I am especially excited because we have been very intentional about efforts that support a standards based instructional system (SBIS) and our data indicates that we are focused on the right work. Our teachers are doing an amazing job ensuring that students learn the material they need in order to be considered ‘on track’ for college and career readiness. In fact, 93 percent of our students who stay with us, from one year to the next, in ELA retain their proficiency rating. In math, 81 percent of our students who stay with us, from one year to the next, in math retain their proficiency rating. This is great news!

While we performed at or above the State, again in 2017 as compared to 2015 and 2016, on the ELA and math assessments, our work is not done. Our goal is for all of our students to be college and career ready upon entering post-secondary college or work. We can accomplish our goal through continuous improvement: having a deep understanding of standards based instruction, using assessment to answer the question “ Are our students learning? ”, making adjustments to instruction, and creating a culture of success. We are so excited for this school year!

Parents will be receiving individual student reports soon. We have included information within this publication to assist you with interpreting and understanding your child’s performance report. Please do not hesitate to call your school for additional support or to ask specific questions. Additional resources to help you understand the PARCC score reports are available at http://www.cde.state.co.us/communications/resourcesforparents .

District and school performance reports are scheduled for release later this month.

As a district, we are committed to using the higher standards and preparing our students to meet the more challenging material. This year our schools will continue utilizing the CDE Unified Improvement Planning (UIP) process to guide improvement planning, strengthen teaching and learning in our classrooms, and support continuous student growth. We are working to continuously improve upon our teaching and learning practices. That is what high performing organizations do!

Utilizing the assessment ‘blueprints’ as a researched based ‘backward’ design model for instructional planning.
Digging deep in the content standards used to plan instruction.
Strengthening our skills in analyzing student performance data using a model called Data Driven

Instruction. This is a model we are using across the district.

Utilizing interim benchmark assessments to provide real-time student performance data so that

teachers can make instructional adjustments, utilize predictable measures prior the state

assessments and measure student growth within the same school year.

We have had a great start to our school year. Teachers have been focused on the teaching and learning of all our students. We are going to have a great year with our students. Thank you for choosing Platte Canyon School District.

Dr. Brenda Krage

Platte Canyon School District Superintendent

Platte Canyon School District Celebrates Growth throughout the District

Highlights of the 2016-17 school year as they relate to median growth:

In ELA, Deer Creek Elementary saw an increase in growth of 8.5 percentile points in 4^th grade and a growth of 6.5 percentile points in 5^th grade.
In ELA, Fitzsimmons most notably improved their growth in 7^th grade to the 90 percentile and in 8^th grade to the 64 percentile, an increase of 19.5 percentile points.
In ELA, the median growth percentile at Platte Canyon High School increased from 37 to 51.

We attribute our increased growth, in ELA, to our district-wide focus on informational text and plan to continue this focus again this year.

In math, grades 4, 5, and 7 demonstrated an increase in their overall growth percentile. The data indicates that investing in new math instructional materials, last year, at Deer Creek has helped students grow in both grades 4 and 5. This year we have invested in new math instructional materials at Fitzsimmons Middle School for grades 6, 7, and 8.

Our goal is to see median growth at the 90 percentile across the district and will continue our focus on providing high quality, standards based instruction to all of our students. We are dedicated to bringing quality instruction to our students.

Highlights and opportunities identified in the 2016-17 school year as they relate to ELA achievement:

Deer Creek Elementary 4^th grade demonstrated a 13 point gain in achievement and 5^th grade demonstrated a 4 point gain in achievement. As a school, grade level teams will continue their examination of curriculum and pacing of instruction. Over the past three years Deer Creek has been updating their instructional programs. The data indicates that teacher efforts are paying off! Students continue to demonstrate an improvement in both achievement as well as growth.
Fitzsimmons Middle School continues to excel in the achievement of 6^th grade at 62% meets and exceeds, 7^th grade at 85% meets and exceeds, and 8^th grade at 75% meets and exceeds. The FMS teacher teams continue to implement standards aligned instruction with the use of evidence gained from PARCC (summative assessments) and the NWEA (interim benchmark assessments) to guide their instructional adjustments. In additional, FMS has placed high value on their schoolwide focus on informational text.
Platte Canyon High School saw a 9 point improvement in achievement. They dedicated time last year examining their data and implementing a department wide focus on informational text.

PARCC uses five performance levels to determine how well students demonstrate their knowledge and ability on tests. The graph above shows PCSD student ELA performance within the five performance categories used by the CDE. Students in the top two combined categories are considered on track for college and career readiness. Our goal is to increase the number of students demonstrating achievement within the top two categories. In 2017 we increased the number of students considered to be on track for college and career readiness in 6 of the 7 assessed grade levels.

Highlights and opportunities identified in the 2016-17 school year as they relate to math achievement:

Deer Creek Elementary 4^th grader student’s demonstrated an increase in achievement by 19 percent and 5^th grade student’s demonstrated an increase in achievement by 7 percent. Deer Creek is attributing this success to the implementation of the new materials used to support instruction. We look forward to continuing student learning and growth during the second year of implementation. As we continue to analyze the data, we will determine the necessary instructional adjustments.
Fitzsimmons Middle School saw an 11 point improvement in their achievement in 7^th grade math. FMS has also established that there was a need for more standards based math materials in their building and will begin the implementation of new math instructional materials for grades 6, 7, and 8.
Platte Canyon High School data is not comparable from 2016 to 2017 as CDE changed who takes the Algebra 1 and Geometry assessments. 2016 data includes both 9^th and 10^th grade students, while 2017 data only includes 9^th grade students. The high school is digging into their data to determine specific areas of needed instructional shifts. Instructional consistency within the math department is a primary goal. We are unable to publicly share achievement results specific to Geometry as our N size (the number of student who took the test) was too small, by state standards, and could inadvertently identify individual students.

PARCC uses five performance levels to determine how well students demonstrate their knowledge and ability on tests. The graph above shows PCSD student math performance within the five performance categories used by the CDE. Students in the top two combined categories are considered on track for college and career readiness. Our goal is to increase the number of students demonstrating achievement within the top two categories. In 2017 we increased the number of students considered to be on track for college and career readiness in 4 of the 6 reported grade levels.

Deer Creek Elementary has identified science as an area of focus for both curriculum development and instructional consistency. They will be building pacing guides to ensure the delivery of standards based instruction throughout the school year.

Fitzsimmons Middle School continues to improve their academic performance in science with a 15 point gain in their overall achievement. Developing the MakerSpace and STEAM design principles into the teaching and learning environment at FMS appear to be strong contributors to enhancing teacher instruction and student achievement in science.

Platte Canyon High School students continue to maintain their achievement levels in science, consistently scoring well above the state average. However, in order to improve mastery of science standards, the high school staff is continuing to work on curricular alignment and course sequencing, as well as continuing to implement STEAM classes to increase more hands-on opportunities for students to experience in science .

Platte Canyon High School saw a drop in all scores related to the PSAT10 this year. They will utilize a root cause analysis within their Unified Improvement Plan to determine the necessary course of action.

Platte Canyon High School 11 ^th graders took the SAT as a state level assessment for the first time in 2017. The above data provides PCHS a baseline for academic development and implementation.

The Colorado Department of Education has completed its third full year of the new assessment system known as the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) as well as the fourth year of the Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS). Each serves a different purpose but combine to give schools, districts, and the state a new way to look at student learning. These new systems, coupled with the Colorado Academic Standards, are transforming the way we look at student learning and their readiness for college and career.

This year we will have our second opportunity to examine not only student achievement, but also student growth. “ Achievement is a point-in-time measure that evaluates how well students perform against a standard. In contrast, progress is measured by how much " growth " students make over time, typically from one year to the next. Both of these measures are important, but they provide different information.” (edweek.org, achievement vs growth k-12 talent managers)

As is the one constant in education, all things are in constant movement and change. Two years ago we administered PARCC through 10 ^th grade. This past year, we administered PARCC through 9 ^th grade while adding the PSAT10 for the 10 ^th graders. This coming school year (2018), PARCC will be administered to grades 3 – 8 with the PSAT8/9 given at the 9 ^th grade. These shifts in assessments continue to change the landscape of the data and information that we receive. We continue to use our best tools to evaluate the new data and ensure that our instruction matches the expectations placed upon our students.

We are also in our second year of North Western Education Association’s (NWEA) interim assessment system. We will again give the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment in August, December, and May. We will continue to expand our knowledge and use of this tool. It offers many great opportunities for student level assessment of standards and benchmarks. Our examination of data is also being supported through our second year of focus with Driven by Data by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo. Our teachers are utilizing all of the above mentioned data to create action plans to support student learning. Our continued use of these resources has given our district a common language and mechanism to discuss student level data and examine our instructional practices. Data indicate our effort and use of resources are supporting of continuous improvement and the Board of Education expectation of high student achievement and continued growth.

It is going to be a great year in Platte Canyon School District!