June 2004 — Applications
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School District of Philadelphia Uses Web-Based System to Increase Student Achievement
A critical element to achieving these goals was the selection of a system that provided student-level data, state and federal standards-aligned data, individualized instructional resources, and ongoing assessment. It was imperative that we began to close the skill gap, especially among our ninth-graders, to ensure that all students achieve proficiency in math and English.
The Program
After much investigation and evaluation, we selected the Kaplan Achievement Planner, a research-based system that we determined best fit our district's needs. The Achievement Planner is a Web-based system that prescribes lesson plans and ongoing formative assessments that increase student achievement in targeted areas. Teachers often face problems when trying to work with student data because the data can be outdated, irrelevant to this year's class, or not aggregated in a useful way to allow teachers to use the data to inform instruction. Lack of meaningful data also drives many teachers to believe that students are at the most basic instructional level on all standards - a premise which is not supported by the data.
We believed that the Achievement Planner's cycle of data-informed instruction would give our teachers the information and instructional tools needed to improve student performance and close skill gaps. The Achievement Planner accomplishes its objectives through four fundamental areas:
- Sophisticated data analysis. The system imports our state test data and matches it to current student rosters, providing us with a picture of current student performance on the Pennsyl-vania state test topics and standards.
- Tailored instructional plans and ready-to-use resources. Based on the data analyses, the system identifies specific areas where students need both challenge and remediation. It then prescribes appropriately leveled lesson plans so students receive the instruction they need to help them master standards-based curriculum objectives.
- Formative assessment and feedback on student progress. This tool enables teachers to monitor student progress through ongoing online and offline assessments. Written in the idiom of our state test, the assessments gauge student progress toward mastery of state standard topics. These tests are scanned on-site or administered online, and the results are immediately available. It is important for our teachers to have immediate feedback in order to make good instructional decisions. Reports show the number of students at each performance level for every standard topic tested, as well as identify class strengths and weaknesses. Student-level reports display individual progress toward state standards.
- Updated lesson plan prescriptions. These reports then prescribe new curriculum based on student progress, enabling teachers to adjust their instruction accordingly. This starts the cycle of data-informed instruction again.
Best Practices
In fall 2003, we provided the Achievement Planner to all of our high schools. Kaplan consultants provided each school with hands-on professional development with the system and ongoing on-site visits throughout the school year to help teachers and administrators understand the data, set goals, and make the best instructional decisions for our students.
