We take the DBA (district benchmark assessment) three times a year. Back in September, three weeks after school started, my students took the DBA for the first time. Because everyone knows that after only 3 weeks of 5th grade you must know at least 20 % of the curriculum already, right?!
The goal is to score PROFICIENT (70% or higher) by the end of the year. Here are the results I had.
In Math:
5 at BEGINNING STEPS (25%)
15 at NEARING PROFICIENT (70%)
1 at PROFICIENT (5%)
0 at ADVANCED
In Reading:
12 at BEGINNING STEPS (55%)
9 at NEARING PROFICIENT (45%)
0 at PROFICIENT
0 at ADVANCED
Two of these kids I don't really count because they are special education and for more then 1/2 of their day they are not with me. Between then and now one other has moved.
For the past two weeks we took the test again. Here are my results now:
In Math:
0 at BEGINNING STEPS
11 at NEARING PROFICIENT (55%)
9 at PROFICIENT (45%)
0 at ADVANCED
In Reading:
1 at BEGINNING STEPS (5%)
10 at NEARING PROFICIENT (50%)
9 at PROFICIENT (45%)
0 at ADVANCED
In math I had a jump from anywhere between 10 and 53 points. In reading the jump was between 2 and 36 points. OMG I'm an amazing teacher....right...it's all me, me, me! Boy, I would sure like to think so, but.....no. I should say, NO...that's a BIG BUT, not a little but.....
* I only have 21 then, 20 students now...where other teachers are at 25....hmmmm...maybe class size does make a difference.
* The first test was given after only 3 weeks of school. Really, how much do you think I had taught after just 3 weeks of school? So, no wonder my group shows an enormous jump from then to now.
* Three of the six, 5th grade teachers have a lot of major discipline problems to deal with. One student can feel like 5 when they cause major problems, so if you throw 5 or 6 in the same room....really....if you spend 1/2 your day on these issues when do you teach. I don't have any major discipline problems this year, or I should say I don't now. The two children I was having issues with left before the test was given.
* Some of the children in other classes are dealing with parents in prison, gangs, homelessness, being put in foster care, mental issues etc. There is only one girl in my class that has her parents going through a divorce (she made the smallest gains) and all the rest are fairly stable.
So, although I am very proud of my students for showing progress, it's not me, really! This will certainly not stop me from showing the principals the data, though. I will take all the brownie points I can get.
NOTE: We still have to do this test one more time in May, which is right after we take the SBA (state benchmark assessment) in April. Which is such a great idea!?! The kids will be so excited to do more testing after spending 3 weeks on the SBA. I don't think I'll be showing you those results. The last one usually shows a back slide. Ugghhh...I LOVE STANDARIZED TESTING!
2 comments:
I am studying to become a teacher and standardized testing is the one thing im NOT looking forward to!!!
Good job to you and your students :)
You should be proud of the numbers. I understand circumstances, but still, that's a lot of hard work on your part.
Also? I hate the testing too. I recently found out that CA dropped the writing benchmark test for 4th graders this year due to funding issues. I couldn't be more happy. I've been helping my son's teacher with writing projects all year. Out of 31 kids in the class there are maybe a third that would pass with no problem. The other 2/3's are borderline at best. These kids would have been tested on writing skills that I didn't learn until Jr. High and High school. I get that they need to learn writing but some of the 'standards' are clearly too advanced for their age. And this is in a school where we don't have to deal with most of the issues that you do. Unreal.
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