A Numbers Game

Organizing, analyzing and displaying data is a tricky game. It needs to be recognized that like a story the person weaving the plot is attempting to share a particular conversation with the recipient. Below I will discuss my data. This is the bottom line, the concrete findings on whether or not I spent the last 9 months closing the achievement gap, pushing kids deeper into the hole, or maintaining the status quo.

Teach for America states that significant gains are either 80% content mastery for a single subject or 2 years of grade level growth in that subject. Self contained teachers (those that teach all subjects) use a mixed model and the gains bar is slightly lower because they must administer multiple curriculums and planning time is dramatically increased. According to my program director (the guy who manages corp members in the field) there is a higher percentage of significant gainers at the self contained elementary level attributed to having more time with the kids, greater curricular flexibility and a greater opportunity for building a cohesive culture. These ‘sig gains’ are attainable. They are lofty goals for a first year teacher but should be extremely manageable for a second year.

So, you mean to tell me that if my students actually understand only 80% of what I taught them than this can be construed as significant. Well in fact yes it may be significant because someone has been forgetting to teach my students for the last 'x' amount of years. I failed. Ouch! It hurts to say, but repeated and consistent failure is an everyday occurrence for the first year teacher, particularly those that teach ummmm... where TFA places. Not that the Shelby Middle School isn't a beacon of academic enrichment and student success but it might, just might sit mildly below the bar in comparison with...let's say with the rest of the world.

According to TFA my students did not achieve significant gains. My students mastered 74% of the fifth grade objectives achieving an 80% or better on the mastered benchmarks.

My data was acceptable neither stellar nor delinquent. A 74% is a C, this is average. According to MS standards only 28% of my students came prepared to learn at a fifth grade level. 72% of my students scored less than a 63% on the 4th grade curriculum mastery test with 30% scoring below a 50%. If you get a 50 on anything out of a 100 you obviously have no idea what’s going on, which means that a chunk of my students accomplished virtually nothing the previous year.

My older students would tell me, “Yo Mr. C, man last year we would just come and sleep in math, yo Joseph you remember that?” Learning does not occur while sleeping. We did not sleep in my class; we relentlessly pushed, poked, and sometimes crammed knowledge into these children. Instead of 72% of the students being unable to successfully complete fourth grade material we have pulled a complete 180 and now 78% of my students are prepared to learn at a 6th grade level with only 6% of the students remaining in the below 50% category. Yeah, who needs fourth grade anyway. As I delved deeper into the data, a skill honed by my time at GS, I discovered that my students made on average 1.5 grade levels of growth. Note from above that this is not significant according to TFA, but it does validate my effectiveness as a classroom teacher.

The chart below gives a picture of my students academic standing over the last two years.



Unfortunately this is not success. What about the other 22%? What happens to my students that did succeed when they re-enter the system that initially induced the failure? My results are by no means stellar, in my opinion they are adequate for someone in my position. First year of teaching - acceptable. The students are the concern and what you realize is that there is no way that you will ever be able to provide enough for the children you teach. The data can validate your experience and make you feel good about achieving ambitious goals but a single child that slips through the cracks significantly detracts from all other success.

The year was filled with dizzying highs and terrifying lows, but like all good experiences it is definitely about the journey, not the destination. Speaking of which, I leave for a brief 1 week road trip to Fayetteville, AK (home of the Razorbacks) visiting Jess’ Grandma, Kansas City, for a family wedding, and St. Louis for a Cardinals game and a day at Six Flags. I can’t wait for those roller coasters. I briefly return to the Delta then hop my flight to Nicaragua for Spanish classes at the beach. I will continue to be in touch. Please do the same.