by K.N. Williams

Created on: July 19, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2010

Improving Student Progress and Teaching Effectiveness

I learned early in the teaching profession that test scores provide a vital piece of information when looking at student achievement. Test scores can effectively be used to analyze student deficiencies, to write a plan to satisfy those deficiencies, and to construct a plan to take students to the next level. In doing this, the effectiveness of teaching is not only seen on standardized tests at the end of the school year, but also as student success seen throughout the school year.

First, teachers should dissect the students' prior knowledge based on their test scores on standardized tests such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills or the Criterion Referenced Competency Test. Since the test is broken down into domains, it is easy to see the areas where my students need help. Teachers can make a chart of all these areas and convert the failure rate into percentages. This is helpful because it will give the areas that teachers really need to focus. I also take note of the areas in which a high percentage of my students barely met the standard, and work on those as well. Once the student's deficiencies are known, I develop my units, and we start our journey.

The units are developed using standardized test preparation guides as resources since they directly correlate to the test. Lessons are presented in a variety of ways so that every learning style is met. If I have a group in which the deficiencies are split, I rotate the kids in learning groups to differentiate instruction. For example, if 10 students need help on literary elements and 19 students need help on paragraph construction, I will divide the students into two groups. They will spend fifty percent of their time one on one with me, thirty percent doing standardized test-aligned assessments on the computers, and the other twenty percent of the time is spent during individual benchmark work. Once the student has satisfied the deficient areas, he or she can then begin to build on that knowledge, thus, taking them from meeting the standard to exceeding the standard.

Moreover, when establishing units and implementing them, it is important to realize that success can be measured in microscopic increments. For example, in inclusion classes with students with disabilities, it is imperative to realize and acknowledge their successes as they succeed. This will increase their content-knowledge, but it will also improve their self-confidence which is a key factor in acquiring success. When looking at low standardized test scores, teachers can become very discouraged. However, by examining those same test scores, teachers can find a magical formula.

Test scores tell you exactly where students are deficient. By zoning in on those deficiencies, alleviating them, and building on that knowledge, teachers can take students to exceptional places. This is what I do every day in my classroom, and it has proven to be very effective. However, if a teacher is overwhelmed by the scarcity of skills that a student possesses, it is extremely arduous to improve the effectiveness of teaching and move students toward academic success.

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