TAI2020 Analysing Data #1: PAT and E-asttle

One of the important tools that I will use to show progress for my year 9 Inquiry group will be an analysis of their PAT reading comprehension data and their e-asttle data.  There are 27 students in the class, 11 male and 15 female.
The results are shown in the graphs below.

On analysis, it shows that in reading, the girls are slightly higher then the boys where as for writing, the boys are at the lower end compared to the girls.  I want to explore more evidence as to why this could be through the other tools I have previously written about.

Preparing our year 10's for their asttle tests - a whole class approach

The year 10's have been preparing for their exams and as a way to get them ready, I visited 6 year 10 classes and armed myself with their asttle exam papers from February and a copy of their overall asttle results (the colourful ones).

I handed each student their tests and went through a presentation that I'd created.  Below, I thought I'd share a running commentary of what I said to each class as I went through the powerpoint.  I've also written some initial reactions from the kids as they happened.

Slide ONE:  Illusion vs Reality

Me: So when you're going to your exam, this is what you should look like on the left.  Being ready to write, prepared - don't worry about what the words say, it's how she looks ready to write.  But for some of us, on the right is what it really looks like - we're freaking out, panicking and don't know where to start!  My presentation today is going to help you think more about how to prepare to write in your upcoming exams.  Hands up who can tell me which subjects here at school that you need to write in?

Kids reactions:  Students put their hands up, call out a subject or two before they get the fact that every subject they do at school requires them to write something. 

Slide TWO: Understanding the curriculum 

Me:  Now the image on the right show Years 1 to Years 13 and here you are at year 10.  The blue shaded area shows our New Zealand curriculum levels and across a few years, for example at year 9, you could be working anywhere along say levels 4, 5 or 6.  On the left here, your writing levels could be broken down further into basic, proficient and advanced.  Now the reason why it is important to know where your writing is and where it should be is that after exams, you will be in year 11 and starting NCEA and to be able to succeed in NCEA, you need to write at level 6 of the curriculum!  

Kids reactions:  Kids were quiet and started looking at their own results on their asttle papers.  A couple of kids gasped but the majority were engaged.

(For slides 3 to 7, I went through each page of the test and students referred to own tests to see how they did)

Slide EIGHT:  Understanding your test - the marking page

Me:  What do you think the marker has highlighted on this particular page? Why do you think there are lots of comments or circles around words or phrases?

Kids reactions/comments:  "The marker is showing what this person has done WRONG!" (100% of the students who put their hands up said this).

Me:  Not quite.  The markers were marking and highlighting everything that you've actually done RIGHT.  They are looking for evidence of where you have covered the 7 aspects for asttle!  They are highlighting where you have used lots of ideas for example or where you have shown relevant vocab.  If you have lots of circles or lots of comments, the markers have found that you have used the right things.

Kids reactions:  Lots of staring at their papers & sighs of relief as well as looks of disbelief.  Their faces said we are used to having things pointed out that are wrong!.

Slide NINE:  Understanding your test - the coloured print out

Me:  Your overall asttle test result is shown by the red arrow and your test identified your strengths, what you achieved at the asttle level and the gaps or the work on's that you need to focus on to improve your writing.  Now if you have a look at the continuum arrow in the centre, the blue line or blue water line is where the rest of the country is for your cohort and the red circle shows where you are.  You want to be at or above the line for you to succeed in your writing. 

Kids reactions:  Students were leaning over to check what their mates had gotten and where they were on the line compared to each other.

Me:  Now over the past two years, each of the subjects that have taken this year, for example English, Science, Social etc has helped you improve your writing and in your asttle test that you will be sitting very soon, your results will show us, you and me how far you have come.  We can see together if you are ready for NCEA! 

(For slides 10 -12, I slowly went through the top tips that Marc and I had identified could help kids tweak their writing and for the final slide, I showed students a link where they could look at an example of a level 6 writing piece and for that writing, what the 7 aspects that markers are looking for in their own time )

A teacher's reflection of this process:  A teacher who observed me giving the presentation said it was so helpful for the kids to look at their own copy of the tests and it being marked, gave it value.  

"They got a better understanding of what they're marked on and what the markers perspective is when marking.  It starts to give it purpose and kids say 'is this the reason for the asttle test?.  Kids always want to know why they're doing something".  

She also found it interesting that kids wanted to compare what they'd got with their neighbour especially when comparing where they were at with the national average.  The boys in particular were more vocal about comparing their tests, as they liked being competitive.  She could sense her kids having a wider understanding of the reality of the importance of these test and how it applied to them because their papers were in front of them (and it hit home!).  

Overall, I believe this was a positive process that would benefit the year 10's going into NCEA.  Giving them the opportunity to see what a markers sees empowers them to take ownership of their learning and their writing.  As the saying goes 'Knowledge is power'!

The 'Writing Plan' for our Junior school.

In November, our juniors will be sitting their second round of the asttle writing tests for this year, a test that will gage where our students are at with their writing.  I really wanted to make sure our kids knew it was coming and for them to understand how important it is.  My thinking was that if we are consistently talking to our senior students about the importance of achieving credits and NCEA, we need to be delivering the same message to our junior school with regards to their writing.  I met with Marc Milford, our literacy expert and we devised a plan to meet with all of the year 9's and year 10's during the last week of term 3.  I knew it would be a huge undertaking but it was a necessary one.

Preparing for the meetings
I created a 'Writing Plan' and Marc and I set about preparing the following resources for each student:

• A copy of their February Asttle test paper 
• A print out their Individual learning pathways from the Asttle website
• A goal setting template called 'The Big Picture'
• Exemplars of what a level 5/6 writing example looked like
• A simplified breakdown of each of the elements that the test is marked on

Individual learning pathways

I then created a spreadsheet for each tutor class and we grouped them according to their writing results.  Below is a graph that shows where the majority of our year 9's were at according to their curriculum levels.

Results for the year 9's from their February asttle writing test.

Meeting with our students 
We met with 71 year 9 students over the week (10 or so had low attendance issues).  For the students at level 2, we met with them individually and for the others, we met with them in groups of no more then 3.  The meetings took longer then we anticipated, on average between 25 - 30 minutes each.  For the year 10's, I took my social studies class through the writing plans as a class, which I found was effective for them.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get to all the 10's, so will focus on them week one of term four.

We started by meeting with the students whose score was at levels 2 individually because we thought it best to spend some time discussing with them where they were at and to encourage them to think about ways they could improve their writing.  We wanted to hear what they had to say.

I began the discussion by talking about the 'Big Picture' .  For the 'Where am I AT?' box, we discussed their February asttle result and we talked through what each element meant on the asttle test.  They then wrote down their strengths and work on's from their individual learning pathway.

I also wanted to hear their thoughts on how they felt about writing and then we talked through the different ways in all their subject areas that has helped them improve their writing during the year.

As I led the discussions with each student, Marc read over their February test paper.  He addressed specifically what students had written.  He then discussed with them the things that they did well on and helped them identity their work ons specific to their paper.

I discuss with students their plans whilst Marc looks over their February test.

 Marc shared some of the tips below with our kids during the meetings:

• Make sure to write an explanation not a narrative or story.
• When explaining, try to convince your audience that what you are were saying is a fact
• Keep it formal, no slang
• Write a plan then use the plan - a third is planning, a third is writing and a third is editing.
• Always write what you will talk about in the intro 
• Use a topic sentence to start off each paragraph
• Keep referring back to the topic of the essay
• Don't write in first person, try to write in third
• Imagine the person who is reading your explanation knows nothing about your topic
• Use a variety of perspectives

Marc shares a highlighted exemplar

After sharing these tips, Marc then showed students what a level 6 exemplar looked like, highlighting the 7 elements that the markers will be looking for.  We then asked the students if there are any questions and I reminded them that there would be an opportunity for them to blog over the holidays as a way to keep their writing 'going'.  The last part of the meeting looked at setting some future goals in their writing that they could focus on.  I took a photo of their big picture pages as a way to keep track of who we'd talk to and to remind them of the goals at the end of the year.

Reflections
We knew these meetings were important but actually having them one on one with the kids was really positive.  Initially, most of the students asked if they were in trouble, but once we started, they were quite receptive to hearing about their writing.

Here are some of the responses from the students we'd met with:

"Ms, I was really dumb back then.  Can I sit the test now?"

"Can we do this with our maths?"

"If we fail this, does it mean we stay back a year?"

"I can see why it's good to plan before you write"

Our Level 2A student wrote his 'Big Picture' plan.

One particular student who was a level 2A, admitted that when it came to writing, he found it hard to start and gave up.  When Marc asked him to think of a special place in the community, he said he didn't know one because he just stayed home.  A number of other students said the same thing.  Marc and I discussed this later and found that the task of asking kids to write about a special place in the community assumed that they actually got out in the community and found somewhere 'special' that they could talk about when the reality was, they couldn't answer the question because they lacked the life experiences needed to help them.

Overall, we found sitting down with the students really beneficial, not just for the students but for us in understanding ways to support our kids more.  The kids were engaged and receptive to the thought of focusing on their writing and understood the importance of looking at where they were in February.  They seemed to understand that across all of their subject areas explanation writing is a key component of their learning and that with a few simple consistent tools and strategies, they can take an active role in improving their writing.

Next steps
For the future, I have a few ideas to support what we've started.

• Over these holidays, our department has discussed the need to prepare our juniors through a current events context, focussed on developing their written responses.  I will design a unit to support this for our juniors.
• Next term, I want to speak to tutor classes and a year level assembly about preparing mentally for testing.  After reading their thoughts about writing, I can see some patterns as to how they feel about it. 
• Once the asttle results for November are available,  I want to identify the kids who are still well below their level or who may have made the least shift and develop an appropriate programme to meet their learning needs.  This will be shared with their jumpstart teachers for 2019.
• Meet with the HOD's of core subjects and discuss a writing plan that addresses explanation writing across our subject areas.  
• Early next year, a few days after students have their marks recorded on the asttle website (most likely in March), me and Marc will sit down with each student and set some writing goals.  I will share these with subject teachers who can support their students with their writing. 

I hope that we could continue this writing journey alongside our kids and with better planning, I am thinking about how to involve our parents and their families further in the future.  Small steps but definitely worth it!

Understanding the Asttle marking process

One of my reasons for taking up the writing aspect was that my kids had problems writing.  But what areas in particular did our kids find hard?  And how do we know what the best writing looks like.  As someone who has not much experience with marking asttle,  Marc Milford, our student literacy expert provided the opportunity for staff to meet together and moderate student asttle papers to help us understand the process better.

We sat down together and went through a number of scripts and I was amazed at how thorough the process was when it came to understanding each of the areas of language that a learner needed to achieve.  There are 7 areas in marking rubic that contribute to an overall grade and each requires knowledge of how to identify them.  Each paper needed to be moderated 3 times was a way to ensure that each mark was awarded fairly.  After going through a number of papers, I felt more confident in how to approach the marking and clearer on what I wanted to address within my department.  From this session, my hope is to identify the students who share gaps within specific areas of the rubic and create differentiated writing strategies to support them.  This would require ensuring my teachers know what to look for and how to teach it. 

Moderating student asttle tests.

Me and Marc working hard to get it done!