Understanding how to use data efficiently and effectively is a critical component of innovation and improvement. Our research projects show that using educational data to make decisions contributes to improved practice in myriad ways, including identifying student needs and reliably determining when a student no longer needs support.
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Conducted in partnership with Drs. Klingbeil (UW-Madison) and Van Norman (Lehigh) this study centered on medium-term outcomes for kids who successfully respond to reading intervention. Although most students were able to maintain grade-level performance through the end of the year, more than half were observed to fall below grade-level by the beginning of the next year. The results shed light on a rarely discussed phenomenon in which the growth rates of students decline fairly rapidly when extra supports are removed. This study, and similar work, served as the foundation for an IES funded project to better understand what might help keep students on track.
Read the full study here
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Conducted in partnership with Drs. Van Norman (Lehigh University) and Van DerHeyden (Boston University), this study examined the utility of repurposing regularly collected state test data to make decisions about supplemental support the following year. The results provide evidence that with a little re-tooling in the interpretation of the scores, educators may be able to skip testing students in the fall with little cost to the validity of their screening decisions.
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Conducted in partnership with Dr. Van Norman (Lehigh), this study advanced the knowledge base on making decisions about students’ response to reading intervention. Results demonstrated that goals based on normative data are highly beneficial for students with low starting scores, whereas goals tied to an end-of-year benchmark were most beneficial for students with higher starting scores that still qualify as at risk for reading difficulties. In addition, the results confirmed previous work dissuading educators from the use of “data point” decision rules, instead highlighting the value of interpreting trend lines and/or the median of the last three progress monitoring scores.
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Vocabulary skills are important for overall reading competence, but vocabulary assessments that inform instructional decision-making and are sensitive to improvement are limited. This study, conducted in collaboration with Lisa Stewart, Ph.D. (MSU-Moorhead) and Susan Thompson (ServeMinnesota), outlines a process for developing vocabulary measures designed to facilitate data-driven decision-making for Kindergarten and first-grade students and provides technical evidence for the use of those measures to guide instructional decisions.
Read the full study here
