Use of Rubric Results Data Analysis to Inform Curriculum, Classroom Instruction,
and Project Design

A Masters Action Research Thesis submitted

Submitted by

Amy M. Basile

Abstract

Schools nationwide operated today in an environment of increasing accountability based on purportedly objective data measurements, such as standardized test scores and credit accumulation.  Accordingly, although New York City Consortium schools assess students primarily through a portfolio of performance-based tasks, such schools are still required to demonstrate student improvement through these unrelated data measurements.  To avoid bifurcating assessment strategies, this research study proposes instead that Consortium schools integrate aggregate data from students’ performance on grading rubrics and develop an alternative assessment tool.  Reflective teachers will adopt such an alternative assessment tool if the data meaningfully informs curriculum, classroom instruction, and project design.  The adoption of an alternative assessment tool by a critical mass of teachers at a given Consortium school, and, in turn, by a critical mass of Consortium schools themselves, could be recognized by the New York City Department of Education as a legitimate accountability measurement while preserving and enhancing the special learning environment.  

About the Author

I am a New Englander transplanted in New York City.  I am a product of the Massachusetts public school system who believes in the community’s social obligation to educate its adolescents. With only one parent from my early teenage years on, I relied on my teachers to help me through school and through the college process. I graduated from Wellesley College with a degree in Economics and then moved to Manhattan.  While working in finance, I tutored formerly homeless men who were preparing for their GED and living at the Bowery Mission. This experience coupled with my personal experience as a teenager helped me realize the importance of educators in a community. As a result, I became a math teacher through NYC’s teaching fellows program and completed a Masters in Education at Brooklyn College. I decided to join the small school initiative in NYC by becoming the second math teacher at Essex Street Academy in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I am now in my fourth year of teaching project-based math along with a staff of dedicated teachers who work hard for the students and the school.  

Action Based Research Project

In order for a middle school to be designated as exemplary, what elements must it possess and in what ways does my school possess those elements?

A Master’s Action

Research Thesis Proposal

Submitted by

Brenda Morrow

Abstract

This project takes us through the self assessment process for contemplating and acting upon a school’s ideas of what it means to be an exemplary middle school. Exemplary middle schools appear to have a set of common qualities that set them apart from other good middle schools. This process of true self-examination is a difficult process to do well. No matter how well we believe we are doing and how much we want to be exemplary, self assessment is an emotional journey. In order to become the school we state that we wish to be the school leadership and staff must accept our imperfections and decide to improve upon what we already do. Exemplary schools do not rest on the positive qualities they presently possess. Instead exemplary schools consistently learn to improve. The quest for more quality is an ongoing process that takes courage and determination. This project was our attempt to look within in order to become the best we could be.

About the Author

My name is Brenda Morrow. I have been teaching middle school students for twelve years. Teaching is my passion. I look forward to each day. Currently, I am teaching seventh grade social studies. Previously, I was teaching eighth grade language arts and reading. I have been a student teacher advisor, a mentor, and a Department chair over the past several years.  I am a mother of two beautiful children ages 5 and 8. My husband and I enjoy the adventure our children give to us every day. My favorite activities include spending time with my family, swimming, and taking pictures.

Professional Learning Community
in a Middle School

A Master’s Action Research Thesis Proposal

 
Submitted by

Jessica Potter

Abstract

This study attempted to answer the question, “What strategies can middle school leaders use to foster a professional learning community that focuses on student learning?” I created a leadership group, the Curriculum Coordinators, who represented smaller teaching teams in the school. To gain an understanding of the teachers’ professional learning community perspectives each teacher was asked to complete an on-line survey. The first strategy involved developing a tool, a collaboration checklist, for monitoring collaboration within the Curriculum Coordinators’ teams. The team members rated how they as individuals collaborated and how the team collaborated. The second strategy was to provide meeting times and places for collaboration.

A schedule was created to release teachers from their classes so they could develop common assessments and discuss ways to improve student learning. Curriculum Coordinators received a strategy guide for running each meeting along with professional learning community articles to support their work. To determine the effectiveness of the strategies, all teachers were asked to answer identical survey questions as they had before the project started.

The collaborative checklists encouraged the teams to be reflective and it helped define the expectations for the meetings. The teams had very high collaboration scores throughout the action research project. The scores consistently reflected teams collaborated well. The survey results explained that teams are willing and eager to learn more about professional learning communities but lack the training and expertise to engage fully in professional practices. Teachers created and analyzed the common assessment results to identify what students didn’t know. Most teachers planned lessons and/or interventions to address gaps of student learning. As a result of their work, students were able to access the curriculum and learn from the re-teaching and interventions.

About the Author

Jess was always a teacher.  She grew up with two parents who were invested in education.  Her mother taught Spanish at the high school while her father was a middle school science teacher.  Her father coached and was on the town school board.  Education was her life!  She was determined, even at a young age, she would become an educator. 

New England College suited Jess well and in 2000 she graduated in the top of her class with a teaching degree.  She graciously accepted a permanent substitute position at the very school she attended when she was in younger.  Within a year she was offered a teaching contract in sixth grade where she taught Social Studies and Reading for five years.  Surprising her colleagues and even herself, she took a position in student management which evolved into an Administrative career.  For the last four years she has been the Assistant Principal at the Weare Middle school.  She has led the culture and climate initiative within the school and brought Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (P.B.I.S.)to the building and infused it into the culture of the school.  As well as being involved in all the committees within the school, Jess is most proud of her work with the Curriculum Coordinators who have begun to develop a seamless middle school curriculum that focuses on student learning.

Jess looks forward to continuing her education and her role as a administrator in whatever capacity possible as long as she has the opportunity to work with students.