Posted by:
Aaron Listhaus
K-12 Classroom teacher
Long Island, NY

Topic:
Evidence of Student Success

Message:

Student data must drive staff development. How student success and achievement will be documented for both internal and external audiences will determine directions for staff development. At The International High School, a charter school at LaGuardia Community College, students are assessed through a system of performance-based tasks (research papers, literary essays, original science projects, the application of abstract math to a real life situation) that form the core of our student assessment system. Therefore, data on how well students meet the standards that we have set for them are the data that drive our staff development. When we noticed that the thesis statements in students' research papers were not clearly articulated and that students also had difficulty articulating clear hypotheses in their science projects, we focused cross-discipline discussions on what was essentially the same topic.

While this internal assessment of student outcome data on performance-based tasks guided many of our discussions, another source of data is how well students fare at the next level of education. For us at the high school level, that source of data is how well students fare in college. Course pass rates in college classes combined with a longitudinal study of how well and in what ways students are prepared to handle the rigor of the next educational level play a role in defining the criteria by which we measure success.

Other questions that help us identify areas for improvement are:
- Do parents continue to want their children to attend our school?
- Do students want to come to school, pass all their classes, and participate in the life of the school?
- Is this a school where teachers want to be or do they transfer to similar positions in other schools?

It is essential to view schools holistically through a variety of indicators, both qualitative and quantitative. Looking at multiple measures and hearing from all stakeholder groups (students and parents, as well as faculty members) helps to paint a complete picture. Bringing in these different constituency groups also helps build a broad base of support for proposed changes.

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