February 2006

FCAT! FCAT! FCAT!

Does it seem like that's all you're thinking about lately? Well, this month's bulletin will help stop some of those grey hairs from forming. The Bulletin focuses on some of the ways that you can help your students and yourselves get ready for FCAT. You'll learn about:

The importance of 'Parents as Partners' and ways to include them in their student's success
Creating 'low hanging fruit' reports by grade
Exporting your SnapShot data displays

Good luck and remember: Just 3 more months to summer vacation!

Parents as Partners

One of the greatest resources kids have for education is their parents. With this in mind, we have created an initiative called Parents as Partners at SP SnapShotTM to help schools improve parental involvement efforts. The first project of this initiative is our Parents help page. It offers parents ideas for how they can help prepare their children for the FCAT. Each school has its own unique webpage. If you haven't received your Parents as Partners webpage, contact SnapShot at support@studentperformance.com.

Some ideas of how schools can use this website with their parents:

Create a link to the Parents as Partners website on your school’s web page
Have teachers include the website address in student planners
Include the website address in school newsletters
Post the website address on your school’s marquee
Send out the website address to parents with a Life-saver attached – parents will get the message that they are the lifesavers of the school
Send an email out through the school’s listserv asking parents to check out the tips offered on the websitePrint out the webpage and send it home with students

Creating ‘Lowest Hanging Fruit’ reports by grade

In last month’s bulletin we gave directions on how to identify students who are not meeting their level of expectation on the FCAT SSS using the NRT vs. SSS Scatterplot graph. We had a number of people ask about creating these reports by grade instead of by class or teacher. You also wanted to create a list of the best students to target immediately before FCAT.

Level 1 and 2 Students who would be expected to perform at Level 3:

Click “Queries” and select a “Roster Year.”
Click “Demographics,” then “Grade” and select a grade. Click “Add Criterion.”
Click “Tests” and select FCAT NRT Reading NPR.
Click “2004-2005” and change the minimum score to 60. Click “Add Criterion.”
Click “Get Results”.
Click “Tests” and click “FCAT SSS Reading”.
Select “Ach Level.” Click “Update Data Display.”
Sort results by clicking the “0405” column heading. The level 1 and 2 students are the students performing below expectations.

After you’ve identified the students in the different levels, you can print off the list by clicking “Printable PDF” at the top of the table. Another way to print off the data displayed and customize reports is to use the “Export Option”.

Possible discussion questions

Why would students with similar NP values (similar ranks, e.g. low average, high average, highest) score differently on the FCAT SSS?
What will it take to keep students performing as expected on the FCAT SSS?
Why are some students not performing as well as expected? What would it take to get them to perform at the expected levels?
What unsuccessful instructional strategies or teaching techniques need to be examined?
Why are some students performing higher than expected? Are there successful instructional strategies or teaching techniques which could be shared? With grade level colleagues? With receiving teachers?

Exporting data displays

It is often necessary to use the student data in SnapShot to create reports. SnapShot has tried to supply printable versions for each area, but there are times that you may need to customize the look. Below are directions on exporting the data display from the Data Assessment page.

At the bottom of the list of students on the Data Display page, click the “Select an Export Option” drop-down menu.
Select Select an option.
Click “Export”.
A pop-up will appear that reads, “You’ve elected to perform an export. Do you wish to proceed?”. Click “OK”.
After the download is complete, open the file in any spreadsheet or text editor program. (Note: if using a PC it is recommended that you right click on the file and select the program from the “Open with…” link.)

You are now able to delete, highlight, and resize columns or rows and adjust font size to fit the size of paper you are printing on.

Upcoming Training

If you are interested in free online training for your school, please contact our staff at training@studentperformance.com or call 866.479.7627.

About SP SnapShot™

SP SnapShot™ analyzes student data through charts, reports, and graphs. From this information, users are able to identify individual students in need of attention and create individualized professional development plans for teachers based on information gleaned from this data analysis tool.

For more information, visit the SP SnapShot™ website at www.studentperformance.com.