Leadership Matters - October 2013

Given the impact of the new cut scores, how are  you handling the release of the ISAT scores and  what feedback are you geƫng? 

“We are working to educate our community about why the scores changed and what it really means. In the end, the cut scores are not what we are stressing as relevant. In many cases, student's individual scores improved, yet they dropped into a lower category. For students and parents, the priority is whether or not students improved. Is there student growth? Since we are transitioning to a student growth model with the PARCC assessment, the growth has been our emphasis.” Matt Stines, Southwestern Region President

“Like most districts, we are communicating to our community the changes in cut scores, PSAE alignment, and the move to the common core. One mechanism that we have traditionally used in communicating ISAT data is our district's performance relative to our neighbors' performance. In this instance, it will aid in demonstrating the local and

statewide impact these changes have caused.” Bradley Cox, Blackhawk Region President

“I initially met with my building principal and curriculum coordinator (in April) and discussed the options to assure that the information we put out was clear and concise. When we received our data, we broke the data down and provided the comparison of where our students would have ranked on the previous system and then cross referenced it with the new benchmark. I submitted an article to our local paper and also posted on our district website a preview for parents and community members in anticipation of the data that we were expecting to receive. I had several questions to clarify after the initial article went out, and I explained what the change was and how we planned to interpret it. This took care of all of the questions. We will be providing a follow-up letter home to parents to assist with any questions they might have within the next two weeks.” Jeff Fritchtnitch, Wabash Valley Region President

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