Two Words that Start with "D"

We wrapped up our STAR testing today and those reports will come home with their report cards when I am done with them next week.  Overall the numbers look very good and I am so impressed with the attitudes of the students.  On Monday we took the STAR reading and it was good, but not great.  This is the first year of the test and we are getting scattered data.  The kids all did excellent on their Dibels test that tests their fluency and retell abilities and so far DRA tests are showing improved written comprehension, but this STAR test is very inconsistent.

After the test we talked about what to do when you face a challenge.  You can let it defeat you OR you can become more determined.  This is something that I live by and it has kind of become a mantra of what we want to do.  We want to see these opportunities as places to make us stronger and not to run away from them.

Today after talking about this, we took our STAR math test and raised our class average from the 90th percentile at the beginning of the year to the 97th percentile today.  We have improved by over 100 points of scaled score growth on average.  17 students scored in the 99th percentile today and 21 students have reached that point at some point this year.  Last year at this point four of my students were in the 99th percentile.  I am super impressed with the quality of work and the determination to do our best.

A bunch of scores can never tell the whole story.  I will always value character growth above all other things.  The confidence I see growing in some students is heart warming.  I see a quiet determination and excitement to show what they can do on assessments.  This confidence is something that I long for every child to retain as they go forward in this culture that is built for them.  I want them to be able to go into a mode that gets them through their many assessments and gets them back out into excited to learn mode.  It is too easy to set kids up to get discouraged and defeated in today's high stakes environment.  I want my students to always go forward looking at assessments as challenge to overcome and as a place to excel.  I want to see them test with a smile and a cool confidence.  Then I want them back out in the world pushing the limits of learning.

Determination can always help conquer the feeling of Defeat.