Tools, Measures and Approaches

From our last CoL meeting we were asked to think about the tools, measures and approaches that we might use this year as well as having baseline data to compare our inquiry to for the end of the year. In this blog post I have outlines some of the tools, measures and approaches that I will use as baseline data for my learners which has continued to from and shape my inquiry.

PAT Reading Test
Looking at raw data from this test as well as a deep dive into the type of questions that students were able to answer and those that were a struggle and see if there is a trend in this data.

PAT STAR
Looking at raw data from this test as well as a deep dive into the type of questions that students were able to answer and those that were a struggle and see if there is a trend in this data.

Running Records
Exploring running records from 2024 as well as previous years for each of the students to see if there are trends in this data and what areas these students might be getting "stuck."

Attendance Data

I would like to have a look at this data to see if there are any trends into this and what the attendance is like with this group of students.

Student & Whānau Voice
Completing a student survey around attitudes and feelings towards reading. I would also like to hear what Whānau think about their children's reading and what we can do to work together to have student success.

Observation Data

We have been using Vosaic to analyse our teaching and share things that we can work on in our teaching. I would like to use this for my teaching as well as with these groups of students while they are completing follow up tasks to see the shifts and trends throughout the year.

Tools, measures and approaches

As stated in one of my previous blog posts I have looked at our PAT data from my students to frame my focus for my inquiry. I have looked at this on a very surface level so far so my next step is to dive deeper into these PAT tests and analyse the places that need work. I have started to think about how I will measure progress with this target ground and this will be PAT data, running records data, observations, probe tests and student voice. I will outline each of these in a bit of detail below to show how I intended to use this data, this will also give me an indication of what my next steps will be with my target group. 

PAT Reading Test
I have so far just looked at the stanine and scale score so far with this data. What I have learnt from RPI is to look deeper into the PAT data where I will look at where my target students did well and what areas that need work. I will analyse this data in my next blog post. 

PAT STAR
Again like PAT reading I have just looked at the stanine and scale score so far but I am interested in digging deeper into this data to see what areas this group excel in and what areas might need some improvement. 

Running Records 2023
I have also had a brief look at this data from last year and would like to analyse in detail what areas my students struggled with in these tests. 

Probe Test
We reserve running records for mid year and end of year testing, so I have decided that I will probe test each of my students to get a clearer picture of where they are at with reading and what areas need development. 

Student Voice
Finally as being part of RPI we have been given a reading profile survey that I will be using to gain student voice on reading and how they find reading. I will outline this in a later blog post. 

These are some of the measures and tools that I will be using going forward, I am excited to analyse the data further to then see what my next steps are with my inquiry. 

Tools, measures and approaches

While thinking about my inquiry and the direction I am wanting to focus on I have spent a bit of time thinking about the best tools and measure that I could use to have a more detailed and accurate profile of my students learning in relation to my achievement challenge. Below are detailed outlines of all of the tools, measures and approaches I hope to look at for my inquiry. 

Running records:
I have already looked at reading ages and levels for each of my learners but I would like to have a more in-depth look into the areas that the students need to work on. I will go through and read the individual comments from the last assessor. I will also look at the questions that the students have got wrong and analyse the decoding of the text to gain a clearer picture.

Guided reading sessions:
These sessions will be the best to find out where my students are at and the gaps that they might have in their learning. I will make sure to note down all of the things that I can see from guided reading sessions. I would also like to gauge confidence in reading from my learners which can again be obtained from taking notes during guided reading and I will like to try and record students reading one on one with me and in a group to see that level of confidence that each of these students have. 

Reading survey:
Part of my inquiry is also looking at student enjoyment so I will complete a survey this term to see how the students feel about reading and what are some key areas that I can work on to make reading more enjoyable.

These are some of the key measures that I will look at using in my inquiry to gain a more accurate profile of my students learning in relation to my inquiry challenge.   

CoL Inquiry: tools/measures/approaches

After looking at my data and having guided reading sessions with this group I have come up with a number of tools, measures and approaches that I will use with this group. 

Manaiakalani CoL Achievement Challenge: 
Lift the achievement in Reading for all students, with a particular focus on boys and Māori students (both genders) years 1-13. 

This is what I have identified in my classroom for this year as the challenge or area that needs to be focused on for my learners. 

Testing:
I will be using a range of different measures in order to track my learners and their progress throughout they year. I will look at:

• PAT Star
• PAT Comprehension
• Running Records
• ARBS 
• Guided reading notes

These measures will be used throughout the year in order to check where students are and see if they are making progress and what other areas they require progress.

Approaches:

At the end of last term I was updating my MIT reading site that I created in 2019 as part of the MIT program and I found a new passion to get this back up in running in the classroom. This is perfect for this group of learners as it is aimed at their reading level. I want to try and incorporate this in my guided reading session for the rest of the term as an extra recourse. From what I have seen so far my students love completing the activity where they record themselves reading and share it on their blog. I will later add these to my recorded stories section where others will be able to listen to them reading their stories.

Data: 

I am continuing to look through the data I have collected and look at each individual learner and what they are requiring. From my guided reading sessions this week I can see that vocabulary is a major part of what we are needing to focus on. I am in the process of finding key words that my students are unfamiliar with and creating a spelling list each week for them to take home and learn. 

CoL Inquiry: Data Collection, Tools & Measures

My target group consists of 7 year 5 students who are reading between the ages of 7.5 and 8.5 years. There are 4 boys and 3 girls in this group. I have given each student a letter which I will refer to throughout the year. 

• Student A - Year 5 boy reading at 7.5 years. He attends class regularly but is often distracted in class. He will need to be reminded to stay on task and what he is supposed to be doing. Can read high frequency words well but can struggle to read in new vocabulary for meaning. 
• Student B - Year 5 girl reading at 7.5 years. She attends class regularly but requires a lot of one on one support when completing independent tasks. Struggles with new vocabulary she comes across and is not able to read it in for meaning. Student B is part of our school reading support program. 
• Student C - Year 5 girl reading at 7.5 years. She attends class regularly and is confident in our guided reading sessions. She is able to decode fluently but often doesn't comprehend what she has read. Student C is part of our school reading support program. 
• Student D - Year 5 boy reading at 8 years. He tries to attend class regularly however is often late and will miss out on our guided reading sessions. He is able to self correct however sometimes needs to be prompted in order to check that it makes sense. Needs to work on reading for meaning so that he can retell what he has read. 
• Student E - Year 5 boy reading at 8 years. Attendance can sometimes be an issue and like Student D will often miss our reading sessions. Is a confident reader who is able to try and read in new words however needs to work on reading for meaning. 
• Student F - Year 5 girl reading at 8 years. Has regular attendance at school and is very confident in guided reading sessions. Is able to decode and comprehend quite well in a group setting or 1:1. Does struggle to stay on task when not with the teacher. 
• Student G - Year 5 boy reading at 8.5 years. He attends class regularly and is confident in his reading. Is able to decode fluently however sometimes reads too fats and can miss the point of the story or is unable to retell key information. 

I have been having a look at each of the learners in this target group and have been gathering data from guided reading sessions, running records from 2020 and PAT data from the beginning of this year. 

Running Records 2020 Data:
This is data that was collected at the end of 2020 when these students where in year 5. I used this data to group my students at the beginning of the year and as a base for what their instructional level is. We have been graphing our data as a school this year so have added in actual age as a guideline to see where they need to be by the end of the year. 

Student	Actual Age	Reading Age	Reading Level PM
A	9	7.5	20
B	9	7.5	20
C	9.5	7.5	20
D	9.5	8	21
E	9.5	8	22
F	8.5	8	22
G	9	8.5	24

PAT Star Test Data:
This was from our testing at the beginning of the year. This was our first test for the year but has shown some interesting results with vocabulary and comprehension. The word recognition is also an interesting result that I will explore further for each individual student to see what has happened and which ones they have mixed up. 

Student	Raw Score Select range	Scale Score Select range	Word Recognition	Sentence Comprehension	Paragraph Comprehension	Vocabulary	Stanine
A	11 / 50	69 ± 3.9	4 / 10	3 / 10	0 / 20	4 / 10	1
B	9 / 41	65.7 ± 4.2	4 / 10	4 / 10	1 / 20	0 / 10	1
C	17 / 50	77.3 ± 3.6	8 / 10	4 / 10	4 / 20	1 / 10	2
D	21 / 50	82.3 ± 3.5	8 / 10	6 / 10	4 / 20	3 / 10	3
E	25 / 50	87.2 ± 3.5	9 / 10	4 / 10	8 / 20	4 / 10	4
F	32 / 50	96.1 ± 3.7	7 / 10	7 / 10	11 / 20	7 / 10	5
G	24 / 32	86 ± 3.5	10 / 10	7 / 10	7 / 20	0 / 10	3

PAT Comprehension Test Data:
This data is from the PAT comprehension test at the start of the year. Again like that Star data I will need to look at each individual student and see which questions they have gotten wrong and see if there are trend in the types of questions and the answers that have been given. 

Student	Stanine	Scale Score	Raw Score
A	3	21.6 ± 4	9/37
B	3	24.6 ± 3.8	11/37
C	1	11.2 ± 5.4	4/37
D	2	16.1 ± 4.6	6/37
E	4	32.4 ± 3.5	17/37
F	4	26 ± 3.7	12/37
G	5	34.8 ± 3.5	19/37

Collecting this data has been useful to see where some of the gaps might be in the learning and also gives me a base to see what other areas of reading I need to explore with these students. It gives a clearer picture of the individual learner as well as the group as a whole. From my guided reading sessions I can see that vocabulary and reading this in is a key part of what we need to work on as a group.