Local school administrators and teachers now have data from several different types of student assessments at their fingertips, allowing them to work toward the differentiated instruction of individual students.

Spencer School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC) members were presented with the latest reports this week. The scores on display included Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) results and Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) student achievement data from last school year, as well as ACT scores and Basic Reading Inventory (BRI) test data over the last five years. Results from each of these assessments are being merged with outcomes garnered from Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITED) and Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) assessments Spencer students have been taking for years.

"I don't want us to get hung up on the data," Superintendent Greg Ebeling warned. "I'm less concerned about our test scores in the end, and more (concerned) about what we're doing instructionally to impact kids. You can get hung up on the data that we're making gains or we're not making gains, or you can make the data look lots of different ways.

But in the end, it directs us to what our focus needs to be. And when you look at the area that we probably need to make the most growth in, it still is the area of reading and literacy. That continues to be what we have to keep working on."

Missed AYP goals in 2007-08 were calculated among the subcategory of low Socioeconomic Students (SES) in grades three through five in the areas of reading and math. Missed AYP goals were also reported among special education students in grades six through eight in reading and math. SES students in the sixth through eighth grades also missed their AYP goal in the area of reading last school year.

SIAC board members were told that Spencer will only be deemed a "district in need of assistance" if a subcategory of 11th grade students also misses its goal in the area of reading or math in the AYP report -- which is not the case currently.

"Our goal is to get more kids proficient every year," Assistant Superintendent Kathy Elliott assured.

While math and reading are the only areas school districts are currently held accountable, the state's plan to meet federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) accountability requirements will follow in the area of science within the next few years. The NCLB goal is to ensure that all students reach proficiency in all areas by 2014.

"For all its faults," Elliott said that NCLB has changed how the district views how all its students are progressing. It has also focused district representatives in looking at various subgroups of students and how they perform.

"From that perspective, it has benefited the district," she said. "...It has pushed us as a system."

The MAP data reviewed by SIAC members this week showed results from the first two assessments given to Spencer students last school year. The computerized tests, which are currently being administered again this week, are geared to motivate and push students to achieve. In doing so, they more accurately chart individual student growth. The hope is that the MAP assessment data will also allow district officials to track students across grade levels.

"Aside from the score, you can really get down to the nitty gritty of what they know and what they're ready to learn -- which is a lot more beneficial than what an Iowa test would be, where they just get a proficiency or a percentile," Ebeling said of the MAP assessment results. "In the end, parents are going to be able to see how their kids grew, or not, with this. That, in and of itself, is pretty important."

According to Elliott, last year's MAP results indicate the district has "a lot more work to do on (science) concepts and process."

"We are behind the mark when it comes to that," she said.

But in the area of math, the MAP assessment data revealed that the new Everyday Mathematics series implemented in 2004-05 has helped to increase student proficiency levels.

While district representatives are still wrestling with how to best use the student data received from MAP assessments, individual student results from the latest round of testing are expected to be shared during parent-teacher conferences on Nov. 5 and 6.

"It's another way for parents to look at how their kids are making progress," Ebeling said. "We want to see that all kids are growing. That's what it's really about: Looking at growth and, ultimately, knowing whether they're making progress or not."

2008 scores also show that the 111 Spencer seniors who took the ACT test last year ranked at or above both state and national averages.

Ebeling stated the BRI assessment, which is administered to elementary students in the fall, winter and spring and tests proficiencies in reading accuracy, fluency and comprehension, gives staff more ability to make instructional decisions based upon their results.

"If you really look at those results, you can see that we have a trend of making some really significant improvements between the fall and spring in the area of kids' accuracy and kids' comprehension, as well as their overall fluency and being able to read. That's all good news. And, again, it's just another little snapshot of how the kids are doing -- a different kind of a snapshot than our Iowa tests give us," Ebeling said. "...All the different things we do affect different parts of reading and literacy. This is just another piece of data to look at and help us to make some instructional decisions for kids."

While Spencer's superintendent admits that differentiated instruction for students is still a "stretch," Ebeling added, "But our hope is that's where we can go in the future, to be able to look at the individual scores and say, 'I have this kid in my class and he has a lower reading level. I'm going to need to make accommodations or help support that student differently than this other student who has a higher reading level and is going to be able to do it without as much support.' I think those are the types of conversations that we can start having due to having this individual data."

He continued, "To differentiate is a big process in and of itself. But that's kind of where education is going. Because to really get all kids to grow, you have to meet them where they're at and try to take them from there to where you want them to be."

SIAC members, meanwhile, plan to present a 2008-09 district professional development plan to Spencer school board members Tuesday evening. The district's 2008-09 student achievement goals also expected to be presented include:

* To increase the percent of proficient students in eighth grade on the math portion of the ITBS during 2008-09 compared to seventh grade cohort data from 2007-08.

* To increase the percent of proficient students in seventh grade on the science portion of the ITBS during 2008-09 compared to sixth grade cohort data from 2007-08.

* By spring 2009, at least 50 percent of students in grades three through 10 will meet or exceed the national average growth target for each grade, as measured by a comparison of fall 2008 to spring 2009 scores on the reading comprehension portion of the Measures of Academic Performance.

Of the reading goal, Ebeling explained, "The reason we chose 50 percent is because right now we're below 50 percent of our kids making the national average. Part of that has to do with kids at the top end can't grow as much as the kids at the bottom end; so you have to pick that midpoint and then look for at least half of your kids making that national average."