iReady Scores, Our Path to the Superbowl?

Good morning to all.  

The hope is that the Superbowl doesn't bring tired staff members and cranky sleep-deprived students today.  It seems that everyone watches the Superbowl even if they aren't football fans.  Some for the commercials, some for the halftime show, some for food, some for fun with family and friends.  Whatever your reason I hope that you enjoyed.

I'm going to stick to the football theme this morning, because it's hard for me to let go.  College football ended earlier in January and now the NFL is done as well.  It's always sobering to think about life without football until August.


I believe football is a lot like our classrooms (I know except their salaries).  The coaches teach the standards they expect and an assessment is administered at the end of the week, which is a football game.  Both the Patriots and Rams played 18 games to reach the Superbowl.  That's 18 assessments that were administered throughout year.  Each of these assessments were analyzed by several coaches. They look for what went right and what went wrong and they form practice plans for the next week.  In these practice plans, they emphasize and keep focusing on what is working and a plan is formulated to correct what did not go as planned.  There are always external factors working for or against a football team, but a good coach keeps the players focused on strengths and improving weakness and ignores factors that can not be controlled.



This is exactly how I look at MOY iReady scores.  The MOY scores are not our Superbowl.  It's another mid season assessment that is used to generate feedback.  It is a tool to indicate what our students have as strengths and assist in the creation of a blueprint to correct deficiencies.   I know these scores bring anxiety, especially when we compare scores with other classrooms and other schools.  They bring anxiety to Adrienne and I as well.  But we have to use the mindset that these scores are part of the journey.  If they are low, what is the plan to help our students?  If they are high, how do we continue to enrich our students?

The diagram below was shared with Adrienne and I at a training and I believe it is simple way to think about instruction.  Common Assessments like iReady, which our based on standards help us identify a common expectation of what should be expected as quality student work.  If students are not performing in some class, it is imperative to look at the instructional strategies in those classes and compare with classes that are achieving highly.  We have to accept feedback, we have to collaborate, and we have to accept that there may be a better way.

I hope you all enjoy a terrific week.  Try not to stress over the incoming iReady scores; use it as the feedback that it is intended.

James & Adrienne