Recommendations for SIP Math Goal given to EHS Administration

Here are some of the thoughts on the SIP Math Goal for this year. Some of it is more
action plan items for down the road but it is a start of what we thought we could do
over time to help.

Potential SIP Math Goal:

We will increase the Black Subgroups proficiency rate from 43.3% on the 8 th
Grade MCA Math test taken in 2011 to 50% on the 11 th Grade MCA Math Test
that will be taken in 2014.
We will increase the Hispanic Subgroups proficiency rate from 45.5% on the
8th Grade MCA Math test taken in 2011 to 50% on the 11 th grade MCA Math
Test that will be taken in 2014.

Action Plan for this Years Goal:

1. Get data on kids that dont have any test scores as of now
2. Analyze data for the subgroup populations we are looking at (see below for
more specifics if needed) and pinpoint the students who need extra help.
3. Provide additional support to those students that we feel need it (Nates after
school help, Wednesday skill work during PLC time, invitational conferences
with parents)
4. Analyze this years MCA scores after we receive the results to see exactly how
each individual did compared to their score in 8 th grade and use that
information to help guide future change if needed.

Future Plans:
1. Use whatever test we decide upon to test all incoming 10 th graders and any
kids who move in so we have accurate and similar data to work from.
2. Continue to analyze our current course offerings to see if everything makes
sense or if there are changes that need to be made
Goal
Change language to focus on increasing the percentage scored by Blacks and
Hispanics. We came up with decrease the gap by increasing the percentage
of scores for each subgroup.
o Focusing more on increasing numbers will be an easier way to track
the data.
We would like to break the goal up into a couple of things.
o Make a goal specific to kids who have been in Edina from 8 th grade on.
o Make a separate goal for students who move into the district between
the time the MCA is given in 8th grade and 11th grade.
For the actual district goal, we are not going to put this in there
as we want to try to keep it simple and easy to understand.
However, the in the work that we will be doing with this over the

next few years we will track this data for our own knowledge and
understanding.
Looking at the data over the past three years, the gap has actually gotten
bigger every year from the 8th grade test to the 11th grade test, so we think
that decreasing the gap by 20% is unrealistic since we in fact have never
decreased the gap.
o As a result, we would like to see the language of just decrease the gap.
While we know that is not measurable exactly, it does change the
trend of what has been happening. Until we gain a better
understanding of what is going on, we wouldnt even know where to
start in terms of picking a percentage to increase by.
We do need to have a number in the goal to make it actually
measurable. While we definitely want to make it possible, we do
want to make it something that would be challenging as it might
help us be able to get more resources to help with our action
plan.
Action Plan Ideas
Analyze Data
o Look at data of this years juniors as to how they did on the MCA in 8 th
grade. Find the students who did not pass then and figure out what
they are currently doing in terms of what classes they are in and what
additional support they are receiving.
I now have a list of students names in each subgroup so we will
have to go through and figure out which classes they are in. I
will try to check in with everyone to look at it. There are 28 in
each group, so a total of 56 kids we are looking at as of now.
o We would like to see all data broken down by kids who have been in
Edina from 8th grade on versus those kids who have moved in during
that time.
o We would also like to see the data of the kids who passed the 11 th
grade MCA last year and those who did not, so we can start to look at
current practices and see if there are things we can easily tell are
working or are not working.
o We would also like to see the strand breakdown of MCA test (by
content of the test) by subgroup instead of just as Edina as a whole so
we can target the concepts that might need to be focused on more
with some students.
o We would like to see how this data breaks down for Title I kids to see if
there is an option to get funding for additional resources.
o We will also pay attention to kids that are in the Special Ed and ELL
category to see if they need additional support in other areas as well.

We will compare the students who struggled on the math test to their
reading scores to see if there is a correlation and get them support
from that side as well.

Use the data to pinpoint the kids who might need extra help
o On the new Wednesday schedule days, we as a department can work
together to have a teacher available to help the kids who did not pass
the 8th grade MCA refine their math skills.
o Teachers who currently have students that we view at risk of not
passing, would try to get the parents more involved by having them be
one of the conferences by invitation to try and help form a plan to help
their child be more successful.
o The students who are at risk of failing will be strongly encouraged to
come to Nates after school help. Nate will be tracking who is coming
and if these students are not, we will be able to follow up with them.
Find ways to get more data on kids through the years rather than going from
8th grade to 11th grade
o Any student who does not have an MCA on file would have to take
some kind of assessment so we can see where they are to answer the
question, do we think they would have passed?
o Do our 9th graders currently take the Explorer test in Middle School?
This would be another benchmark for us if we were able to get the data
on the math portion of it.
o Would we be able to get data from the math portion of the PLAN test
that sophomores take?
o We are looking at using the Accucess Test through Plato to test kids
their sophomore year so that we are not looking at data only from 8 th
grade in the future. This will also allow us to have a measuring stick
for all students when they enter the high school rather than relying on
data that is sometimes missing for key students. We would have the
option to use this tool to check in with kids who we find need it to see
if the appropriate progress is being made.
o Another option, similar to Accucess is a program called Odyssey Ware
(not sure on the spelling). The potential advantage to this product is
that it is already aligned with the standards.
Mike Pretasky is going to be in charge of helping us with this
process. He would like to meet with us about it at some point.