November 11, 2016 RCHS Social Studies Department Data Presentation This presentation is intended for teachers in the social studies department at RCHS, as well as members of the RCHS Leadership Team. My name is Lauren Arrington, and I am the social studies co-department chair. November 11, 2016 RCHS Social Studies Department

Purpose Examine student performance data on the Georgia Milestones for US History and ECON EOCs. Identify Student-Learning Problems to increase the percentage of students performing at the Distinguished Learner level. Look at possible causes for low achievement including: Attendance Lexile Scores/ Writing Scores Demographics/ Socioeconomic Status The purpose of this data overview is to examine the performance of RCHS students on both the US History and ECON EOCs. The goal is to identify our strengths as well as any weaknesses. In regards to areas that we may be weak in, we should identify what our student-learning problems are, and then brainstorm any potential causes that may be contributing to them.

RCHS Student Performance on Georgia Milestone US History EOC 2013-2015 (11th Grade) This chart shows a decline in EOC scores from Year 2(2014) to Year 3 (2015). There was a change in assessment that was implemented in year 3 (2015). The change was from the State US History EOCT to the Georgia Milestone ECON EOC. RCHS student performance trends are consistent with that of both the state and the district scores. There is a increase in student performance across the board from 2013 to 2014, and a significant decline from 2014 to the 2015 school year.

Performance Levels of 11th grade students at RCHS on the US History EOC The majority of students are currently performing at the Beginning and Developing performance levels, earning only 0 and .5 CCRPI points respectively. This is one area of improvement that the social studies department as a whole needs to focus on.

Number of Students Taking the EOCs at RCHS (11th and 12th grade) The number of students taking the state end of course exam in US History at RCHS has increased significantly by almost 750 students. The number of sections and teachers of US History classes at RCHS has remained the same.

RCHS Student Performance on ECON EOC (12th Grade) This chart shows a decline in EOC scores from Year 2(2014) to Year 3 (2015) on the Economics EOC. Again, there was a change in assessment that was implemented in year 2015. The change was from the State ECON EOCT to the Georgia Milestone ECON EOC. RCHS student performance trends are consistent with that of both the state and the district scores. There is a slight increase in student performance across the board from 2013 to 2014, and a significant decline from 2014 to the 2015 school year.

Percentage of students at and above proficiency for school, district, and state ECON EOC   Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 School 73 79 47 District 77 46 State 80 82 58 % of students at and above proficiency for school, district, and state on the Georgia Milestone US History EOC   Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 School 65 74 60 District 73 75 59 State 62 This is the information presented in the two graphs in table form to have a better visual of the numbers. It helps to demonstrate the consistency with students at the district and state levels.

Student Achievement on the GA High School Writing Test (11th Grade) One area of strength for students at RCHS is in their performance on the Georgia High School Writing Test. However, this strength is not translating to student performance on the social studies EOCs, in particular the constructed response sections.

Lexile Scores (RCHS 11th Graders) As the new EOC format includes constructed response as well as the stimulus-based questioning format, one area of focus is on student Lexile scores. Increasing Lexile scores would not only help to improve student performance on both the ECON and US History EOCs, but will also impact the school’s CCRPI scores as a whole.

RCHS Student Population Years 1-3 (2013-2015) The student population at RCHS has remained fairly consistent over the course of the past three years. There has been a small increase in the number of African American students, which has gone up a total of 8%, and the Latino/a population has declined slightly by 4%.

RCHS Student Population over the last 3 years disaggregated by race/ethnicity This line graphs shows the three largest subgroups at RCHS. This graph clearly demonstrates that the population has remained fairly consistent over the course of the past three years. Any student-learning problem that can be identified is unlikely to be related to the school’s change in demographic make-up.

Free and Reduced Lunch Data (RCHS and Rockdale County) While the percentage of students receiving free and reduced lunch over the course of the past three years has not experienced a significant change, one major change has been in the school’s Title I status. Although the free and reduced lunch percentage has increased by about 2%, the school is no longer identified as a Title I school. The loss of state funding for Title I could be a contributing factor for student performance on EOCs at RCHS.

Student Attendance by Subgroup Student attendance is another are of improvement for RCHS. These graphs illustrate student attendance by subgroup over the course of the past three years. The first chart represents students who have missed six or more days of instruction. The second identifies the percentage of students by subgroup who have missed more than 15 days of instruction. For year 3 (2015), both the white and Latino/a groups had over 50% of their student population missing six or more days. While the Latino/a attendance appears to have improved in year three, it still has the highest percentage of its student population missing over 15 days. This loss of instructional time could be another contributing factor to student performance on the EOCs.

Questions What is surprising about the data? What inferences and explanations can we draw from the data sets? Do we have a system in place to provide students with extra help who may need it? Are we providing equitable access to the content across classrooms? How can we target students who are frequently absent to ensure they have access to the content? As a conclusion task, I will ask the Team to ponder these questions. Can they draw any inferences from the data?

Why? Why? Why? Inferences: The majority of our students are not performing at the Proficient and Exceeding performance levels. Why? In order to probe deeper into the student-learning problem, I will have the Team participate in the Why? Why? Why? Activity. This activity will help social studies teachers avoid placing blame on students for their performance on the EOCs, and instead help the focus on causes that are within their control to target.