1. Target Population Selection PACE High School Christopher Chopp Abigail Stolz Monks Kathryn Smoot

2. School Wide Focus School Wide Focus: There is a lower percentage of students that passed the USH regents than any other required regents in our school.

3. School Wide focus: Evidence Collected Regents ExamAverage % pass rate Cohorts: graduation year U.S. History73%2008, 2009, 2010 Global History87%2008 English98%2008 Living Environment 81%2008, 2009, 2010 Math A91%2008, 2009

4. School Wide Focus: Description of Evidence Analysis

5. School Wide Focus: Strengths and Weakness Strengths: Over the past three years, three different teachers have taught the US History regents course. We consider this positive because it confirms that scores are based on students’ skills, not the quality, or type of teaching.

6. School Wide Focus: Strengths and Weakness Weaknesses: One major weakness of our data is the fact that no teacher has taught the US History regents course for more than one year. Year oneYear two Year three

7. School Wide focus: Conclusions We concluded that our ninth grade students are coming into high school unprepared to take the USH regents examination.

8. Target Population Students who failed the U.S. History Regents exam and scored a 2 or lower on the 8th grade ELA exam.

9. Target Population: Evidence Collected 8th grade ELA scores –All scored 2 or lower. US History Regents exams History Department Teacher Survey

10. Target Population: Description of Evidence Analysis Our data analysis finds that our school has 51 students that haven’t passed the U.S. History regents yet. We whittled that number down to a target population of 26 students by eliminating 25 students that were SPED, ELL, or transfer students that never took a U.S. History class or exam.

11. Target Population: Description of Evidence Analysis History content teachers confirmed through surveys that reading and writing are skills needed to pass the US History Regents. Based on this we concluded that ELA is the main factor in passing the US History regents exam

12. Target Population: Description of Evidence Analysis

13. Target Population: Strengths and Weakness Strengths: We independently gave a survey to all four members of the PACE High School history department. Reading and writing was rated of moderate to great importance by each teacher. Other skills were rated of little to no importance..

14. Target Population: Conclusions Conclusions: Our students that are weak on the 8th grade ELA tests also do poorly on the language-intensive U.S. History regents.

15. Skill: Reading

16. Skill (reading): Evidence Collected Scantron Non-fiction reading test Scantron Vocabulary test US History Regents exam task analysis (multiple choice, document-based short answer questions, document-based essay, thematic essay) US History Regents Exam Essay Rubric History Department teacher survey

17. Skill (reading): Description of Evidence Analysis TaskStudent Score Multiple Choice38% Document Based Question Short answer 80% First Essay2/5 Second Essay2/5 By looking at the scores, we noticed that students performed the lowest on the multiple choice which is reading intensive.

18. Skill (reading): Description of Evidence Analysis

20. TaskStudent Score Scantron non-fiction reading comprehension assessment 66% Scantron vocabulary assessment 61% This confirmed that the students were below grade level in reading. Scantron assessment Ninth grade level

21. Skill (reading): Strengths and Weakness Strengths: According to Active Literacy Across the Curriculum by Heidi Hayes Jacobs, 35-40% of test errors are reading errors. This statistic reinforces our evidence. All of our data consistently points to reading as the skill that students are lacking and most need for the US History regents exam.

22. Skill (reading): Conclusions Our target population is below grade level in reading, which is negatively affecting their U.S. History regents scores.

23. Sub-Skill : Comprehension focused on vocabulary

24. Sub-Skill: Evidence Collected

25. TaskStudent Score Context of Word Meaning97% Anonyms58% Analogies57% Homonyms61% Sentence Completion44% Synonyms50% Multiple Meaning Words67% Synonyms in Isolation57% Homophones63% Total61%

26. Sub-Skill: Evidence Collected TaskStudent Score Nonfiction63%

27. Sub-Skill: Description of Evidence Analysis TaskStudent Score Multiple Choice38% Document Based Question Short answer 80% First Essay2/5 Second Essay2/5

28. Sub-Skill: Description of Evidence Analysis In a document-based essay question from the June 2007 regents we counted 14 high-frequency vocabulary words. These are terms that students encounter across the curriculum. We also counted four specialized terms, or terms that were specific to the study of history.

29. Sub-Skill: Strengths and Weakness Score of 3 Addresses all aspects of the task in a limited way by providing few details to compare and contrast the effect of geographic factors on the political and economic development of Great Britain and Japan or addresses most aspects of the task fully Incorporates some information from some of the documents Incorporates little or no relevant outside information Includes some facts, examples, and details, but the discussion is mostly descriptive Is a satisfactorily developed essay, demonstrating a general plan of organization Introduces the theme of the effect of geographic factors by repeating the historical context and concludes by simply repeating the theme Score of 2 Attempts to address some aspects of the task Makes limited use of the documents or may only restate the contents of the documents Presents no relevant outside information Includes few facts, examples, and details and may contain some inaccuracies Is a poorly organized essay, lacking focus; may contain digressions or extraneous information May lack an introduction and/or a conclusion or these elements may not refer to the theme

30. Sub-Skill: Strengths and Weakness Both student and teacher surveys support our results by indicating that vocabulary was of high importance in taking the exam.

31. Sub-Skill: Conclusions Our target population needs to strengthen their high-frequency and specialized vocabulary skills.

32. Learning Target:

33. Learning Target: Students need to Learn study strategies for vocabulary –Teachers should continually expose students to high frequency words throughout the curriculum and throughout the school year –Study strategies for specialized terms –Test taking strategies focusing on vocabulary

34. Learning Target: Students need to Learn to decipher vocabulary within the context of essay questions and how to apply them to essay responses –Teacher modeled essay writing –Analyzing essay responses –Continual exposure to regents style essay prompts

35. Learning Target: