What did they try?

Goucher College has two major goals for this project. The first goal is to prepare preservice teachers to use technology to interpret and analyze student, class, and school data to develop data-driven decisions. The strategies used to accomplish this goal include the following:

• Analyzing and upgrading all assessment courses and seminars that relate to Maryland Teacher Technology Standard (MTTS) IV. For example, an assessment example from ED 672 requires students to access the MSDE web site to analyze the MSA/AYP patterns for a specific school and respond to specific questions/tasks.
• Conducting an inventory of teacher candidate and assessment instructorsÕ proficiency with information technologies that are used to analyze problems and develop solutions and upgrade/assist those who have needs in that area.

The second goal is to prepare preservice teachers to design, deliver, and assess learning experiences that integrate technology, are data-driven, and are designed to improve student achievement. Strategies used to accomplish this goal included the following:

• Implementing MTTS V and conducting an inventory of teacher candidate and instructors' proficiency with MTTS V;
• Having interns develop and implement an instructional unit integrating technology and differentiation, and using readiness (pre), formative, and summative assessments;
• Having interns use Looking at Student Work procedures as one summative assessment technique;
• Supporting the PDS partners as they use technology tools to interpret and analyze the MSA data and other local assessments. The Assessment Specialist upgraded students' analyses of PDS data and assisted PDS leaders, teacher candidates, and SITs with the data.

What worked and why?

Goal 1

• Assessment courses and seminars have been upgraded and continue to be upgraded for data and new websites.
• Students' successful work products from courses are placed into their electronic portfolios.
• Assessment course allows students practice in analyzing PDS data.
• The MSDE web site is well done and students feel at ease navigating the site.

Goal 2

• 93% of students obtained a proficient score on a rubric to evaluate the unit and the assessment.
• Teacher candidates showed improvement on the Goucher College Intern Evaluation Instrument assessment items, technology, and differentiation from the January to May exit conference.
• Reflection upgrades to the units are placed in the electronic portfolio.
• Requiring teacher-made assessments that include readiness (pre), formative, and summative assessments is important because students often use county-wide assessments with no pre/post assessments.
• More experienced teachers also need and are using these assessments.
• Looking at Student Work provided new insights for students.
• The interpretation of the data by the Assessment Specialist helped each PDS better understand their own data more completely.

What didn't work and why?

Goal 1

• More use of Excel will occur in the next round.
• On their self-assessment, most students reported that they were advanced or proficient, but this was not always the case. Interns generally have proficiency with the personal use of technology but are limited in how to use technology with students.

Goal 2

• There needs to be more focus on formative assessments and Looking at Student Work because teachers have many misperceptions about the procedure and appear to be afraid to lead the technique with others.
• College faculty and supervisors are using technology more, but their ease in using it is limited.

What will they do next?

• Revise the general technology seminars in order to be able to "test out" students for particular modules.
• Put more emphasis on upgrading the skills of the faculty since there are a wide variety of skills among them.
• Provide the PDS more assistance with action research using data from SIT plans.