Access to STEM Edstar was hired to help a middle school write and implement a School Improvement Plan. We were to work with the school for two years. They had large achievement gaps between upper and lower-income and white and minority students. We created a school data profile for them so they could see the big picture of how services and opportunities aligned with academic data. Although the data showed many low achieving students were not in elective courses designed for giving additional support and many high achieving students were not in advanced courses, the first year, the only problem the staff recognized was that some Academically Gifted (AG) students had not been recommended for advanced math and English. They did not recognize as a problem the other high achieving students who were in standard or even remedial courses. Although the principal was a Black woman, she had adopted the Equity Lens of the school district, which was that low-income and minority students were academically at risk. So, it made sense that they were receiving the remedial services while upper income and White students were in more rigorous courses. Before the second year that we were working with the school, we learned about EVAAS, and how to use it. EVAAS is a predictive analytics data system that can be used to identify the academic preparedness of students, and identify those who are prepared for success in 8th grade algebra, the gateway to rigorous high school STEM courses. The assistant principal, a Black man, easily learned to work with data, and with the EVAAS system. He was able to identify over 100 students predicted to be successful in 8th grade algebra who were not recommended for it. The principal realized that although she had been overlooked for rigorous courses that she thought she would be successful in when she was in school, she had adopted the Equity Lens of the school system without realizing it. She took the top 50 of the 100 students who had been identified with data, and enrolled them into 8th grade algebra. The assistant principal worked with these students to help them prepare for the rigorous track. All of their parents were supportive, and the students were glad to be moved into this track. Which beliefs were influencing the principal's Equity Lens? Click to check your answer. B.1 Cause and Effect B.2 Expert vs. Evidence B.3 What At-Risk Means B.4 Desired Outcomes and Goals B.5 What is STEM and Why We Need to Fill STEM Pipeline Which skills were influencing their Equity Lens? Click to check your answer. S.1 Knowing What Can Be Known S.2 How to Identify Kids to Align Services S.3 How to Classify Things S.4 Working With Data S.5 Understanding Data Details S.6 Understanding Federal Data-Handling Laws BeliefsB.1 Cause and Effect The principal originally believed that to narrow their achievement gaps between White and minority, and low-and high-income students, they needed to provide remedial work in elective courses for even high achieving students. She thought by providing remedial work and enrolling these students in easy courses, their scores would go up. B.2 Expert vs. Evidence The first year they were using expert opinion about who should be in advanced math. The second year they used evidence-based data in the form of predictions made from previous math scores. B3. What At-Risk Means This principal's Equity Lens went from thinking low-income and minority students were academically at risk, to thinking students with low academic scores are academically at risk. B.4 Desired Outcomes and Goals Their goals and objectives remained the same. They wanted to raise the scores of the low-income and minority students. B.5 What is STEM and Why We Need to Fill STEM Pipeline Whether they thought of it this way or not, they were feeding these students into the STEM pipeline by giving them the opportunity to take 8th grade algebra. SkillsS.1 Knowing What Can Be Known The principal did not know that you could print lists of students who were likely to be successful in advanced math courses. Once the assistant principal learned to use EVAAS, this changed. S.2 How to Identify Kids to Align Services They thought low-income and minority students should be enrolled in the remedial electives, regardless of their academic scores. They were originally using teacher professional judgement to align services. They thought that the data needed to decide if anyone was overlooked for advanced placement was whether or not the student was labeled Gifted. S.3 How to Classify Things NA S.4 Skill Set Required for Working With Data Although the principal was not comfortable at first with working with technology and data, the assistant principal was. She knew to get help when she didn't have the skills to do the actual data manipulation. She did understand how to interpret it. S.5 Understanding Data Details NA S.6 Understanding Federal DATA-Handling Laws NA
