Running head: EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING

Evidence of Student Learning

Alexa DellaMonica

Towson University
EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 2

* Student and school names have been changed to maintain confidentiality.

Learning Context, Topic, and Objectives

This Evidence of Student Learning (ESL) was taught to a first grade class at Stevens

Forest Elementary School. Stevens Forest is a Howard County Public School located in

Columbia, MD. Stevens Forest is a Title I elementary school that serves a diverse group of

students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. There are 433 students that attend Stevens

Forest. Of these students, 35.8% are African American, 33.3% are Hispanic/Latino, 16.2% are

white, 9.2% are two or more races, 5.1% are Asian, 0.2% is American Indian, and 0.2% is

Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. There are a variety of students at Stevens Forest that receive

special services. This includes 67.3% students that receive free and reduced meals (FARMS),

12.6% that receive special education services, 21.9% that receive English for Speakers of Other

Languages (ESOL) services, and 91% of students that qualify for Title I services.

Stevens Forest is a departmentalized school, meaning that students have one teacher for

language arts and social studies instruction and another for math, science, and health instruction.

The class that participated in this ESL lesson was a first grade general education language arts

class. The class consists of seventeen students, of which eight are girls and nine are boys. None

of the students in this classroom have Individualized Education Plans (IEPs); however there is

one student with a 504 Plan for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and

Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). In this class there are also two students that receive ESOL

services.

The goal of this ESL was to teach students how to write a comprehensive book review.

The book review will consist of three parts: summary, opinion, and recommendation. The

lessons were aligned with four Maryland College and Career Ready Standards (MCCRS) that
EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 3

include Writing.1.1: Write opinion pieces in which they include the topic or name of the book

they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense

of closure; Writing.5: With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to

questions and suggestions from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed;

Language.1.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and

usage when writing or speaking; and Language.1.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of

standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Each of these MCCRS standards has a unique set of Essential Skills and Knowledge

standards that they are aligned with. The Essential Skills and Knowledge standards aligned with

W.1.1 include apply the prewriting and planning stages of the writing process; develop a simple

sentence that states the topic and gives an opinion; identify facts and opinions; provide a reason

to support an opinion; draft a simple sentence or sentences to support an opinion and reason; and

produce writing that is legible, including correct formation of manuscript letters.

The Essential Skills and Knowledge standards aligned with W.5 include follow agreed

upon rules for discussions as well as ask and answer questions about key details in a text or read

aloud or information presented orally or through other media.

The Essential Skills and Knowledge standards aligned with L.1.1 include print in all

upper and lowercase letters; use common, proper, and possessive nouns; use singular and plural

nouns with matching verbs in basic sentences; use personal; possessive, and indefinite pronouns;

use verbs to convey a sense of past, present, and future; use frequently occurring adjectives; use

determiners; use frequently occurring prepositions; and produce and expand complete simple and

compound declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences in response to

prompts.
EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 4

The Essential Skills and Knowledge standards aligned with L.1.2 include capitalize dates

and names of people; use end punctuation for sentences; use commas in dates and to separate

single words in a series; use conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns and

for frequently occurring irregular words; and spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on

phonemic awareness and spelling conventions.

Throughout this six-week ESL, students will be taught how to write a comprehensive

book review. There were five specific learning objectives created for this series of lessons. The

first four weeks of the ESL was spent teaching the students how to write a summary. The

objectives related to summary included: I can identify events from the beginning of the story; I

can identify events from the middle of the story; and I can compose a question about the

problem in the story. The fifth week was spent teaching students how to write their opinion of

the story. The objective related to writing their opinion was I can express my opinion of a

familiar story and provide a supporting reason. The sixth and final week of the ESL was spent

teaching students how to write a recommendation. The objective related to writing a

recommendation was I can recommend a familiar story and provide reasons to support my

recommendation. By mastering these individual lesson objectives, students will ultimately be

able to independently write a comprehensive book review during the summative assessment.

Throughout the ESL students will have read a variety of Jan Brett books. During the

summative assessment, each student will have the opportunity to pick their favorite Jan Brett

book to read once again and then independently compose a book review, which should include a

summary, opinion, and recommendation of the story.

EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 5

Assessment Plan

Prior to teaching students the components of a comprehensive book review, they

completed pre-assessment in order to gauge their prior knowledge and learning needs. During the

pre-assessment, I read Goodnight Grizzle Grump to the class. During the read aloud we

discussed how Grizzle Grump was feeling during the different events of the story. I also

prompted to students to discuss whether or not they liked the story and why. We also discussed

what happened during the beginning, middle, and end of the story after reading. Students shared

thoughts and ideas through whole group responses, turn and talks, and small group discussion.

After taking time to discuss the story, I prompted students that they would be writing a book

review of the Goodnight Grizzle Grump. I told students to simply try their best and write what

they think a book review should include. After writing, I explained to students that over the

course of the next six weeks I would teach them the components of a book review and they

would learn how to write one independently.

These pre-assessments were graded based on the Howard County elementary standards

for opinion writing. These writing standards are aligned with MCCRS standards W.1, L.1, and

L.2. This grading scale covers three categories: focus and organization, support and evidence,

and language. Students meet expectations by earning a three in each category, for a total of nine

points. If student work exceeds expectations, they have the opportunity to earn twelve points.

Writing that meets the expectation for first grade includes introducing the book and stating a

clear opinion with some sense of closure (W.1); supplying a reason to support the opinion (W.1);

and demonstrating grade level appropriate conventions of grammar, punctuation, capitalization,

and spelling with minor errors that do not interfere with readability (L.1.1 and L.1.2).
EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 6

This ESL took place over the course of six weeks. Over those six weeks, four weeks were

spent teaching students how to write a summary, one week was spent teaching students how to

write an opinion, and one week was spent teaching students how to write a recommendation.

During the lessons on summary, a variety of formative assessment strategies were used in

order to gauge where students are in their progression of understanding and composing

summaries. During the first week of lessons on summary, students worked on orally identifying

the components of a summary that I had written after a Jan Brett read aloud. The formative

assessments during this first week of instruction were informal and served as an introduction to

the lessons to come on book review.

During the second week of summary instruction, I incorporated a variety of formative

assessments in order to gauge whether or not the students understood the concepts of composing

a summary as well as those students that were going to need additional support prior to working

on summaries independently. During these lessons, after a Jan Brett read aloud, students were

given index cards labeled beginning, middle, and question, and worked with a partner to identify

these components of a summary. While working with a partner, students had the option to

compose pictures or words to convey the events of the beginning and middle of the story as well

as a question about the problem. While the students were working with a partner, I checked in

with each pair to ensure that they understood these components of the story and that they were

able to translate the events of the story into a logical summary. After pairs had sufficient time to

converse about the story and create a representation of their summary, they had the opportunity

to share their ideas with the whole group. While sharing, students also received peer feedback.

Both the partner work and whole group sharing served as a formative assessment of students

abilities to begin working toward independence when composing summaries.

EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 7

During the third and fourth weeks working on summary, students had time to discuss the

beginning, middle, and a question with a partner before they began writing summaries

independently in their writing journals. During these lessons, the summaries that they wrote

served as formative assessment. Students had time to write their summaries during whole group

instruction. Later in the class period as students began working through their Daily Five

schedule, students brought their writing journals to the teacher table to receive individual

feedback and differentiated instruction based on the needs of their writing. During check-ins,

some students were prompted to add more details to their writing while others received feedback

related to enhancing the question at the end of their summary. This time also served as a guided

writing opportunity where I prompted students to ensure that they were starting sentences with

capital letters, using lowercase letters throughout their sentences, ending with punctuation, and

using proper verb tenses and endings.

In the fifth week of book review instruction when students were taught how to write their

opinion, students had time to discuss their opinions with a peer before they began writing

independently. While students turned and talked with a partner about their opinion of the story, I

checked in with pairs to ensure that students were supporting their opinions with reasoning from

the story. Students then had time to write both a summary and opinion of that days read aloud.

Their writing served as a formative assessment and helped me in planning the next days lesson

extension on writing opinions. For example, after the first day where students began writing their

opinion, many students were not including a reason why they liked or disliked the story. The

next day I provided students with more direct instruction and a sentence starter before they began

writing independently.
EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 8

During the last week of instruction, students were introduced to writing a

recommendation. While teaching these lessons, I formatively assessed students during whole

group instruction by providing them with a recommendation sentence starter and then having

students finish the sentence orally. Many students had the opportunity to share ideas and

recommendations before independent writing. The recommendations that they wrote in their

journals during these lessons also served as a formative assessment of their recommendation

writing abilities and needs.

At the conclusion of the ESL, students completed a post-assessment summative

assessment of their ability to write a comprehensive book review. This post-assessment was

introduced to students as the last day of working on book reviews. During this lesson, students

had the option to reread their favorite Jan Brett book from the unit. After rereading the story,

students then independently wrote a book review without any further prompting. These post-

assessments were graded and assessed according to the same Howard County elementary writing

standards as the pre-assessment.

Instruction

During each individual lesson of this ESL, students were introduced to the lesson

objectives prior to instruction. Before each day of book review instruction, I explained to

students that we were going to be learning how to compose a summary by writing the lesson

objective on the board for students to read and reference throughout the lesson. During the

lessons on summary, the objective was I can identify the beginning and middle of the story and

compose a question about the problem. On the first day of summary instruction, I reviewed the

meaning of identify and compose with students. During the following lessons, we reviewed that

we were going to continue to practice writing summaries and the same lesson objective was
EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 9

displayed. The lessons on opinion and recommendation followed the same structure. The

objective for lessons on opinion was I can express my opinion of the story and support it with

reasons. The objective for lessons on recommendation was I can recommend the story and

provide a reason to support my recommendation. Prior to instruction each day, I also reviewed

the expectations of first grade writing with students. This included prompting students to share

what parts of a sentence get capital and lowercase letters, where and how often to use

punctuation, and the expectation to sound out unfamiliar words. These lesson objectives aligned

with the MCCRS standards associated with this lesson: W.1, W.5, L.1.1, and L.1.2, which

reference writing an opinion with support reasoning; focusing on a topic and responding to

suggestion; and demonstrating command of standard English grammar, capitalization,

punctuation, and spelling. Because there are no students in the class with IEP goals, these

objectives were the set of expectations for all students, with some differentiation planned for the

student with a 504 Plan and the two students who receive ESOL services. During all lessons, I

followed the recommendations of the 504 Plan, which included a quiet, distraction-free

environment, preferential seating, manipulation of materials and movement breaks, and breaking

assignments into smaller segments. The two students who receive ESOL services were provided

with supports from their ESOL teacher during independent writing as well as general classroom

supports such as simplifying vocabulary, listing keywords on the board for students to reference

while writing, and modeling writing expectations.

Prior to beginning instruction, I reviewed the pre-assessment data in order to gauge

students prior knowledge of book reviews. I concluded that all students would benefit from

tiered instruction on all three components of a book review, which is why I planned a unit that

broke down each component of a book review throughout the six-week period.
EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 10

On the first day of book review instruction, I explained to students that we would start

learning how to write book reviews independently and that throughout this process we would be

reading a variety of Jan Brett books. Students were excited to learn more about book reviews and

begin writing on their own. Each day the students enthusiastically awaited the next Jan Brett

book that we would read and reference for book review instruction. Reading and referencing

books from a familiar author throughout the unit provided students with an element of

consistency and expertise that enhanced their writing.

The first four weeks of the ESL were spent teaching the same content related to writing

summaries. When it was time to move on to opinion writing, and later recommendation writing, I

explained to students that it was time to learn the next parts of a book review. By this time,

students felt comfortable enough with the familiar piece to move on and learn the next

component.

Each time I began introducing a new component of book review to the class, I made sure

to model the new skill before students began practicing on their own. The entire first week of

summary instruction was spent modeling how to write a summary and ensure that all

components of a summary were included. I did this by reviewing the components of a summary

each day, then writing a summary of the days story for students to critique and deconstruct. The

same structure was followed when introducing students to writing an opinion and

recommendation. Once students were able to deconstruct the modeled summary with little

prompting, they were engaged in guided practices including partner work, turn and talks, and

provided with both peer and teacher feedback before they began writing independently.

Throughout the course of this six-week unit, a variety of formative assessment strategies

were incorporated in order to check students understanding and plan for future lessons. Based
EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 11

upon students peer conversations, whole group responses, and writing samples, I planned

instruction for the following day that reflected the needs students displayed the prior day. For

example, on a day that I noticed many students were struggling to compose a question related to

the problem of the story, the next day I introduced students to strategies such as identifying and

discussing the problem prior to creating a question. In addition, students were provided with

some individualized support and instruction based on their specific needs. This individualized

instruction was combined with guided writing instruction during Daily Five rotations. During

guided writing instruction, each student had the opportunity to bring that days writing sample to

the teacher table for individualized critique and feedback.

At the conclusion of each class period, the students and I reviewed the important points

of that days lesson. This review was structured in a variety of ways, however each day students

were prompted with an opportunity to share both something they learned from that days

instruction and a component they composed. For example, during lessons on summary students

shared about the beginning, middle, and problem of the story as well as the question they

composed. During lessons about opinion and recommendation, students shared these pieces of

their writing along with supporting reasons. This closure provided students with a book review

takeaway to reflect on before continuing instruction the following day. While students were

sharing, I was also able to note how well students were able to justify their writing and assess

their understanding thus far.

Analysis and Instructional Decision-Making

During both the pre-assessment and post-assessment, students work samples were

evaluated based on the Howard County writing criteria standards. As previously stated, these

standards are aligned with the MCCRS standards for writing included in this unit. In order to
EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 12

determine each students level of proficiency in meeting the standards, a writing rubric was used

to compare student work to the expected standards. The rubric was broken down into three

sections that included focus and organization, support and evidence, and language. A book

review that met expectations in all three sections scored a total of nine possible points.

In order to meet the expectation of focus and organization, students had to introduce the

book and state a clear opinion as well as provide some sense of closure; these were scored as a

3/3 in the section of focus and organization. A book review that was considered progressing

toward expectations in the area of focus and organization introduced the book and stated and

unclear opinion as well as an attempt of closure; these were scored as a 2/3. A book review that

did not meet the expectation did not introduce the book or was missing and opinion or sense of

closure; these were scored as either 1/3 or 0/3. A book review was considered to exceed

expectations if it introduced the book and stated a strong opinion and concluding statement as

well as included linking words to connect the opinion and reasons; these were scored as 4/3.

Book reviews that met the expectation of support and evidence supplied a reason to

support the opinion were scored as 3/3. Book reviews that were considered progressing toward

the expectation supplied a reason that did not support the opinion; these were scored 2/3. A book

review that did not meet the expectation did not supply a reason; these were scored either 1/3 or

0/3. A book review that exceeded the expectation of support and evidence supplied multiple

reasons to support the opinion; these were scored 4/3.

A book review that met the expectations of language demonstrated grade level

appropriate conventions of grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling with minor errors

that did not interfere with readability; these were scored 3/3. Book reviews that were considered

progressing toward the expectation of language demonstrated some grade level appropriate
EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 13

conventions with errors that interfered with readability; these were scored as 2/3. A book review

that did not meet the language expectation demonstrated a limited understanding of grade level

appropriate conventions and contained errors that interfered with readability; these were scored

as either 1/3 or 0/3. Books reviews that exceed the language expectations demonstrated creativity

and flexibility when using language conventions; these were scored as 4/3.

Below is a table containing each students pre-assessment raw score, pre-assessment

percentage, post-assessment raw score, post-assessment percentage, and the percentage of

change. The percentage of change reflects each students growth throughout the ESL unit. The

pre-assessment and post-assessment raw scores contain both a total raw score and breakdown of

the raw score in each of three categories: focus and organization, support and evidence, and

language.

Student Pre-Assess Pre-Assess Post-Assess Post-Assess Percent of

Raw Score Percentage Raw Score Percentage Change

Student A 2/9 (1, 0, 1) 22% 7/9 (3, 2, 2) 77% +55%

Student B 1/9 (1, 0, 0) 11% 9/9 (3, 3, 3) 100% +89%

Student C 2/9 (1, 0, 1) 22% 8/9 (3, 3, 2) 88% +66%

EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 14

Student D 2/9 (1, 0, 1) 22% 7/9 (3, 3, 1) 77% +55%

Student E 2/9 (1, 0, 1) 22% 6/9 (3, 2, 1) 66% +44%

Student F 2/9 (1, 0, 1) 22% 8/9 (3, 2, 3) 88% +66%

Student G 2/9 (1, 0, 1) 22% 9/9 (3, 4, 2) 100% +72%

Student H 2/9 (1, 0, 1) 22% 7/9 (3, 3, 1) 77% +55%

Student I 1/9 (0, 0, 1) 11% 6/9 (3, 2, 1) 66% +55%

Student J 1/9 (0, 0, 1) 11% 8/9 (3, 2, 3) 88% +77%

Student K 2/9 (1, 0, 1) 22% 7/9 (2, 2, 2) 77% +55%

EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 15

Student L 3/9 (1, 0, 2) 33% 7/9 (3, 3, 1) 77% +44%

Student M 1/9 (1, 0, 0) 11% 8/9 (3, 3, 2) 88% +77%

Student N 3/9 (1, 0, 2) 33% 9/9 (3, 3, 3) 100% +67%

Student O 2/9 (1, 0, 1) 22% 7/9 (3, 3, 1) 77% +55%

Student P 2/9 (1, 0, 1) 22% 5/9 (2, 2, 1) 55% +33%

Student Q 2/9 (1, 0, 1) 22% 5/9 (2, 2, 1) 55% +33%

The data included in this table was then converted into two graphs. The first graph

compares each students pre-assessment raw score to their post-assessment raw score. Students

with a post-assessment raw score of seven or above were considered to have either mastered or

are progressing towards mastery of the lesson objectives. These students were considered to be
EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 16

proficient in writing a comprehensive book review. On the graph below, the black line running

through the graph symbolizes the proficiency cutoff line.

Raw Scores
10

8
Raw Score

4 Pre-assesment
Post-assessment
2

0
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q
Student

The goal of any lesson or unit is for all students to attain proficiency of the objectives

when completing the post-assessment. Of the seventeen students in the class, there were four

students that did not demonstrate mastery of the ESL objectives. Because there were five

students that did not demonstrate mastery, it was determined that these students may have

required additional instruction, interventions, and assessment. The students that did not

demonstrate mastery were students E, I, P, and Q.

The breakdown of Student Es post-assessment raw score included 3/3 in focus and

organization, 2/3 in support and evidence, and 1/3 in language. For this student, I would provide

more direct and individualized instruction related to appropriate writing conventions, including

grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. With this additional support and practice, I

anticipate that Student E would have scored higher in the area of language, leaving his total raw

score within the range of mastery.

EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 17

Student Is post-assessment was broken down into 3/3 in focus and organization, 2/3 in

support and evidence, and 1/3 in language. Similarly to Student E, I would focus heavily on

individualized instruction related to appropriate writing conventions in order to aid this student

in reaching mastery of the skills necessary for proficiency.

Both Student P and Qs post-assessments consisted of 2/3 in focus and organization, 2/3

in support and evidence, and 1/3 in language. For these students, I would implement a greater

individualized focus on opinion writing and incorporating supporting reason and evidence as

well as additional support in conventions of writing.

The pie chart below visually represents the 76% of students that demonstrated mastery or

are progressing toward mastery of the ESL objectives as well as the 24% of students that did not

demonstrate mastery of the objectives.

Percent of Students that

Demonstrated Mastery of Objectives

Students that demonstrated

mastery or are progressing
toward mastery
Students that did not
demonstrate mastery

Although 24% of students did not demonstrate mastery of the objectives during the post-

assessment, all students exhibited growth in progressing toward the ESL goal. Below is a graph

that reflects the percentage of change between each students pre-assessment and post-
EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 18

assessment scores. The graph shows that each students ability to write a comprehensive book

review grew by at least of 33% throughout the ESL instruction.

Percent of Change
100%
Percentage of Change

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q
Student

Reflection and Self-Evaluation

Overall the instructional strategies and interventions utilized throughout this ESL were

effective in teaching students how to compose a comprehensive book review. 76% of students in

the class demonstrated proficiency or close thereof. Although the goal of every teacher is to

provide instruction that allows all students to reach proficiency, instructing 76% of the class

toward the goal is significant.

Although there were four students that did not attain overall proficiency, all students

scored either a two or three in the areas of focus and organization as well as support and

evidence, which were the content pieces of this ESL. In other words, the content instruction

influenced student learning such that all students either met the expectation or were determined

to be progressing toward the expectation in focus and organization as well as support and

evidence.
EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 19

Based on the data collected throughout this ESL, during a future unit on book review

instruction I would make sure to provide students with more direct instruction related to

conventions of writing. It is developmentally appropriate for first grade students to make minor

errors related to grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling, however these errors should

not interfere with readability. Readability refers to the quality of legibility and decipherability.

Direct instruction and practice related to the conventions of writing would likely combat many of

these errors in legibility and decipherability.

In order to make these changes in the future, I would be sure to collaborate with other

school based professionals. The reading specialist teacher (RST) would be an excellent resource

in helping students to improve their conventions of writing. Collaborating and co-teaching

lessons on writing conventions may have been the difference between whole class mastery and

76% mastery of objectives.

Additionally, in the future I would also collaborate more with other language arts

teachers in order to determine a larger variety of ways to instruct and engage students in the

learning. By increasing student engagement, it is likely that students would feel a larger

commitment to the assignment and therefore lead to a higher rate of student proficiency.

Based on both the data collected throughout this ESL as well as my experiences teaching

and reflecting on this unit, I have created two professional learning goals for myself as a future

teacher, which align with the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Preparation Standards.

CEC Standard 5 discusses instructional and planning and strategies. This standard states that

beginning special education professionals select, adapt, and use a repertoire of evidence-based

instructional strategies to advance learning of individuals with exceptionalities. Based on this

standard, my first goal is to utilize and incorporate a wider variety of instructional strategies and
EVIDENCE OF STUDENT LEARNING 20

evidence-based practices in all lessons in order to assist all students in mastering unit goals,

especially those with exceptionalities.

Furthermore, CEC Standard 7 discusses the importance of collaboration. This standard

states that beginning special education professionals collaborate with families, other educators,

related service providers, individuals with exceptionalities, and personnel from community

agencies in culturally responsive ways to address the needs of individuals with exceptionalities

across a range of learning experiences. Based on this standard, my second goal is to increase my

collaboration initiative with other educational professionals and resources. All school and

neighborhood communities are full of professionals, experts, and resources that may aid in

enhancing the educational experience for students. It is my hope that as I progress as a future

teacher, I utilize these resources more regularly in order to enhance the learning experiences of

all students in my classes, regardless of ability or exceptionality.