MOUNT VERNON — The Columbia staff met before the school year began to look at the details presented in the Ohio Achievement Test data. We worked on understanding where each of last year’s third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students placed on the various tests, making comparisons between the results and their classroom progress. We are looking at ways to improve the individualized instruction given to each student, based on the specific needs that they have.

One of our challenges is to learn more about the new value-added measure that has been implemented. This measure shows how important it is for us to look at each child on an individual basis, from the student receiving special education assistance to the child who has been identified as having superior cognitive abilities. It is our task to be sure that each of these children grow at least one year academically during each school year.

An interesting part of our “data day” in August was a time for kindergarten, first- and second-grade teachers to look at the released OAT questions for science and social studies. These fifth-grade assessments are ones in which we are continuing to make gains, but are sometimes not looked at as closely as reading and math. The teachers looked at how our K-2 program supports the learning at the upper grades of elementary school. They made specific plans for current classroom instruction to support the Academic Content Standards that the child encounters years after leaving their room.

Some changes that we have recently made at Columbia to support instruction: Tiffeny Miller will be an “Intermediate Literacy Teacher in Training.” Along with her responsibilities of being our building’s Reading Recovery teacher, she is teaching the language arts block (reading and writing) in Shelly Laslo’s fifth-grade classroom. Tiffeny is going through monthly training at the district level to support the instruction that she is providing in the classroom. Also, we have just purchased the use of a Web-based program, Study Island, which will complement classroom instruction in the areas tested through the OAT. Study Island will be used with third-, fourth- and fifth-graders, and because it is a Web-based program, students will be able to continue using it at home.