The Solution
All thirty-four K-2 classrooms at CPS began using Istation for reading and math practice for at least 15 minutes a day. By embedding the online learning program into their school’s curriculum, teachers could lean on Istation’s data to guide their instruction.
“The [Istation] data is valid and reliable,” Dixon said, “because students are testing every month on a program they are using every day. So if something isn’t right, you know what you need to work on immediately.”
She went on to say, “You can drill down to the subtest or even to a student’s specific profile to determine what’s impacting their performance on these assessments.” She gave this example: “If a student scores poorly on the reading assessment and has an IEP in speech, I can make the connection that they keep missing the sounds that they don’t have yet.”
The monthly formative assessment data got CPS teachers excited. The reports were easy to find and easy to use. Intervention lessons were available to download and provided great practice materials for small- and whole-group lessons.
Dixon noted one of the best parts of having such granular data was being able to plug students into intervention time called “What I Need (WIN) blocks.” During this time students spent 40 minutes daily on a specific skill needing the most improvement.
Plus, they were able to continually monitor progress between benchmarks which meant they always knew where student learning stood.
With this targeted approach, the school saw more significant gains.
