Response to Intervention Strategies with Study Island

The Study Island Kentucky Core Content Standards Mastery program offers a variety of real-time reports. Each comprehensive report offered can be customized to your specific needs. Study Island can generate reports by student, subject, class, grade and school. Study Island’s detailed diagnostic reports can provide valuable longitudinal data to track students from year to year and school to school.


Tier I: Screening & Group Interventions

Study Island collects progress monitoring data reflected in real-time reports to quickly display achievement areas where students are succeeding or falling behind. Study Island’s “Comparison Report” shows the targeted student’s progressive performance against their school grade level, and the other Study Island students in Kentucky at the same grade level.

Tier II: Targeted Interventions

Study Island teachers can easily match instructional content to any student’s most adaptive learning mode. Students can accomplish work in electronic multiple choice or one of 11 game formats. Kentucky teachers use Study Island in small group instruction online or utilize the printable worksheet, both designed to offer differentiated instruction for struggling students, while teachers provide regular, corrective feedback. Kinesthetic students can interactively become proficient and master standards using Study Island on Smartboards. The teacher projects Study Island on the smartboard for all to view and allows students to take turns coming up to the board and physically touching the answer choices.

Tier III – Monitor Progress More Frequently

Study Island reporting tools allow teachers to narrow the focus on specific skill deficiencies. The Study Island “Individual Student Report” displays real-time data reflecting a student’s strengths and weaknesses. Teachers can easily pre-set report updates for recurring e-mail delivery to themselves, their administrators, or even a student’s parents in order to continually track student progress towards AYP goals.

Study Island’s “Suggested Topics” option categorizes a student’s work into priority tiers according to their weaknesses and strengths and allows teachers to differentiate instruction by efficiently developing a more targeted and individualized interventional instructional path.

Tier III – Progress Monitor More Frequently (Continued)

Study Island helps with remediation 3 ways. The automatic, self-leveling building block question process allows students to gain proficiency at lower levels and work their way back up to grade level. Teachers can also adjust passing parameters or force students into alternative grade-level work without anyone being able to detect the changes.

New Study Island Application

A Belated Earth Week Idea:

**Go Green- We all know there is a big push on “going green” and cleaning up the environment. Study Island fits this initiative by providing web-based learning. If you are in a state that is pushing for “less paper” then by all means talk about us being clean and on the Web. No books, no paper, no disks, no fuss!

"Students Use Study Island to Help with Studies"

By Alene HillCorrespondentWednesday, March 5, 2008 9:52 AM CST
When Heather Muench, a sixth-grade student at Dorris Intermediate School, needed extra help with math, she turned to a new tool in district teachers’ arsenals for assistance.“I was having trouble with exponents, so I went over it on Study Island, and I got it,” she said, pointing out that the software also helps with reading.Another sixth-grader, Brandon Belobraydic, pointed out that games on the software — especially a skateboard game — made the lessons more enjoyable. “You can get bored just taking tests,” he said. “But with the skateboard game, when you choose an answer, you can use the arrows to do tricks.”Sixth-grader Christina Holland said the test helped her by making the “ISAT tests easier – especially with vocabulary words.”Students aren’t the only ones testifying to the help they receive from new innovative software programs being used to target areas where they need assistance, review previous classroom material and even work ahead to more challenging material.

Brad Snow, a fourth-grade teacher at Jefferson School, said the programs are an excellent tool that help tailor assistance to “each student’s individual needs.”

With Study Island, math and reading skills are broken down into different areas and when a student answers a certain number of questions correctly they get to move on and they incorporate games to keep it fun.”

“(Study Island) can also be used at home,” he said. “Students can use their passwords and user names and the program keeps track of their work. It can help parents see they are having trouble with a particular area — everyone is on the same page.”

Ms. Holland goes on to say, “I know by looking who is having trouble and where exactly they need help,” she said. “The reports for teachers are tremendous.”Lessons for each grade, she said, are also linked to state standards for reading and math skills.

“Teachers can review immediate results from the tests and then determine areas of concentration for instruction,” she said.The program also provides practice material for problem areas and teachers can print out and send home individual reports for parents.

Study Island is used in the district’s second- through sixth-grade classrooms and is also aligned to Illinois State Standards, she said, and “is an invaluable program for parents looking for reinforcement and practice material to help their sons or daughters increase their academic achievement at home.”

Some schools, such as DIS, have incorporated Study Island events to encourage participation.DIS principal John Griffith said the school had scheduled a luau, an event with a Hawaiian theme, during lunch period on March 31.“The students receive blue ribbons when they meet certain criteria with Study Island,” he said. “Some students have earned their grade level and above and we have the ‘Top Ten Island Surfers’ – the top in each grade and the top in the school.”But for Griffith, who began teaching 17 years ago, the program is a breakthrough.“I couldn’t have fathomed then using tools like this for teaching and kids having fun learning,” he said.The board has supported extending the subscription for the program for next year, she said.Parents wanting more information on Study Island can contact their children’s teacher or school.

Study Island Success Story from a 5th grader!

Study Island is paradise for Swansea fifth-grader
The Herald News, 207 Pocasset Street, Fall River, Massachusetts 02722
http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x688584259

Swansea -
Joseph G. Luther Elementary School fifth-grader Jenna Demoranville had a story to tell, and the School Committee was all ears Monday night.After all, it’s not every day the committee is treated to a success story about a new curriculum. And it's even rarer to hear a student deliver the testimonial herself.Two years ago, as a struggling third-grader, Demoranville was placed into the "at risk" category for math.“Math was never an easy subject for me. I was constantly frustrated,” Demoranville told the School Committee.As Demoranville struggled, the district began implementing Study Island, a Web-based program aimed at helping third- through fifth-graders. The program helped students practice for MCAS-related curriculum, using fun exercises and games to make the learning experience more interactive and enjoyable.Demoranville began visiting Study Island weekly. Eventually, she was using the program in class, at home and even on vacations.“It allows me to see practice questions that I would see on the MCAS exam,” Demoranville said. “Study Island makes me feel more comfortable, and it's something I use at home, where I can read lessons before I take a test. My mother also helps me, which allows me to spend time with her and learn at the same time.”On a recent family trip to Mexico, Demoranville took off with her father’s laptop and linked up to the hotel’s computer in order to keep practicing on Study Island. She did the same thing throughout the summer, and the results were obvious.“I am a fifth-grader now and for the first time, I am no longer in 'at risk' math,” Demoranville said. “Study Island has made me more comfortable at answering questions in the classroom. I finally achieved a goal I never thought was possible and I thank Study Island for that.”School Committee Vice Chairman Debra Martelly thanked Demoranville for her presentation and congratulated her on her progress.“We don’t see a lot of this,” Martelly said. “We set policy but we never see how those decisions are affected.”Assistant Superintendent Christine Stanton said Demoranville and Susan Short, computer specialist for Luther and Brown schools, have entered her testimony into a contest asking for Study Island success stories. The winner will receive a $1,000 scholarship and earn a free Study Island subscription for the district.“Jenna, you are just outstanding, and the junior high can’t wait to get you next year,” Stanton said.E-mail Jay Pateakos at jpateakos@heraldnews.com.

Did you know that one of the BIGGEST PAYOFF instructional strategies in terms of improving student achievement is the use of DESCRIPTIVE FEEDBACK?

Studies show that when used consistently, feedback can make a difference of approx. 30%iles (compared to classrooms NOT using this strategy) [Marzano, 2007].


Definition: providing descriptive feedback means communicating to students where they are doing well and where they need improvement.

Why Descriptive Feedback?
• The purpose of descriptive feedback is to provide opportunities for the learner to make adjustments and improvements toward mastery of a specified standard.

Key Implication for Instruction and Assessment:
Students must be given the opportunity to apply the feedback by trying again

Want to learn more about this strategy?
Read Feedback: How Learning Occurs by Grant Wiggins for an excellent introduction! [http://www.authenticeducation.org/bigideas/article.lasso?artId=61 ]
(The quotes below come from Wiggins' article.)

Study Island helps students receive descriptive feedback by:
1) Providing detailed explanations for all questions that show not only the answer but also, how to reason and think in order to find the answer; this “provides for opportunities for the learner to make adjustments and improvements toward mastery of a specified standard” and “comes from the activity itself.” Study Island allows students to “receive feedback from the performance itself” then provides “other timely chances to act on the feedback.”

2) Allowing students to go through missed questions at the end of a session and after they have checked out the explanations; this gives students “the opportunity to apply the feedback by trying again.” This unique Study Island feature provides “the attempts and adjustments by the learner to perform that cause accomplishment.”

3) Providing teachers the opportunity to drill down in student assignments to view the questions they missed with the further opportunity to then bring students up individually or in small groups to provide feedback and another chance at answering the questions; this provides the opportunity for teachers “to provide specific and useful information that students need in order to master worthy performances.” Study Island provides reports that yield a prioritized ranking of where each individual student stands in their mastery of the standards for which they will be assessed this year; this precise reporting allows teachers to “provide for individual, targeted, specific feedback to each student” and to provide for differentiated instruction.

4) Keeping students (and teachers) focused on their required standards by posting and linking all question topics directly to Kentucky Core Content standards; this provides students and teachers exact wording to “describe what the learner did and did not do in relation to her goals”; this “is actionable information, and it empowers the student to make intelligent adjustments”.

5) Immediately displaying the student score, both current session and previous sessions on the same topic; and displaying an overall scorecard after each session to provide immediate feedback to let a student determine “what did I do that worked and what did I do that didn’t work and why? Then: how can I improve?” Study Island then provides students the opportunity to do another session on the same topic in order to show improvement.


Here’s some more research data about Descriptive Feedback:
http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/tools/initiative/summerworkshop/searl/edlite-slide005.html
Why Descriptive Feedback?
The purpose of descriptive feedback is to provide opportunities for the learner to make adjustments and improvements toward mastery of a specified standard.
What is Descriptive Feedback?
Specific
Relates directly to the learning
Comparison to models, samples, exemplars
Related to performance, not personal
(adapted from Davies, 2000)
What does the research say?
• Clear, concise feedback matched to standards will promote student achievement. (O’Connor 2002)
• Feedback generally produces positive results if teachers manage the form the feedback takes. (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollack 2001)
• Specific, descriptive feedback that focuses on success and points the way to improvement has a positive effect. (Davies 2002)
• Students must be given the opportunity to apply the feedback by trying again. (Black & Wiliam 1998)

Question
If descriptive feedback helps students make adjustments to learning in order to improve, what are the implications for instruction and assessment?

What does the research say?
Students must be given the opportunity to apply the feedback by trying again.
(Black & Wiliam 1998)
• Assessments are formative when teachers compare students’ actual and reference levels and then use the information to help students move closer to the standard
• Provide students with opportunities to practice getting closer to the target
• Provide teachers with opportunities to give descriptive feedback

Classroom Implications—Where to begin?
Begin at the end!
What product are you looking for?
What are the grade level standards?
Where are your students in relation to the standard?

References• Black, P., Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 80 (2), 139-149.
• Davies, A. (2000). Making Classroom Assessment Work. Courtenay: Connections Publishing
• Marzano, R., Pickering, J., Pollock, D., (2001). Classroom Instruction That Works: Research-based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement. Alexandria: ASCD
• O’Connor, K. (2002). How to Grade for Learning. Glenview: Pearson
• Saphier, J., Gower, R. (1997). The Skillful Teacher. Acton: Research for Better Teaching, Inc.