Johnson County Central

School Improvement: November 2015

School Improvement Newsletter Article

November 2015

“Johnson County Central Public Schools

will improve reading comprehension through the

direct and explicit teaching of vocabulary.”

This school improvement goal was selected and then implemented during the 2012-2013 school year and has continued to be the focus of student learning and achievement in our district.  The staff development team from the Educational Service Unit #4 in Auburn has been leading the administration and faculty through this improvement process.  Using the work of Dr. Robert Marzano, and the steps in teaching and learning academic vocabulary, the faculty has worked across the curriculum to align key terms in not only core subjects, but also in elective classes.  Teachers have developed pretests, posttests, action plans, classroom and digital resources, and spreadsheets as part of this process.  

To monitor the progress of vocabulary acquisition, and the effect on student learning, a measurable goal was created.  This measurable goal is as follows:  Each grade level will increase the percent of students who are proficient (At or Above the Mean RIT) from the Fall MAP scores to the Spring MAP scores by 5 percentage points.  MAP, which stands for Measures of Academic Progress, is an assessment used school-wide in the fall and spring to gauge student progress.  According to the Northwest Evaluation Association or NWEA, “student MAP testing results are reported in RIT scores (short for Rasch Unit). A RIT score is an estimation of a student's instructional level and also measures student progress or growth in school.”  This information is helpful in making informed decisions about the programs or strategies that help students learn.

Over the past 4 years, JCC administration and faculty have kept their vow to increase reading comprehension by teaching academic vocabulary specific to content areas and elective classes.  The documentation included below illustrates how the focus on vocabulary has impacted student learning.  

The numbers show the percentage of students in each grade level At or Above the Norm Mean RIT score on fall and spring tests.  The highlighted numbers show where students have met the school improvement goal.

F= Fall semester and year         S= Spring semester and year

* Kindergarten classes do not test in the Fall.

This data along with data from NeSA tests and classroom assessments has shown that JCC’s students are improving in reading comprehension skills.