In my role as the instructional lead teacher during the 2015- 2016 school year, I was provided an opportunity to chair the 3rd and 4th-grade data team to evaluate the determining factors that hindered the student's progression toward meeting their reading proficiency goals on their district-wide assessment. The data indicated that over half of the students who participated in the Northwest Educational Assessment Measure of Academic Progress in the Spring of 2015 performed below grade level expectations in reading.

My approach to the problem of practice was guiding the team into creating a clear vision aligned to the school’s vision and mission to begin to develop solutions on how to increase the students’ reading performance. We concluded with a consensus of how our vision would be implemented in our classrooms. Together, we established non-negotiables that included: daily check-ins with each other, questioning each other’s techniques respectfully and professionally and being open to listening to …show more content…
By March 2016, the percentage of questions answered correctly will increase to 70% on the Stride PMA. All students will show growth in the percentage of answering questions correctly.

We started by posting our data-driven instruction (DDI) assessment calendar in our classrooms to track our progress. The results of the students baseline data helped me to lead the team in organizing our learning priorities that were aligned to our interim assessments every five weeks. Based on the results of those assessments, I led the team in developing instructional strategies supported by research to match the depth and rigor of the Common Core Learning Standards.

Keeping our vision at the forefront of our instructional practices and professional goals led us to have overall growth in reading among the third and fourth students by