ELAT November 2015 Newsletter

DIBELS DEEP: FREE Online access to training

Training throughout the state concluded on October 28, 2015. We appreciate the time and effort that people gave to attend these sessions.

Participants in the ELAT project will be provided access free of charge to online training for DIBELS Deep PA/WRD and DIBELS Deep CFOL. These trainings are available for those who have not yet received training on these tools as well as for educators who participated in DIBELS Deep training this fall as a way to reinforce their learning and/or refresh their knowledge.  Access to these trainings will be provided until the end of the 2015 - 2016 school year.

• Brief description: Participants in these online trainings will learn how to use these research-based diagnostic assessments. The workshops cover the design and research behind DIBELS Deep, the administration and scoring procedures, and several case examples. 
• Log-in access: Each school in the project will receive 4 usernames and passwords, these can be used by multiple users. We will be contacting schools and districts with this information throughout the month of November, if you have not heard from us or your district by December 1, 2015,  please contact, Donna Bright – bright_d@cde.state.co.us
• Length: The online training for Deep PA/WRD is about 3 hours, including activities. The online training for DIBELS Deep CFOL is about 3.5 hours, including activities.   

Virtual Learning Opportunities

This school year we will be providing a series of virtual learning opportunities posted on our ELAT Webinars Page. There will be a series for instructional leaders as well as teachers, they will be set up in a class format and within the class there will be short sections to support learning on the various topics. You will be able to watch the sections as needed and pick the components that are applicable to your individual needs. Please share this opportunity with your staff as some teachers do not receive the newsletter directly.

Currently Available Content for Teachers:

Teacher Reports

Make sure you know how to access the rich data on the teacher facing side of mCLASS. We will review which reports are available, how to navigate through the reports, what data is available after BOY and what questions can be answered through these reports. Segments are short in length and designed with the teacher and interventionist in mind.

1. Which reports are available to teachers in mCLASS? : 12:00 minutes in length
2. How to effectively navigate through teacher reports: 9:00 minutes in length
3. What data is available through teacher reports?: 6:30 minutes in length
4. What question do the teacher reports answer?: 22:32 minutes in length

Now What Tools

• Small Group Advisor: 16:46 minutes in length
• Item Level Advisor: 8:55 minutes in length

Currently Available Content For Leaders:

Effective use of the Reporting and Analysis Suite -

1. Topic: RAS - PM Fidelity - 9:14 minutes - This segment provides information for data available on www.mclasshome.com.  The Progress Monitoring Report enables one to determine whether progress monitoring is occurring at the desired rate.
2. Topic: RAS - Growth Report - 6:23 minutes  - This segment provides information for data available on www.mclasshome.com.  The Growth Report enables one to determine whether student achievement has changed over the course of the school year.
3. Topic: RAS - DEF - 6:19 minutes - This segment provides information for data available on www.mclasshome.com.  The DEF Report enables one to determine how effective teachers have been at moving students between performance levels.
4. Topic: RAS - Comparing Populations - 6:20 minutes - This segment provides information for data available on www.mclasshome.com.  The Comparing Populations Report enables one to determine which students / teachers need additional support.
5. Topic: RAS - Benchmark Completion - 4:24 minutes - This segment provides information for data available on www.mclasshome.com.  The Benchmark Completion Report enables one to determine whether Benchmark assessments are being completed for 100% of students within the assessment window.
6. Topic: RAS - Comparing Measures - 5:53 minutes - This segment provides information for data available on www.mclasshome.com.  The Comparing Measures Report enables one to determine areas of instruction strength and weakness.

Setting Benchmark Windows with Amplify

The benchmark windows (particularly the Middle of Year window dates) recorded in the Amplify system have a direct impact on when your teachers will transition from progress monitoring and be ready to assess the Middle of Year benchmark.  If the window is incorrect in the Amplify system, it may prevent teachers from administering the benchmark assessment on the assigned day.  This can be especially problematic if the school has arranged for additional resources during the benchmark window (e.g. substitutes, assessment teams, or altered bell schedules for the day).  To ensure that Amplify has the correct dates for your school, please have the appropriate school representative complete the information at this link:  www.amplify.com/co/benchmark

Lexiles Now Available on mCLASS Class Report

Teachers can now view students’ Lexile reading levels in Amplify Home. Based on your students’ DIBELS Composite scores, the Lexile reading level allows you to easily match appropriately difficult texts to students for a targeted reading experience.
To view Lexile reading levels, click on the Lexiles button on the Class Summary Overview page. This enables a new column that displays the information next to DIBELS composite scores. (Clicking the button again will hide the information if desired.)

For more information, please see an overview of the study linking DIBELS Next with the Lexile Framework.

Mark your Calendars: Resources Coming Your Way

• Virtual learning Opportunities: To be posted by December
   
• For Instructional Leaders: Progress Monitoring for Leaders and Taking Action with Data
• For Teachers: Effective Progress Monitoring
•  For all audiences: Pathways of Progress - A course designed and presented by Dr. Roland Good of Dynamic Measurement Group. Learn about establishing student goals that are meaningful, ambitious and attainable.
   
• Additional Training Opportunity:

While this opportunity is not part of the project we wanted you to be aware of training offered through Dynamic Measurement Group ( the authors of DIBELS Next).

The authors of DIBELS at DMG are hosting the DIBELS Super Institute in Denver July 11-14, 2016.  Workshops will be offered on DIBELS Deep, Pathways of Progress, DIBELS Data Interpretation, Mentoring, DIBELS for Administrators, DIBELS for 7th-9th grades, DIBELS for preschool, and the Spanish version of DIBELS - IDEL.  Registration information is coming soon at https://dibels.org/index.html

• Summer Teacher Institutes

We will be offering regional summer teacher institutes again in June and as we are planning for those sessions we would like feedback for topics. If you have ideas please fill out this one question form. We will have dates for the June teacher institutes by February.