Welcome to Keystone’s ELI blog!

Keystone AEA is committed to supporting schools in the implementation and interpretation of 279.68. Tracy Grimes, Sarah Brincks and Tasha Fritz will be adding new, relevant information in regards to this law.

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FastBridge Information- From the Iowa Dept. of Ed

Now that the winter window is closed, we wanted to get several pieces of information out to everyone. Please take a few moments to skim the following and read in detail where necessary. Also, please pass this information on to others in your district.

Potential risks with PM setup 

Over the last few months we’ve learned how some of the processes and practices we use to set up Progress Monitoring goals may actually create a problem. To illustrate, the default graph on the left looks like the child is doing extremely well, but when the start and goal settings are corrected as shown in the second graph, it is clear that the student is not doing well at all. We’ve also discovered some issues with the practice of using off-level progress monitoring measures. If it is important to you to have good information to help children improve, please take the time to read the attached article for more information and directions on effective goal setting and progress monitoring. This article can also be found in the Iowa section of the FastBridge knowledge base.

 

Clarification on FastBridge memo about purchases/budget for 18-19

FastBridge recently sent an email referring to a need to plan and budget for next year’s FAST purchase. The Iowa Department of Education will continue to pay for K-6 literacy assessment. The email is really only applicable for districts purchasing additional grades and/or content areas directly from FastBridge, and is not relevant to other Iowa users.

Hold the dates for 18-19 screening windows

Tentative dates for the 18-19 screening windows have been set. Windows are six weeks to allow additional time for districts purchasing math and behavior measures. We recommend planning a two week window within each six week window to complete the majority of your literacy screening. Final confirmation of these dates as well as more details and guidance will be communicated at a later date.

• Fall: Sept. 3-Oct. 12
• Winter: Jan. 7-Feb. 15
• Spring: April 22-May 31

Enrollment cleanup

We are making good progress on refining the processes to clean up rosters and the underlying logic that builds and maintains them. Remember that students are made visible in FAST by their setup in your SIS. DO NOT add edit or delete students, rosters, or classroom users directly in the FAST interface. Make the changes in your SIS. If you have students not showing up or not going away, make sure to check the following before submitting a ticket.

• For a student to become visible in FAST,
  • Enrolled in the correct school with a start date prior to the current date, with a grade assigned
  • Has a State ID assigned and entered in your SIS
  • Is scheduled into at least one class, assigned to a teacher, with a start date prior to the current date (For JMC, this means in the scheduler module with the class scheduled to a period. The homeroom list will not create roster entries)
•  To remove a student
  • End enrollment in the school with an end date entered
  • Do not delete enrollment records in your SIS. If an enrollment is created in error, enter an end date corresponding to the start date
  • To remove a student from a section, place an end date on the relevant class enrollment in your SIS.
• Roster loads are nightly
  • Updates made in the student information system will take 24 hours to show up in FAST

If you do submit a ticket, please confirm that you’ve checked each of these in the ticket or we’ll ask you about them. (It doesn’t help when the confirmation in the ticket is: “the SIS guy says Bubba looks good”). Tell us the student’s first and last name (copy/paste to avoid typos), the grade and the building. If class rosters are part of the issue, we need the teacher’s name, too.

Misc. FYI notes:

• Infinite Campus has had a bug that causes students to disappear whenever their enrollment record is edited in the SIS. There is a bug fix available to install in Infinite Campus to fix this. Check with your local SIS manager to ensure the fix has been installed (Campus.1801.4 )
• FBL vs Iowa DE and Iowa laws – please remember that the FastBrige Learning team does not write content in the knowledge base with Iowa’s laws in mind. For questions related to ELI requirements, consult the Iowa section of the knowledge base and ELI guidance on the DE website, and submit a ticket for further clarification. The chat function in FAST connects to the FastBridge team, who cannot answer questions relate to Iowa’s early literacy requirements.
• If you have not already read it, check out ELI in the FAST Lane – an article in the Iowa section of the knowledge base. This article addresses issues related ELI requirements as they relate to the FAST system.

 

ELI and FastBridge

From the Iowa Department of Education – November 7, 2017

While ELI requirements for monitoring, intervening, and parent communication have not changed, the recent elimination of required summer school and retention requires a guidance update. In addition, the transition from Iowa TIER to the FAST application means some changes in supports and practices. As we work to update official guidance, here are some tips to help your team use your current data in the FAST system to meet student needs.

How do we identify who is at risk and persistently at risk?

Use the benchmarks. Go to the “Group Screening Report” tab under Reporting, select your default assessment, and look for the students that have the pink ! or !! next to their score for the current screening period – !=below benchmark and !!=far below benchmark. All other students are above benchmark. If you start interventions and monitoring for all the students who are below benchmark you should do well for the students, even though below benchmark is not exactly the same thing as ELI “At risk” and “Persistently at Risk” (PatR requires two windows). Literacy status determination for ELI is still based on the concepts illustrated in the graphic below. The key feature is that the screening results (above or below benchmark) can only move the child up or down one level per screening window.

 

What about parent communications?

Put your parent hat on for a moment and play out what you’d like to know if your child was found to have an emerging or ongoing concern with literacy. You’d probably like to know that there is a concern, what the school is going to do about it, what can be done about it at home, and how everyone will know if the interventions are working. When you frame the communication this way, you will meet the requirements for most ELI elements:

1. Communicate the literacy status and the data used to make that determination.
2. Describe what the school is going to do about it.
3. Share ideas for things the parent can do at home to support literacy improvement.
4. Plan for regular periodic progress monitoring updates to check on the effectiveness of the intervention activities.

What should we do about intervention and progress monitoring?

It is true that ELI says you are not REQUIRED to provide intervention until the child is below benchmark twice in a row, but we’ve always strongly encouraged everyone to go ahead and intervene now, rather than wait and possibly let the gap grow wider for the child between now and the next screening window. For At-Risk students who don’t REQUIRE intervention yet, you might support them by tightening universal instruction or by applying specific interventions right away. The key is that early intervention while problems are smaller means that gaps are easier to close. Waiting may mean larger gaps to close later. If the team chooses to not intervene, watch the progress monitoring data to see if the child is closing the gap or falling further behind and act if needed.

For the students who were Persistently At Risk after the previous screening (last spring) but scored above benchmark in the current screening (this fall), intervention is not required but progress monitoring is required. Monitoring allows you to make sure they don’t fall behind again after the intervention is removed. If a student does begin to falter, the intervention can be reinstated to prevent regression.

How often do we need to monitor progress?

The ELI requirement is weekly progress monitoring for grades K-3, with frequent monitoring encouraged in grades 4-6. The benefit for the child is that weekly data using measures sensitive to improvement on the general reading skill will provide feedback within a few weeks to tell whether or not the intervention is working.

Can we monitor progress off of the student’s grade level?

Yes, but… the practice of monitoring students off grade level has some limitations and quirks. The FAST CBMR measures were intentionally designed to minimize the need to measure off-level. FastBridge developed the progress monitoring passages to be a bit more “readable” in order to get a larger sample of reading out of lower-performing students. A larger sample of reading on easier passages means better sensitivity to growth. As long as the student can read 10 or more words correct per minute on the grade level passage, there should be limited need to use an off-level measure. Generally, about 98% of students should be able to have their reading growth monitored using grade level materials.

Also, be aware that off-grade level progress monitoring goals are based on the grade level of the measure, not the child’s actual grade level expectations. This may produce a false sense that the student is making good progress towards an end of year benchmark that was actually intended for younger children, while actually not closing the gap on the appropriate grade level measure. Even though monitoring on grade level at a lower frequency can help keep an eye on the grade level target, fewer data points means a longer time before it is clear that the intervention is (or is not) working.

What about students we can’t assess because they are on alternate assessment, home school, etc.?

There is no place to mark a reason not assessed in FAST, but you can keep track of this information locally if desired (it is not required). Here are some issues related to decisions to screen or not screen a student with the default assessment.

• Students with significant disabilities (1%) will participate in screening under ELI. Most likely, they will participate in the Early Literacy Alternate Assessment (EL AA).
• English Learners should participate in screening, intervention and weekly progress monitoring K-3. However, during a language acquisition phase, an off-level monitoring measure may be used and may be more sensitive to growth for a limited time.
• Dual-enrolled students with public and private schools are included in the ELI supports and requirements. One of the two sites should screen and offer supports (if applicable) to the student.
• Parents of students in a home-school program should be offered the opportunity for screening and intervention, which they may decline.

Given the inclusion of all students in screening and early literacy, remember it is acceptable to use another approved measure when there is a good educational reason to do so. For example, you can use aReading instead of CBMR for a student with dyslexia (untimed assessment) or for a student who is nonverbal or dysfluent. Or, you can use earlyReading or CBMR if the student should be assessed 1:1 or needs a measure with discontinue rules, rather than an open ended, independently completed measure such as aReading. Using another approved measure to get a better score or “the best” score is not permitted.

An optional form is attached for you to use locally to record assessment information this school year. Please note that this is not a required form and there is no required reporting for this. The form is provided to use if desired:https://tinyurl.com/y9nkw6wd

In conclusion, we hope that this information will be helpful as we all continue the work to improve literacy outcomes for all of our children in Iowa. Thank you for your continued support as we carry out this work to the best of our ability. 

Testing Window Extended

Update from the Department of Education:

 

We appreciate all of the support you have given as we have moved from using Iowa TIER to the FAST application for our early warning data system. We are excited about the functionality that FAST has to offer teachers!

 

FastBridge Learning, in partnership with the Department, has worked as quickly as possible to get their system ready for the fall screening window. However, there are still some districts that are not ready to begin screening on Monday when the fall window opens. The Department has decided to extend the fall screening window by two weeks for all districts and schools. The fall screening window will now run from September 11 through October 20. 

 

As always, we encourage districts to take it slow and not schedule substitute teachers for screening until:

• all student and teacher data have been loaded into the FAST application;
• district managers have worked with the Department support team to verify that the data are correct;
• staff have been trained and are comfortable using the system with fidelity

If you have any questions about the fall screening window extension, please contact janell.brandhorst@iowa.gov. For all other questions about the FAST application, please use the FAST ticket system.

Universal Screening Dates for 2017-18

Testing Dates (link to the Department of Ed)

Moving to FastBridge

This was the information found in an email from the Department of Education regarding transitioning to FastBridge. There is a lot of information here so please take the time to read through it carefully.

In a nutshell, please ensure a district/school manager is registered for the 2-hour setup webinar and a school team of 2-3 people who can train the remaining staff sign up and attend the 4-hour “getting started” webinar.

Additionally, please scroll to the bottom and click on the link to subscribe to future emails.

This message contains urgent time sensitive information about the transition away from Iowa TIER. Please read this message fully as there are important dates and tasks that every school must attend to in order to be prepared for the upcoming school year.
Major tasks:

1. The opportunity to download data from Iowa TIER ends June 30. At that time all access to Iowa TIER will cease. All of the data in Iowa TIER will be downloaded for eventual restoration in a new system, but will not be available for some time. See links at the bottom of this message for download directions.

1. Leave SIF agent used for Iowa TIER turned on. It will be used to send data to populate the FastBridge system.

1. Check with your colleagues to make sure all of your key people are aware of this transition and the tasks that need to be done.

1. Identify who will fill key roles of district and school manager and those who will train the rest of the team on using the FastBridge data system. Have them register for the appropriate training sessions – See below.

1. Prior to attending the District/School manager training, please check and confirm the accuracy of your District and School name in your SIS. The District and School name must not be edited once the district SIF agent is connected to Fast Bridge. We strongly recommend/encourage using the official building name as reported to the DE in the school information update application.

Training plans are coming together. Please be aware this is different training than which has been provided during the past 3 years. Every district and school must have teams that attend training to gain access to FastBridge’s data system this fall. We understand the challenges of the short timelines and summer communications issues. There are multiple sessions to help provide flexibility to fit summer schedules. Please register as soon as possible. We may have to cancel sessions if too few are registered.
Overview of training dates and topics (See below for dates and registration information)

1. District/School Manager: Two hour webinar to learn how to set up staff permissions and other FastBridge system management tasks.

1. Fifteen opportunities from late July through August (see below).

1. Recommended for the person who would set up staff access, similar to managing student information system setup. At least one person per district, possibly one person per building.

1. The district/school setup work based on this training must be done before staff attends the “getting started” training listed below.

1. Getting Started with FastBridge: Four-hour webinar on navigation and basic use of FastBridge’s data system.

1. Fifteen opportunities from late July through mid-September (see below).

1. Intended for building teams of 2-3 people who will lead training for building staff. The purpose of this training is to learn the basics needed to start using the FastBridge system for screening.

1. System setup must be done before attending this training (see #1 above).

1. Data reports and interpretation, interventions and progress monitoring: face to face training on using FastBridge reports, PM and interventions.

1. Delivered late September through October, after screening data have been collected

1. Intended for building-level teams of 2-3 who will then lead training for their staff

1. Dates, locations and registration information for these sessions are being finalized now, and will be publicized as soon as possible.

General information about webinars
Each session is capped at 100 participants logged into the session. Small teams (max. 2-3) could participate in the webinar using a single registration and login. We encourage teams to attend the earliest possible training sessions to avoid getting locked out of the last few sessions. Sessions with very few registrants will be cancelled and those registered will be asked to attend a different session.
District/School Manager training sessions (i.e., system setup)

Date	Time	Registration Links
7/25/17	10-12	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/566110333459847170
7/27/17	1-3	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3386824951147177474
8/1/17	1-3	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8837336086986327554
8/3/17	10-12	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5877627806385456130
8/8/17	10-12	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3205385741368798209
8/10/17	1-3	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3438365658210958082
8/15/17	10-12	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5957557903678327298
8/16/17	2-4	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4273581078948718850
8/17/17	1-3	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1602692512732020994
8/22/17	1-3	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5400644269093571586
8/23/17	8-10	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4091304041296072706
8/24/17	10-12	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6819811414854791938
8/28/17	10-12	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2670213849697959170
8/29/17	2-4	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7518269579329764866
8/30/17	2-4	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5615333810021580034

Getting Started with FAST trainer sessions (i.e., using the system to screen)

Date	Time	Registration Links
7/31/17	12-4	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1702989963430794242
8/2/17	8-12	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/442543918208870146
8/7/17	12-4	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/9181949419423643138
8/9/17	8-12	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/614328316397745666
8/14/17	12-4	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8921301391966356738
8/16/17	8-12	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5558770533855301890
8/18/17	8-12	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1260045107111581698
8/21/17	8-12	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4177743247438459138
8/23/17	10-2	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7392338114567174658
8/25/17	10-2	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8733085892012130306
8/29/17	8-12	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2295513481104585986
8/30/17	9-1	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8346828556686080770
8/31/17	12-4	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/814993586513548802
9/6/17	10-2	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1682643500759077122
9/8/17	8-12	https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3386559968858445058

Previous Early Warning System transition messages can be reviewed by clicking these links:

• Message sent around June 22 – contains details about TIER system final tasks, SIF agent, reviewed/approved assessments and other communications https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/IACIO/bulletins/1a492d0

• Message sent around June 19 – contains links to directions about using FAST during summer school and download directions for data currently in Iowa TIER https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/IACIO/bulletins/19d8288

Click here to subscribe to future emails
Thank you for your support during this transition. We know it will be a summer and fall of new learning but believe we are all headed in the right direction for learners in Iowa. We remain committed to our efforts in early literacy as a state and partnering with you as we continue on that journey together. Throughout this transition, the Department will continue to be the first line of communication and support for districts. As you have questions related to the transition, please use the contacts below. We ask that you do not use the Iowa TIER knowledge base or ticket system for questions or comments related to this transition.
Administrative issues:  Dave Tilly
Differentiated Accountability issues:  Amy Williamson
Technical issues:  Janell Brandhorst
Media requests: Staci Hupp

Legislative Update

This information came in the Legislative update on April 22, 2017 in regards to Early Literacy Implementation (ELI)

“Earlier in the week, SF 511 was substituted for HF 642, which is the Education Appropriations bill. HF 642 passed in both chambers and is on its way to the Governor. There was policy language included in the Education Appropriations bill that eliminated the third grade retention requirement as well as the summer intensive reading requirement. With that said, the Department believes the ability to read is critical to a student’s success in school and in life. Our focus will continue to be identifying struggling readers early on and getting them back on track. This will continue to be a priority for the Department as well as school districts.”

In my own words: The Early Literacy Implementation guidance remains in effect with the exception of summer school and retention requirements. All other aspects remain the same.

Spring Dates to Know

Hello all – I hope you are well. Below are a few dates for you to be aware of this spring.

To find more information, log into Iowa Tier > Knowledge base> Iowa Tier News > Need to Know Dates

Parent Letters

As the end of the testing window approaches you may be in need of the notification letters for parents.

Parent Letter about Persistently at Risk Status

Keystone has translated those letters into Spanish and can be accessed here and on the literacy website.

Happy Friday!

ISRP Study Findings

Many of you were thankful for the quick summary and annotated notes of the ELI Retention Guidance, so I thought I would so the same for the ISRP findings.

Highlights

• This portion of the code is set to take effect in 2018.
• Information about a 1-year waiver is not available yet.
• An estimated 25% (about 9,000) of Iowa’s 3rd graders are at risk for reading failure and may benefit from an ISRP.
• Study results show all three conditions were equally effective at preventing a decline of reading skills. This is encouraging!
• There was no statistically significant growth in any of the conditions.
• Median costs would range from $9.25M to $13.82M. Per pupil would range from $1,193 to $1,813.
• Page 4 indicates 5 potential challenges
  • planning
  • hiring
  • student participation
  • class sizes
  • monitoring student progress
• Page 5, “The Wallace Foundations found that students who attended quality summer programs subsequently had better school performance that their non-attending peers and that these benefits were exhibited for at least two years after participation” (McCombs et al., 2011) Yet, the study is unable at this time to determine if this is true for the students who attended the 2016 programs.
• With PD time, preparation and instructional time, teachers worked 110 hours.
• Page 15 displays a graph of the attrition of participation at different times of the study. Initial responses indicated 2,235 students may attend, 1,229 parents consented, 1,111 showed up and 876 students were present for the posttest.
  • Attrition was largest for females, students on free and reduced lunch, Black and Hispanic and those in Title 1 programs.
• Using the aReading computer adaptive test students in the ISRP pretest average was 482 which did increase to and average 485 on the posttest.
• Page 21 outlines the disaggregated results — this is worth a read!
• The bottom of page 21 offers something to think about: “…several teachers reported they did not like the scripted lessons in the treatment conditions or lower level print-based materials that focused more on decoding skills. These educators described preferring to use materials they believed had more motivational comprehension activities. Although it is not possible to determine with the available data, it may be that teachers’ beliefs led them to deliver instruction that was just beyond the abilities of the students most in need of learning foundational reading skills.”
• Across all three conditions, students in special education had lower performance than their peers.
• Page 24 has suggestions for policymakers and practitioners to consider to be better prepared for an intensive reading program.

Report of the 2016 Intensive Summer Reading Program (ISRP) Study

My annotations and highlights

Have a great weekend!

Early Literacy Retention Guidance – a few highlights!

Hi all!

There are a few things I pulled from the guidance that I felt were important to note. Of course, I would encourage you to read through the guidance to ensure you have a clear understanding of the requirements, yet this will help before you are able to do that!

• Goes into effect 2017-2018 school year.
• By Iowa Law, grade placement decisions are made at a local level.
• The decision to retain is not solely based on any one test, it is a collaborative decision.
• Students are promoted to 4th grade when they meet ANY ONE of the four criteria:
  • Meet proficiency standards on the statewide assessment in reading;
  • Are not persistently at risk;
  • Qualify for a Good Cause Exemption; and/or
  • Complete an Intensive Summer Reading Program.
• If they do not meet one of the above criteria, students must be considered for retention.
• Pay attention to Appendix B, page 16 – this page is a visual of the narrative found of pages 3-5
• The guidance also includes a timeline (page 7) which offers a suggested approach to communicating to parents, making summer school and retention decisions.
• Special Education Law and ELI law are separate. Students receiving SDI can not be denied benefits that others are offered (i.e. summer school).
• Students with an IEP are not exempt from a retention decision solely based on having an IEP. See page 9 in the guidance document for the Q&A around this topic.
• Summer 2018 waiver: Guidance on the application process for this is not out yet. There is not a timeline for this information at this time. If a school were to receive the waiver, retention would also be waived for the 2018 school year.

I read the guidance and annotated/highlighted what I thought were big ideas. You can view that version of the guidance here.

For a clean copy of the guidance, click here.

Sample letters have been created for you to adapt and assist in communication Click here to view those. To view a ppt created to share the highlights, click here.

Stay warm and enjoy the rest of your week!