Chilton Public School District in Calumet County, Wisconsin,

serves 1,200 students in one elementary school (pre-K-5),

one middle school (6-8) and one high school (9-12).

The district has been an NWEA partner since January

2000. All students in grades 2 through 10 are tested with

NWEA’s MAP® (Measures of Academic Progress®)

assessments in reading, language usage, math and science.

Approximately 900 students are tested twice per year

(fall and spring) and an additional 200 are tested three

times per year (fall, winter and spring)

Chilton’s Vision For Data-Informed Education

Chilton educators firmly believe that preparing students

to achieve their potential is their highest priority. The

district’s goals include:

• To be an innovative school system recognized for every student’s demonstration of the skills necessary to achieve in a rapidly changing world.

• • Demonstrate continuous improvement through the

delivery of a challenging education program that fosters student achievement, accommodates individual learning styles and values personal integrity.

• • Develop an interactive partnership between the

school district and the community that is mutually beneficial.

Chilton has partnered with NWEA to help achieve this vision

for education through comprehensive and accurate data and a

truly individualized approach to teaching.

Chilton’s Challenges

Chilton officials “have used the power of MAP data to change

the nature of conversations around student achievement and

academic growth,” says Rebecca J. Blink, Ph.D., the district’s

Director of Curriculum and Instruction, District Assessment

Coordinator, District Data Manager and K-12 District Reading

Specialist. “When we started working with NWEA, for the first

time we finally had an objective tool that allowed us to

accurately measure student learning and progress over time.”

She says prior to using the MAP assessment, the district would

look at their state test results (the Wisconsin Knowledge

Concepts Examination) once a year, briefly reviewing the data

without knowing what to make of it. “We had no consistent

measure of student growth and/or performance,” she says.

Important Decisions Rely on Solid Data

MAP provides Chilton with meaningful student progress data,

which informs a range of curricular decisions, such as evaluating

Chilton’s class offerings. District officials then design and

implement new programs based on identified areas of need.

Chilton Public School District Using data to inform decisions that lead to student growth

Comprehensive Assessment Planning Process (CAPP)NWEA partners to raise assessment literacyAcademic assessments can be powerful tools for transforming outcomes when they effectively address specific educational objectives. To help maximize the value of your assessment approach, NWEA™ offers schools and districts the Comprehensive Assessment Planning Process (CAPP). This collaborative event will guide your team of educators through an in-depth discovery and planning process that results in a custom assessment plan calibrated to your values and goals.

Articulate educational priorities, values and goals

Facilitated by NWEA Partner Relations Representatives, your team will identify shared beliefs about assessments and then come to consensus on key goals.

Get a realistic picture of established academic assessments

Through an in-depth evaluation of systems, practices and processes, you will assess the effectiveness of your current approach and identify any gaps and redundancies.

Collaborate to improve academic outcomes

Leveraging the insights gained from this inquiry, CAPP will help your team establish a coherent plan for continuous improvement in assessment, curriculum and instruction designed to achieve your intended outcomes.

Learn more about CAPP from NWEA and the benefits of raising assessment literacy. Call your NWEA Partner Relations Representative at 503.624.1951

© Northwest Evaluation Association 2011

CAPP empowers your team to:

• Identify shared assessment values

• Articulate the purpose of assessments in your district

• Discover gaps or redundancies in your current assessment system

• Clarify district priorities and define academic targets

• Identify and coordinate resources and needs

• Determine how progress toward goals can be measured

• Create an assessment plan that can dramatically increase value and improve results

In just one day, CAPP will equip you with the insight and assessment intelligence to establish a sustainable assessment system, such as MAP® (Measures of Academic Progress®) from NWEA, that helps identify and meet the needs of your students and schools.

Dynamic Reporting SuiteNWEA’s Dynamic Reporting Suite (DRS) condenses essential data into a series of easy-to-understand dashboards and reports tailored to all members of a student’s learning team. DRS simplifies data analysis and offers classroom tools that assist teachers in using data to inform classroom instruction. The data provide insight into areas that need attention, allowing you to use the information when it has the greatest impact.

In addition to providing valuable reports and data, DRS delivers access to tools and features designed to respect instructional time. Enhanced printing capabilities give users the ability to print reports for groups of students as well as for individual students. DRS reports also include basic science assessment result information, allowing teachers, administrators, and district staff to quickly determine if students are meeting expectations in this subject area.

Teacher Landing Page

TeachersFor teachers, DRS classroom reports provide resources designed to guide targeted instruction, allowing teachers to immediately translate test scores into customized instructional plans for individuals or groups of students.

At a glance teachers know which students in their classes are on track to achieve growth targets and which need focused attention. Built on a foundation of timely and actionable data, DRS empowers teachers with the tools to facilitate differentiated instruction by showcasing the academic diversity within a class. These reports:

> Provide growth and proficiency information to quickly diagnose student needs and make instructional decisions when they have the greatest impact.

> Allow educators to drill down to individual test scores and see the diversity in performance across the classroom for easier differentiation.

> Engage students in their own learning plan through the automatic creation of self-populating goal setting worksheets. The worksheet pre- populates with student data and scores and can be set to compare different test terms. Compare student progress from fall to fall, for example, from fall to spring, or across a combination of terms.

Reading

40% of 15

40% of 13

Mathematics

100%

80%

20%

0%

60%

40%

100%

80%

20%

0%

60%

40%

Sosa also uses MAP scores to look at the progress of individual

students as it pertains to their Individualized Education Plan. And

her students have taken ownership in their learning through the

use of the goal-setting worksheets provided by NWEA. Says Blink,

“Even though we have some students who physically cannot speak

or hold a pencil, thanks to MAP we can still demonstrate that they

are growing academically.”

Results

For a group of Chilton freshman math students, taking the MAP

assessment made a huge difference in their academic growth. After

a special class for students with low basic math skills (a decision

informed by NWEA data) was implemented at Chilton High School,

86% of the class had a dramatic increase in their MAP scores in

math. Parents and students reacted extremely positively to the new

course. Same goes for a group of Chilton at-risk 3rd graders who

participated in the district’s Math Matters program – 100% achieved

proficiency on the 4th grade state math test within one year.

Looking Ahead

Blink would like to move the bar even higher in the coming

years. Today, she participates in NWEA’s professional develop-

ment program and then shares her knowledge with other district

administrators and teachers. “I’d like to see Chilton utilizing NWEA’s

Knowledge Academy more than we currently do,” she says. “It’s a

win-win for everyone: more teachers receive training at their own

pace and the district benefits because classroom teachers gain a

better understanding of MAP testing,” she says. “Differentiated,

job-embedded staff development is a great way to keep an initiative

moving forward.”

Overall, Blink is proud of her district’s achievements using data to

improve learning for all students.

“Changing the culture of a school district is a difficult process,” she

says. “But we do a good job of getting the data into the hands of our

teachers so they can use it to change and adjust their instruction.

If at-risk students can improve when instruction matches their

needs, imagine the possibilities for all students using computer-

adaptive assessment. NWEA acts as ‘the glue’ that holds all of our

improvement efforts together.”

For example, MAP assessment results illustrated that

Chilton’s middle school students weren’t being challenged

enough with current class offerings. So Blink and the

middle school math teachers dramatically restructured

the district’s middle school math curriculum, which now

includes algebra for advanced 7th graders and geometry for

advanced 8th graders.

MAP data also allowed Blink to make curriculum changes

at the elementary school level. Struggling students are now

enrolled in a remedial math program, called Math Matters,

to better prepare them for more challenging math courses

they will encounter at the middle and high school level.

“We have set district achievement goals that would have

been absolutely immeasurable without the use of MAP,”

says Blink.

District superintendent Dr. Claire Martin, Ed.D., says the use

of MAP assessments has empowered Chilton to “develop

and sustain a strong focus on a data-driven approach to

student achievement.” Thanks to “banked” NWEA student

data, Martin says, “we have the ability to observe trends,

evaluate program effectiveness, and focus on student

cohort achievement.” Additionally, partnering with NWEA

allows the district to compare local student achievement on

a national scale. “As we prepare our students to compete in

a global marketplace, these comparisons are important to

us and the community we serve,” says Martin.

Support for Specialized Instruction

One of the district’s special education teachers, Melissa

Sosa, finds incredible value in NWEA’s DesCartes learning

continuum, which allows teachers to incorporate what they

learn from student MAP data into instructional planning

by creating specific learning skills and concepts that can be

used in the classroom. “As a teacher of students with special

needs I am able to test my students, get results the next day,

and identify areas of concern by strand for each student,”

says Sosa. “I am better able to differentiate my teaching

through the use of the DesCartes options on the website.”

Principals and Building-level administratorsWith DRS reports, principals and other building-level administrators can quickly access essential information for deeper analysis as well as foster collaboration among school staff. In addition to access to all teacher-level information, thesereports provide:

> School and student performance relative to: • Growth • Proficiency • Norms

> The ability to drill down from a school overview to an individual student level.

> Timely results for all members of a student’s learning team, delivered in formats designed to guide decision making.

> An understanding of what proportion of students met or exceeded growth targets, or fell short of growth targets, based on national norms.

District staffDynamic Reporting Suite district reports provide the ability to assess grade- and school-level performance trends. With these reports, district staff will benefit from:

> The ability to identify patterns and trends quickly and easily.

> Longitudinal data that enable effective decision making at the district level.

> Tools that guide refined instructional planning with information at grade, teacher, and individual student levels.

> Guidance when planning for professional and staff development.

> An accurate measure of group performance.

School administrators can immediately see where their school is growing and proficient.

Areas of need across a district are apparent on the district landing page.

NWEA partners with educators to help all kids learn. Discover the di�erence that true partnership makes. Learn more at www.nwea.org or call 503-624-1951.

© Northwest Evaluation Association 2010

Reading

Grade 345

MathematicsGrade 3

45

Language UsageGrade 3

45

Proj

ecte

d Pr

ofici

ency

Abov

eBe

low

Growth IndexBelow

25.5%(27)

48.1%(51)

Above

22.6%(24)

3.8%(4)

© Northwest Evaluation Association 2012