Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Student Articulation Using STAR Data and Google Sheets



It’s the time of year when we start to think about placing our elementary students into next year's classes. This project uses data from the Renaissance Learning STAR RTI screener to help build balanced classes using configurable and visual dashboards. If you use STAR assessments then this project is for you!
The project has a data loader where you can add the math and reading assessment sheets that are exported directly from STAR. You can customize the number of students in your school, the teachers, and the grade level that you are articulating on the “Variables” sheet. This demo has been loaded with fake data, created using Mockaroo (I love that site!)
Once the student data is loaded, teachers can perform an initial placement of the students in their class. There is an option to place students in two different class arrangements, just in case a current grade is close to splitting or contracting. Once students have been initially placed, the articulation team can meet to refine the placement using the different data dashboards.


Each dashboard is configurable using drop down menus. The “Roster” dashboard lists students who are selected for each class and allows the articulation team to compare three metrics at the same time from a menu of twenty-four. The “Charts” dashboard shows a visual representation for each class and the “In Focus” dashboard details any one class, including the “Do not place with…” information. Each dashboard can instantly toggle between class configurations, just in case teachers need to plan for a potential split or contraction.
The project has an instructions page for teachers and administrators to help set up the system. It is definitely the best articulator yet, built from what was learned after using the previous iterations. I hope other systems, probably those that also use STAR assessments, find this useful. If you are able to use this project, let me know in the comments!