By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Action items were light during the USD 428 Board of Education's luncheon at Lincoln Elementary School in Great Bend Wednesday, but Principal Misty Straub was in full teacher mode as she showed members how teachers use data from interim testing to improve student learning.
"It's about a 30-question test, and it breaks down by what the question typically asks the student, what the standard is, how that's grouped in our standard," Straub said.
Straub showed the board a slide with general data that shows how well a certain class performed on the interim tests that are administered in the fall, mid-year, and spring. The data shows how well the school performed against other schools in the district and from across the state.
"Does our school percentage, is it either equal to or better than that of the state?" Straub said. "The reason we look at ourselves compared to the state is the state is a bigger pool of a data, so it gives you better accuracy of where kids should typically fall with that type of test question or standard."
The goal in the schools is to have balanced classrooms, and the data also compares test results by classrooms within each school. Teachers can use the data to determine which disciplines students need to work on and which students may require extra intervention.