Michelle Gainer has been working with schools, principals and district administrators for more than 10 years helping them to understand and analyze data and implement key strategies to increase student achievement. With 15 years of classroom teaching experience in mathematics and the author of four elementary and secondary mathematics textbooks Michelle provides particular expertise in the analysis of student data and mathematics instruction. Michelle has National Board Certification in Adolescence and Young Adulthood Mathematics.
About Michelle
SP SnapShot™
February, 2009
February 27
By mgainer - February 27th, 2009
Is everyone working hard to get ready for FCAT? There is a lot happening in the schools right now to prepare students at the last minute. Just don’t stress the kids out! They need to do their best and should not fear the FCAT.
If you haven’t done longitudinal analysis of your AYP subgroups or the cells of your school grade, this is a good time to gather that data for the past 3 to 4 years.
Offer for Support
By mgainer - February 13th, 2009
Right now one-sixth of your school grade is in the can! You have just a couple of weeks and the whole thing will be over – whew. I am sure you have all done a lot of work this year and your students are prepared. You may want to take one last look at the students in your extra care groups and make sure they have been given instruction on all of the benchmarks tested. You can find the content focus of the benchmarks tested on our Help Page.
This week I have been sending out a quick analysis of some of our schools FCAT data from 2008. You are all on my list and I am sure I will be getting to your school soon. If you have any questions or need help with any analysis, please let me know. Have a great weekend! - Michelle
Getting Ready for FCAT
By mgainer - February 11th, 2009
The FCAT Writes is next week. I hope you are all ready! When the scores are reported you will see only the Essay scores that range from 1 – 6 this year. The Writing + is not slated to return until 2012. My 8th grade son was very happy about that!
Since I am an old math teacher I wanted to share this article. The NCTM released an article about using alternative assessments. It has some great tips that not only apply to mathematics, but other areas as well. Please take time to look over these tips for implementing alternative assessments. It is great for us to be able to assess our students in various ways. They get so tired of taking tests this time of year!
