Elementary Spring Data Review Tips
This document provides tips to consider as School Leadership Teams and Coaches are
reviewing the Analysis of School-wide Data Report for the Spring Data Review, focusing
on component #4a-c – Which contributing factors are validated with data.
Author: Michigan’s Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative (MIBLSI)
Version: 1.0
Date: March, 2017
Focus on Phonemic Awareness
Phoneme Segmentation Fluency Spring of Kindergarten



If we have less than 100% at or above benchmark this needs to be an action
item for kindergarten grade-level problem solving in order to plan for how
instruction will need to be adjusted related to phonemic awareness at the
beginning of the next kindergarten school year
We will also need to ensure that how this impacts students next year is
discussed during first grade grade-level problem solving since we know students
who are not yet established in phonemic awareness at the beginning of first
grade will be less likely to meet the middle of the year NWF–CLS benchmark,
which strongly predicts future reading performance.
If we have less than 80% of our students at benchmark, in addition to grade-level
problem solving, we need to do systems-level problem solving. Remember,
students who cannot auditorally blend sounds together and take them apart will
have difficulty blending letter sounds together to decode words and segmenting
sounds to encode, or spell words.
Focus on Alphabetic Principle / Basic Phonics
Nonsense Word Fluency – Correct Letter Sounds Spring of First

If we have less than 100% at or above benchmark this needs to be an action
item for kindergarten grade-level problem solving in order to plan for how
instruction will need to be adjusted related to how we are teaching the alphabetic
principle and basic phonics skills at the beginning of the next kindergarten school
year.
Elementary Spring Data Review Tips (March, 2017)
Michigan’s Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative (MIBLSI) is a Grant Funded Initiative (GFI),
funded under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) through the Michigan Department of Education.
1


We will also need to ensure that how this impacts students next year is
discussed during first grade grade-level problem solving. Recall, meeting
benchmark means the lowest level of okay to have a high probability of meeting
the next benchmark with continued good instruction. The more students we have
entering first grade on track, the higher probability we will have more students
established with NWF – CLS in the middle of first grade, which strongly predicts
future reading performance.
If we have less than 80% of our students at benchmark, in addition to grade level
problem solving, we need to do systems-level problem solving.
Nonsense Word Fluency – Whole Words Read Spring of First Grade



If we have less than 100% at or above benchmark this needs to be an action
item for first grade grade-level problem solving in order to plan for how instruction
will need to be adjusted related to the alphabetic principle and basic phonics
skills at the beginning of the next first grade school year.
We will also need to ensure that how this impacts students next year is
discussed during second grade grade-level problem solving since we know
students who are not yet established in the alphabetic principle and basic
phonics skills at the beginning of second grade will most likely struggle with the
advanced phonics skills that are expected to be mastered during the remainder
of the year.
If we have less than 80% of our students at benchmark, in addition to grade-level
problem solving, we need to do systems-level problem solving. Students who
cannot blend sounds to read regular words at a minimum rate will struggle to
read connected text fluently.
Focus on Advanced Phonics, Reading Fluency, & Comprehension
DORF Words Correct Spring of Second Grade and Third Grade


If we have less than 100% at or above benchmark this needs to be an action
item for second and third grade grade-level problem solving in order to plan for
how instruction will need to be adjusted related to how we are teaching the
fluency of connected text, specifically related to rate, at the beginning of the next
second and third grade school year.
We will also need to ensure that how this impacts students next year is
discussed during third and fourth grade grade-level problem solving since we
Elementary Spring Data Review Tips (March, 2017)
Michigan’s Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative (MIBLSI) is a Grant Funded Initiative (GFI),
funded under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) through the Michigan Department of Education.
2

know reading can be very laborious for students who do not read at a reasonable
rate as well as affect their ability to comprehend the text.
If we have less than 80% of our students at benchmark, in addition to grade-level
problem solving, we need to do systems-level problem solving.
DORF Accuracy Spring of Second Grade and Third Grade



If we have less than 100% at or above benchmark this needs to be an action
item for second and third grade grade-level problem solving in order to plan for
how instruction will need to be adjusted related to how we are teaching advanced
phonics skills at the beginning of the next second grade school year, and how we
are teaching advanced phonics skills and multisyllabic word instruction at the
beginning of third grade school year.
We will also need to ensure that how this impacts students next year is
discussed during third and fourth grade grade-level problem solving since third
and fourth graders are expected to decode multisyllabic words by segmenting
them into syllables, or parts, including those with root words and affixes.
If we have less than 80% of our students at benchmark, in addition to grade level
problem solving, we need to do systems-level problem solving.
DORF Words Correct Spring of Fourth Grade, Fifth Grade & Sixth Grade



If we have less than 100% at or above benchmark this needs to be an action
item for fourth, fifth and/or sixth grade grade-level problem solving in order to
plan for how instruction will need to be adjusted related to how we are teaching
the fluency of connected text, specifically related to rate. Motivation is definitely
affected for students who struggle to get through the text.
We will also need to ensure that how this impacts students next year is
discussed during fifth and sixth grade grade-level problem solving. Fifth and sixth
graders are expected to do a great deal of reading on their own, which can be
very laborious for students who do not read at a reasonable rate as well as affect
their ability to comprehend the text.
If we have less than 80% of our students at benchmark, in addition to grade-level
problem solving, we need to do systems-level problem solving around how we
are teaching the fluency of connected text specifically related to rate as well as
considering motivation.
Elementary Spring Data Review Tips (March, 2017)
Michigan’s Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative (MIBLSI) is a Grant Funded Initiative (GFI),
funded under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) through the Michigan Department of Education.
3
DORF Accuracy Spring of Fourth Grade, Fifth Grade & Sixth Grade



If we have less than 100% at or above benchmark this needs to be an action
item for fourth grade, fifth grade and/or sixth grade grade-level problem solving in
order to plan for how instruction will need to be adjusted related to how we are
teaching advanced phonics skills.
We will also need to ensure that how this impacts students next year is
discussed since fifth, sixth, and seventh graders are expected to not only decode
multisyllabic words but to also be able to use the affixes to help determine the
meaning of them in order to help support comprehension. This will be very
difficult if students cannot read grade level text with high accuracy.
If we have less than 80% of our students at benchmark, in addition to grade level
problem solving, we need to do systems-level problem solving. Fourth, fifth, and
sixth graders and above are expected to read a considerable amount of
informational text which tends to have many multisyllabic words that carry
meaning a lot of the meaning in the text. It is imperative our fourth, fifth and sixth
graders have the skills to read with very high accuracy to support
comprehension.
Focus on Behavior
Focus on Major Discipline Referrals per 100 students per Day



If our major discipline referrals per 100 students per day per month is at or above
the national median then our plan should include a closer look at the SWIS core
reports and drill down to develop a precise problem statement.
We should look for trends in our major discipline referrals per 100 students per
day per month.
 If there is an upward trend even if we are below the national median we
should consider what we can do to change the trend before we are at or
above the national median.
 If there is a downward or flat trend, we should document what is working
well so we can keep doing it.
We should examine our historical data (e.g., data from previous school years) to
identify any times when we can anticipate our referrals will go up (e.g., right
before or after the December break). If we can predict it we can prevent it.
Elementary Spring Data Review Tips (March, 2017)
Michigan’s Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative (MIBLSI) is a Grant Funded Initiative (GFI),
funded under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) through the Michigan Department of Education.
4
Focus on Discipline Referrals by Most Common Problem Behavior, Location, and
Motivation





Your plan should include using SWIS core reports and drill down to develop a
precise problem statement related to the most common problem behaviors,
location and motivation.
If the precise problem statement is related to a school-wide need, then your
action plan should directly address the precise problem statement
If the precise problem statement is related to specific grade levels, groups of
students, or individual students then the information should be shared with the
appropriate team(s) (e.g., Tier 2 systems team, Grade level team, Student
support team).
If defiance and/or disrespect are showing up among the top three most common
problem behaviors then consider whether or not the definitions have been clearly
described and agreed upon by the staff and/or if staff need additional review and
practice with completing discipline referral forms.
If unknown is showing up as one of the top three discipline referrals by motivation
then consider some additional training and support to your staff around
understanding the function of behavior, why we ask for motivation be identified
as part of the discipline referral, and/or review and practice with completing
discipline referral forms
Focus on Major Discipline Referrals by Race/Ethnicity



If you have subgroups that are above the 1.5 risk ratio and defiance and/or
disrespect are showing up among the top three most common problem behaviors
then consider whether or not the definitions have been clearly described and
agreed upon by the staff and/or if staff need additional review and practice with
completing discipline referral forms. Defiance and disrespect are frequently
ambiguously defined, leaving a lot of room for interpretation which could
contribute to the over representation of a specific subgroup(s) receiving discipline
referrals.
Consider accessing the PBIS Practice Guides “Recommendations for Addressing
Discipline Disproportionality in Education”, “Example of Engaging Instruction to
Increase Equity in Education” and/or “Using Discipline Data within SWPBIS to
Identify and Address Disproportionality: A Guide for School Teams”
If any subgroup of students that are above the 1.5 risk ratio, your plan should
include using SWIS drill down to develop a precise problem statement related to
the specific group of students. Your action plan should include steps to directly
Elementary Spring Data Review Tips (March, 2017)
Michigan’s Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative (MIBLSI) is a Grant Funded Initiative (GFI),
funded under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) through the Michigan Department of Education.
5
address the precise problem statement developed from this SWIS drill down
analysis.
Focus on Student Risk for Behavior Problems


If we have less than 100% at low risk this needs to be an action item for each
grade-level problem solving in order to plan for classroom management and
teacher-delivered strategies, and how it will need to be adjusted to improve
student emotional behavior and to identify students with high risk and match
them to appropriate resources based severity and intensity of social-emotional
behaviors.
If we have less than 80% of our students at low risk, in addition to grade level
problem solving, we need to do systems-level problem solving to address
implementation of PBIS with fidelity school-wide.
Michigan’s Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative (MIBLSI) is a Grant Funded
Initiative (GFI) funded under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) through
the Michigan Department of Education.
Elementary Spring Data Review Tips (March, 2017)
Michigan’s Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative (MIBLSI) is a Grant Funded Initiative (GFI),
funded under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) through the Michigan Department of Education.
6