Balanced Assessment Systems in Action at Rincon Valley USD

Overview

Rincon Valley Union School District (RVUSD) serves more than 3,000 TK-6 grade learners at seven elementary schools, as well as over 200 learners at the charter middle school campus and Home Study program. On the California School Dashboard, RVUSD may look like it is doing well overall in the areas of English Language Arts (ELA) and Math, especially compared to other districts across the state. The truth is, however, that when diving deeper into the data, one finds a “tale of two districts.” While RVUSD is serving some of their learners, they by no means are serving all — especially in the area of math. 

Based on this data, RVUSD’s Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) goals, and surveying of teachers completed in 2023, their focus landed on formative assessment in the area of math. This decision was due to a few factors. One is that nearly 100% of teachers surveyed indicated that they used formative assessment on a regular basis in their classrooms. Another reason was that the use of formative assessment can be a powerful tool for teachers when it comes to informing next steps in instruction. Finally, the district knew that formative assessment practices would directly impact learners right away, and they wanted to ensure that this work had positive classroom impacts as quickly as possible. With this in mind, RVUSD seeked to strengthen universal math instructional practices and improve learner outcomes and began by piloting at two elementary sites, Douglas Whited Elementary Charter and Madrone Elementary.

Elevating Professional Development with Reflection & Coaching

In partnership with the Center for Assessment, RVUSD provided professional learning sessions throughout the school year embedded into the work day. Teachers received direct professional development sessions from the Center for Assessment every other month, totaling four sessions within the school year. The content of these sessions were directly informed by the initial teacher survey, which showed that there was a lot of variability in type and use of formative assessment data, with the weakest area being in learner self-reflection and peer feedback. 

These sessions led by the Center for Assessment were supplemented by additional check-ins facilitated by RVUSD during the intervening months. Leaders would spend this check-in time with teachers going over what they had learned the previous month with the Center for Assessment, and how implementing the formative assessment practices had gone in the time since the learning took place. Teachers also had time to work on their action plans (documents for planning and reflection) and connect with grade-level colleagues to look at learner work and determine where the learners were in the mathematical learning progressions. 

Developing Common Language & Understanding

Within the professional learning sessions, there were two central focuses — the first of which was on the Four Domains of Formative Assessment: 1) Starts & Ends of Lessons, 2) Eliciting Evidence of Student Learning, 3) Peer- and Self-Assessment, and 4) Use of Evidence.Based on a survey conducted at the beginning of the year, RVUSD put particular emphasis on ensuring understanding of learning goals and success criteria, as well as providing opportunities for peer- and self-assessment. The district was able to achieve this by dedicating more time to these topics within the professional learning sessions and check-ins. Teachers were given specific examples of how to incorporate peer- and self-assessment into their classrooms through the use of rubrics and giving access to the mathematical learning progressions as a way for learners to pinpoint where they were on those progressions. 

The other central focus of the professional learning sessions facilitated by the Center for Assessment was on the Ongoing Assessment Project (OGAP) Mathematical Learning Progressions. The district’s goal was to use this tool to help teachers take formative assessments and tether them to learning progressions, with the idea of increasing the rigor of our formative assessments. If RVUSD teachers can see learner work and be able to pinpoint where they are in a particular learning progression, then they can better meet the needs of our learners. 

Bridging Knowledge & Practice with Walkthroughs

Alongside the professional learning, the district also implemented site-based walkthroughs at both of the pilot sites. At the beginning of the year, RVUSD started with the leadership team, consisting of the site principal, Student Support Coordinator, Director of Teaching & Learning, and two district-level Teachers on Special Assignment (TOSAs). Starting in January 2024, RVUSD shifted the focus of the walkthroughs from a leadership lens to teachers going into the classrooms with their site principals leading this work. This shift in focus occurred as a gradual release of responsibility to allow the site principals to be at the forefront and become the leaders of this work. A critical piece of these walkthroughs was the tool that was created by the Center for Assessment in partnership with our district. The resulting Walkthrough Protocol and Reflection document was inspired by the work RVUSD had done with the Center for Educational Learning in years past, but adapted to focus on the four domains of formative assessment that teachers learned about during their professional learning sessions with the Center for Assessment. These tools allowed teachers to reflect on not only the practices of the peers they observed, but of their own instruction practices as well. The protocol and reflection documents also allowed teachers to begin formulating ideas of what they could bring into their own practice. 

Strategically Scaling Formative Assessment Practices District-wide

At the close of this school year, RVUSD asked pilot teachers to fill out an end-of-year survey to gauge growth in formative assessment practices based on the professional learning and walkthroughs. The survey results, as can be seen below, indicated that there was an increase in the use of formative assessment practices, especially in the areas of peer- and self-assessment. 

On a scale of 1 to 10, describe your
formative assessment practice.

Overall, teachers indicated that their formative assessment practice increased from fall (M=6.1) to spring (M=7.2).

Frequency of Reported Use of Formative Assessment Practices within the Four Domains

In both the Fall & Spring, “Starts & Ends of Lessons” and “Peer- and Self-Assessment” had lower reported frequency of use, which is why we see the greatest gains overall in those two domains.

Given this positive change, RVUSD is ensuring that this work continues into 2024-25. However, due to a shift in initiatives, a new LCAP cycle, and other district-level changes, they are now asking the question: How do we achieve buy-in? In order to do this, their next steps involve:

Lessons Learned

With all of this in mind, RVUSD will continue its partnership both with the CCEE and Center for Assessment, but with a focus on building leadership capacity at the site level and aligning the work the district has done within the Data Research Learning Network (DRLN) to our new initiatives moving forward in the 2024-25 school year and beyond. The two representatives from the Center for Assessment who worked with RVUSD throughout the 2023-24 school year will join the RVUSD Leadership Team (consisting of principals, directors, and program specialists) on five separate occasions to provide professional learning on the four domains of formative assessment that the pilot sites received in 2023-24. These professional learning sessions for the site leaders will occur in advance of a district-wide professional learning session on each of the domains of formative assessment in order to ensure that the site leaders can speak to the information and address any questions that occur during and after the learning. 

Additional Resources

Hilary Kjaer

Assistant Superintendent,
Educational Services

Tasha Lopez

Continuous Improvement Specialist TOSA

Beth Acosta

Principal at
Whited Elementary

Brooklyn Clark

Principal at Madrone Elementary