Author Archives: Learning Bar Staff

We have recently completed a series of interviews with our wonderful customers to explore their experiences of using The Learning Bar solutions. We are proud to share these Educator Insights videos with you.

Find out how educators are using the Confident Learners Literacy Program to make meaningful gains in student literacy and graduation rates and how the Early Years Evaluation and OurSCHOOL are being used to better meet the needs of children, families and educators.

Literacy Development

Find out what other educators are doing to improve graduation rates and how they are using data to make meaningful gains in literacy development.

Early Years Development

Hear educators discuss how they are using their EYE data to inform classroom instruction and put appropriate interventions in place as children prepare for kindergarten.

School Improvement and Planning

Watch video testimonials from educators discussing how they are achieving positive and practical change in their schools to create an environment where all students can thrive.

Blog - Dr Doug Willms speaks about Educational Prosperity at the University of Luxembourg

Blog, NewsFebruary 22, 2019

Dr. J. Douglas Willms speaks at a seminar organised jointly by the EIB Institute and the University of Luxembourg.

Inequality and educational prosperity

“Countries need to build strong foundations for success for each stage of children’s development if they want their education policies to be successful.”

Listen to guest speaker Dr. Douglas Willms talk about inequality and educational prosperity or click the video to the right.

Early Years Evaluation - Allocate educational resources

Blog, NewsJanuary 29, 2019

Effective Feedback is More Than Just Correcting Student Work: How to give better feedback to improve student learning

Teachers have never-ending opportunities to provide feedback to students. Amidst all the different sources of feedback students receive, neither marks or grades have the biggest impact on student learning. These matter, but they give students little information as to how they can increase their learning or demonstrate more accurately what they have learned. Written and in-person feedback that is specific to the task at hand has the greatest impact on improving learning outcomes.^[1] Feedback, when done well, has a powerful influence on student learning.^[2] In fact, research suggests that spending slightly less time teaching in order to provide more constructive feedback increases student learning.^[3]

Blog, Customer / Partner Stories, NewsDecember 12, 2017

New collaboration aims to make learning inclusive and accessible for all students

The Learning Bar and the Rick Hansen Foundation have teamed up to help educators assess the level of inclusivity and accessibility within their school environment. Through the collaboration, the OurSCHOOL Student Survey, developed by The Learning Bar, now includes questions of students’ awareness of the barriers facing peers with physical disabilities, and their willingness to take action. The data will enable educators to monitor the success of programs aimed at increasing awareness, accessibility and inclusion. Click here to find out more.

Blog - Using student data to reduce anxiety and enhance school climate

Blog, Customer / Partner Stories, NewsNovember 9, 2017

Using student data to reduce anxiety and enhance school climate at St. Dominic Fine Arts School, Calgary, AB.

Implementing the OurSCHOOL Student Survey at St. Dominic in 2015 allowed former Principal Kevin DeForge and Assistant Principal Joelle Marshall to learn that 32 per cent of students reported feeling medium to high levels of anxiety at school. Knowing it’s not just the data that matters, but what you do with it, Kevin and his team sought to understand what was driving this.

Blog, NewsMarch 27, 2017

Are your students ready for life after graduation?

The critical process of career planning starts in early childhood and intensifies during adolescence. Despite the emphasis placed on identifying a vocation before graduation, less than 20 percent of students make a stable career choice by age 17.

Do you have the complete picture?

The new Career Pathways module was developed by our in-house research team to help educators better understand and support their Grades 7-12 students’ transition from school to higher education and employment.

The module, a part of the OurSCHOOL Secondary Survey, consists of 10 main question areas which capture:

student aspirations after graduation;

level of commitment to a particular job;

current exploration into career options;

students’ career knowledge;

perceived obstacles;

current use of school-level resources and opportunities; and,

perceived importance of specific skills.

How can you use the data to prepare your students for success?

A Thematic Report outlines student goals, vocational knowledge and career identity. Make informed decisions on the support and instruction students need to explore careers, guide them to relevant programs, and gain the vocational experience they need to succeed.

Customer / Partner Stories, NewsMarch 13, 2017

Brandon School Division uses OurSCHOOL student data to guide district improvement planning.

Learn how the OurSCHOOL Survey is being used to guide specific school improvement initiatives. Our educational researchers, implementation specialists and school administrators discuss theory, results, interventions and positive change they have experienced through using the data.

Educator Insights Videos - EYE Thumbnail

Customer / Partner Stories, NewsFebruary 7, 2017

Lynbrook Primary School: Using Early Years Evaluation to guide teaching, target instruction and monitor progress.

Find out how the Direct Assessment is being used to identify the development skills of children as they prepare for school and how the Teacher Assessment is being used for classroom planning and to guide practice.

Confident Learners Program Overview

The Confident Learners framework was developed over the course of a three year research partnership with 32 First Nations communities to develop a scalable program, informed by best evidence, and designed to meet the literacy needs of each child, school and community. To outline some of the key challenges we addressed through our research, and evidence underlying the program’s approach and design, we have developed the Confident Learners Program Overview. To receive the Overview directly in your inbox please provide us with your contact details below.

School monitoring programs and national and international studies such as PISA provide trailing indicators of student’s outcomes. The primary aim of trailing indicators is to assess changes in system performance across schools and districts, and over time.

Educators need leading indicators to inform timely school policy and instructional decisions. Leading indicator data allow you to not only focus on what is happening in your school now, but also to predict what will happen as a result (e.g. high bullying rates now will lead to high anxiety rates later). Leading indicator data are collected before learning occurs or as it is occurring. They typically employ short tests and administer surveys more frequently. The data can be used to:

provide a framework for intervention (i.e., a response-to-intervention (RTI) program);
guide school policy and practice in order to improve school climate;
stimulate discussion about school reform;
identify issues relevant to particular students or groups of students;
identify students who need extra support;
involve parents in meaningful ways; and
increase student and teacher engagement.

We enable schools to continuously monitor several leading indicators that can help guide school policy and practice and assess the effects of school reforms.

High accuracy of reported measures is best achieved by having 100% of students participate. However, a reasonable estimate can be achieved by having as few as 30 students participate.

Click here to get more details on the data accuracy generated by the OurSCHOOL survey.

Validity refers to whether a set of survey questions is measuring what it is intended to measure.

Steps for establishing the validity of an OurSCHOOL measure

Determine a theoretical definition of the construct by reviewing literature, and by seeking expert opinion.
Identify the questions that reflect the construct through thorough discussions with experts, as well as teachers and students in focus groups, and a review of other instruments.

Data are analyzed using two psychometric techniques: factor analysis and item response theory (IRT). The analysis provides an indication of how well the questions hold together to provide a measure of a single unified construct, and whether each question contributes to the reliable measurement of the construct.

Click here to delve deeper into validity in the OurSCHOOL context.

Reliability refers to the consistency of the measurement process and is one of the key criteria for a sound measure of a schooling outcome or school process.

High reliability is dependent on having multiple well-formulated questions contributing to a measure.
Reliability is usually assessed with a coefficient that ranges from 0 to 1.0, with 1.0 being perfectly reliable. Most of the measures used in our surveys have reliability coefficients ranging from 0.80 to 0.95.

Learn more about the level of reliability in the OurSCHOOL Survey.

Join the OurSCHOOL Engagement Team in one of our personalized interactive sessions. Each session was designed to reach all levels of data literacy, meaning you don’t need to be a data expert or statistician to attend. Let our team of experts guide you in finding your data story!

PRE-SURVEY

STRATEGY SESSION

DATA

DEEP DIVE

ASSESSING

YOUR IMPACT

BUILDING A

THRIVING SCHOOL

Explore topics such as:

In this year-end online debrief, the

Engagement Team will provide

you with tips and resources you

can use to:

A school is thriving when teachers,

students, parents / guardians, and

the community are working together

toward a common vision of success.

Take a deep dive into your data!

• Data-driven planning,

• goal setting, and

• using survey measures and

custom questions to capture

actionable evidence.

Our experts will:

• Review your data

• present notable highlights, and

• identify areas for further

investigation.

• Review your progress,

• assess the impact of your

implemented strategies, and

• discuss ways to help your team

adjust strategies and set

priorities for the coming year.

In this session you will:

• Explore strategies for how to

engage your whole school

community and build a culture of

consultation and collabora-tion

between all stakeholders, and

• learn how to triangulate the

perspectives of students,

teachers and parents to gain

deep insight into your school

communities' alignment.

• This session is available for

schools that use the OurSCHOOL

suite of surveys (Student, Parent,

and Teacher).

Leave the session with:

Participants will:

• Strategies and resources to

generate excitement for the

OurSCHOOL survey, and

• ideas you can use for a

successful survey

implementation.

• Learn to interpret and share

their OurSCHOOL findings,

• identify areas to celebrate,

• pinpoint opportunities for

improvement, and develop

achievable action plans

for further success.

Leave the session with:

• Knowledge and resources to

assess the impact of your

current strategies, and

• tips and resources for creating

a plan before your next survey

implementation.

* Sessions are available in both online and in-person format with up to 50 attendees. Pricing is based on session details and availability may be limited.

The RTI classification includes three tiers, which are based on a prediction model derived from longitudinal data that estimated the likelihood of a child being a successful reader at age 8 or 9, based on his or her EYE-TA domain scores. Children with a greater than 80% chance of becoming a successful reader are classified as having Tier 1 learning needs; those with a 50% to 80% chance of becoming a successful reader are classified as having Tier 2 learning needs; and those with less than a 50% chance are considered to have Tier 3 learning needs. The prediction model takes into account the age of the child at the time of the assessment and his or her skill level in each of the five domains. The results derived from the model weights some skills more heavily than others. Skills in the Cognitive and Language and Communication domains figure most prominently; children’s Awareness of Self and Environment, Social Skills and Approaches to Learning, and Fine Motor skills also contribute to the classification.

An RTI classification is not permanent or necessarily long term, nor is it a label assigned to a child. As children are developing their literacy skills, their progress should be monitored on a regular basis, using a variety of formal and informal tests. In practice, teachers use the domain-specific results to plan their instruction. Schools with more than one kindergarten or 1st grade classroom can use the RTI score to ensure the prevalence of vulnerable children is evenly distributed among classrooms.

Also, children with Tier 2 or Tier 3 learning needs do not necessarily have a specific learning or intellectual disability. The classification simply indicates that a child may need extra instructional time and resources during the primary school years.