Creating SMART Goals for the Effective Use of i-Ready (EDUC 5243 Week 2)

                         Image: Smart Goal Chart (Set SMART Goals, 2016).

    In my previous Blog post, I discussed how to use the Triple E framework (Kolb, 2011) as a great way to assess if technologies are useful in a school district. My favorite thing about it is that it focuses on student outcomes rather than the technology itself. This week, in collaboration with a co-worker, I did a little coaching to develop SMART goals around using i-Ready (Curriculum Associates, 2019), and we will also use the Triple E framework. 

                        Image: i-Ready Characters (Curriculum Associates, 2019)

    Since I am the Intervention Supplement Specialist in our district, she is an interventionist who trains teachers, and i-Ready is the leading supplement our school uses for intervention, our partnership was an easy choice. Upon further discussion, we realized there is a weakness in the best practices of using i-Ready compared to how teachers actually use it. Most tend to let their students take the diagnostic and then hope the program fills the gaps on it own. That is not going to be best for the student and would not meet the Triple E Framework goals. Therefore, we came up with the following overarching goal: She would be able to provide school-wide training on how to use the data gathered within i-Ready to drive instruction and targeted interventions. Once we created that goal, we broke it down into the components of a smart goal: 

Specific: By the end of the fall semester, the interventionist will be able to facilitate training with all Learning Center (LC) teachers on using the i-Ready Diagnostic Data to drive interventions and instruction.

Measurable: 100% of all teachers will attend the interventionist's training, and during 2nd semester, they will be tracked on the implementation of information from the training. 

Attainable: The interventionist will hold a professional development session in November to train all LC teachers, and then in the spring semester, she will meet them bi-weekly to do data chats.

Relevant: The interventionist will provide teachers with the ability to leverage the technology already in use in their classrooms, allowing for additional growth of students.

Timely: The interventionist will complete her own training by the end of October, provide PD in November to the teachers of the Learning Center, and do bi-weekly data chats with teachers during the spring semester.

    Once we had the smart goals in place, we needed some action steps to get started:

1. Attend i-Ready training when available, and complete the online modules i-Ready provides.
2. Pull Data from several students to use as models for the training.
3. Work with building principals to schedule the professional development for teachers that is to take place in November.

As we made the goal and the action steps, we brought in the Triple E Framework (Kolb, 2011) to make sure that we are on the right track. The goal is to be able to train teachers to use i-Ready, and we therefore need to look at i-Ready through the Triple E lens:

Engagement: i-Ready provides interactive and adaptive lessons that adjust to individual student skill levels. Since the student is not working on items that are either too easy or too hard, it will keep them more engaged than traditional on-level curriculum. In addition, while the lessons are playing, students are asked to engage during the lesson rather than just sit and watch.

Enhancement: i-Ready provides data on each student, which allows teachers to help them in specific areas and provide targeted instruction or intervention. It also will give them another diagnostic (typically three times a year) to adjust the lessons provided.

Extension: Though this one is only loosely applied, i-Ready does allow students to continue learning at home. It also provides real work scenarios, but I would not rely on this because that is a common theme among most curricula.

Though the framework doesn’t truly guide my co-worker's action steps since she is not teaching students, we considered student learning the end goal.

In addition to considering the framework, we must also consider the ISTE Standards. Once again, the students are the end-game. With our SMART goal and action steps, we are focusing more on a coach position, but once she completes her goal of training the educators, the following Standards will be covered by extension: 

    Student 1.1 Empowered Learners: Students can take control of their learning with i-Ready because it creates an individualized learning path, and they can work at their own pace. In addition, students can take ownership of their learning through teacher data chats.

    Educator 2.7 Analyst: The teachers are using data from i-Ready to drive their instruction and interventions, helping to create individualized learning plans for each student.

We also considered that once the teachers are trained, how will they be able to fit this into their Teacher Evaluations? As mentioned in the previous blog, our school created their own Teacher Evaluation Form. Fortunately, this goal will fit right in with two categories:

1. Lesson Planning: The teacher demonstrates effective lesson planning and preparation by designing lesson plans aligned with the appropriate Oklahoma Academic Standards.  Lessons incorporate students' interest in an effort to increase engagement.
2. Differentiation: The teacher recognizes and accommodates the diverse learning needs, interests, and abilities of students by providing multiple pathways to learning and varying instruction based on individual student needs. (ELL, G/T, etc)

As I helped my coworker develop her Smart goal, I started getting excited to see the end result. My current job is to help teachers understand how to use the data in supplemental programs, and by helping her to focus entirely on i-Ready, I know she will be able to help her buildings see growth through intervention. I felt like I specifically focused on the Coach Standards 4.1e (Maximize potential of technology) and all of 4.6 (Data-driven Decision Maker). In addition, I feel like we at least touched on most of ITSE’s Essential Conditions but will be specifically focused on Prepared Educators. Since they are the front line to our students, that is what I want to focus on the most.

Curriculum Associates. (2019). i-Ready. Curriculumassociates.com. https://www.curriculumassociates.com/

International Society for Technology in Education. (2024). ISTE standards | ISTE. Iste.org. https://iste.org/standards

Kolb, L. (2020, December 9). Triple E Framework. Triple E Framework. https://www.tripleeframework.com/

Set SMART Goals. (2016). Creative Educator; Creative Educator. https://creativeeducator.tech4learning.com/2017/lessons/set-SMART-goals