Latin School of Chicago

25 regular meetings between each mentor and mentee. Mentors and mentees observe one another's classrooms and provide ideas and recommendations to each other. "As teachers we all want to learn and grow," said Gasser, who had been teaching in public schools for two years prior to coming to Latin. "ere is always room for improvement, and Geraldine did a really nice job of offering me advice but not forcing her style on me." "e classroom observations and the discussions they inspired were an invaluable part of the experience," said Schmadeke, adding that she probably got as much out of the program as Gasser did at every step. "We all struggle with the same issues, and when you have been teaching for a while you might be accustomed to using the same approach every time in a particular situation," said Schmadeke. "It is really interesting to hear a new perspective and be reminded that there are other ways of doing things." is fall the mentorship program added a second year in response to requests from both mentors and mentees. Another Piece of the Puzzle For years, Middle School Director Deb Sampey has bemoaned the fact that middle school students take the Educational Records Bureau standardized test annually, but no one has ever had the time to analyze the scores. To Sampey these numbers are invaluable. "I believe that every student can succeed at this school if they are supported in the right way," she said. "Every piece of information we have about a kid helps us understand them better as a whole person and a learner." is summer Sampey's dream of taking a deep dive into the data came true. anks to funding from the Teacher Excellence Grant, she was able to hire former learning resources teacher Amanda Taglia part-time to analyze ERB scores. She also asked Taglia to compare what she was finding in the ERB data to the results of the learning profile screening in which every sixth grade student at Latin participates. Taglia, a self-identified data nerd who has had experience working with test data in the Wilmette public schools, was thrilled to get her hands on the ERBs. She analyzed the numbers in a few different ways, including looking at overall performance, individual grade level and individual student performance over multiple years. "We were immediately able to see some patterns, including areas where we were clearly excelling across the board among peer schools and areas where there is room for growth," said Taglia, adding that this is all relative as Latin students generally score very well in every area of the test. To Taglia, the value of the data lies in the conversations it can inspire. "It allows us to consider: Are there any students that we can support in different ways? Are there teachers we can better support in how they help students?" While much of the data confirmed what teachers were already seeing in the classroom, there were also some discrepancies. For example, some students who excel in the classroom had low average test scores across multiple sub-tests or less growth than expected across a grade for a particular subject. Since reviewing the results with faculty in August, Taglia has been focusing on these discrepancies, meeting with individual students, parents and teachers to explore what might be causing the blip in the data. She will continue studying the ERBs over the next three years to determine if there are consistent trends and to explore next steps. "We know that the data is only one piece of the puzzle," said Taglia. "e intent is not to teach to the test, but to be informed and reflect on what we find." To Sampey, having the resources through the Teacher Excellence Grant to be able to do this type of analysis, which independent schools rarely have the budget for, has been incredibly meaningful. "It's a game changer," said Sampey. "Any time a school gets a gift that allows it to do important work that it has never been able to do before, that's a game changer." By supporting our teachers, we are empowering them to respond to student needs and interests by developing curriculum and a set of teaching practices that make students passionate and engaged learners." – Kirk Greer, Latin's upper school History Department chair and administrator of the Teacher Excellence Grant Latin Magazine » Fall 2015

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