Can a Team of Teachers Use Data to Target a Specific Skill Area and Then Create a Program That Raises Student Performance in That Area?

A community consisting of four fourth-grade teachers used data from a standardized state test to target a specific skill and than created a program that raised student performance in that area. The targeted skill that they selected was sorting and classifying, which corresponded to the second performance task of the ESPET. In order to accomplish their goal the teachers worked together to create an interdisciplinary unit, featuring four parallel tasks. As a result of their hard work and collaboration the teachers were able to raise their students\u27 scores from an average of 73 percent to 95 percent passing on the final assessment. They thereby successfully completed their tasks of improving student scores well above the state minimum standard. This study provides insight into the collaborative process that was undertaking by the teachers in this study as they engaged in action research