The Inquiry Team at PS 160 analyzed student data and identified 4th grade students scoring in the lower third on the 2009 NYS ELA exam as their focus group. Their goal was to improve these students' critical thinking skills. The team decided reading instruction needed to incorporate richer discussions and additional small group work. Teachers began using interactive read alouds daily and were given guidance on supporting English Language Learners. The school has since created rubrics to differentiate instruction and monitor the progress of their focus group using various assessments. Moving forward, the Inquiry Team hopes to see more independent inquiry taking place across the school.

1. March 2010
P.S. 160
Inquiry Team
“Using Data to Inform and Improve”
T h e r o l e o f t h e t e a m
At this time, all public schools in New York City have an In-
quiry Team in place. The role of the team is to analyze student
data, target subgroups of students in need of improvement in a
specific area, conduct research, and plan a strategy in instruc-
tional practice to improve student performance in that area.
Our team meets monthly to reflect on student progress and
share updates with the school community. The current mem-
bers of PS 160’s Inquiry Team are Mrs. Russo, Principal, Mrs.
Anderson, Assistant Principal, Mrs. Hamdan, Assistant Princi-
pal, Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. Wells, Mrs. Quiles, Mrs. Brody, and Mr.
INSIDE Lauro.
THIS ISSUE:
The Role of the Team 1
Our 2009-2010
1
O u r 2 0 0 9 - 2 010 Fo c u s G r o u p
Focus Group
Our Question 2
The Inquiry Team met early on in the school year to look at
Our Strategy 2 ELA data from last Spring. We saw a weakness in our students’
critical thinking skills, particularly in our current 4th grade stu-
Additional Inquiry 3
dents. We confirmed our findings by comparing these ELA re-
Where are we now? 3 sults to similar type assessments taken by these students. We
chose as our focus group, to monitor throughout the year, the
Where are we going? 3
4th grade students who scored in the lower one third of the 2009
NYS ELA exam.

2. Page 2
Our Ques t ion
Our question to each other was, “How can we help these Caption describing picture or
students to improve their critical thinking skills? “
Our Str a t egy
We concluded that in order for our students to respond criti-
cally on a test, they must first be able to read and think criti-
cally. We decided to work backward and see if a change in
reading instruction involving richer, more productive conver-
sations (i.e. Accountable Talk) would bring about improve-
ment. We met with all teachers, in and out of the classroom,
who worked with our focus students to discuss possible
changes to instruction. We added additional small group in-
struction as well for these students. We also decided to get
other grades involved because how students perform once
they are in testing grades has much to do with their earlier
grade experiences. We met with individual grades and the
overwhelming consensus was to begin by incorporating in-
teractive read alouds into daily instruction. Teachers felt that
the discussion strategies and questioning techniques used in
the read alouds would easily transition into guided group
work, literature circles and share times.
C

3. P a g e 3
A ddit ion a l In quiry
With such heterogeneous classrooms in terms of language development, our
inquiry work took another turn. We consulted our ESL team for advice on
how best to implement our change strategy with students at such a variety of
language acquisition levels. Teachers were given a breakdown of ESL data on
their students including their language level (Beginner, Intermediate or Ad-
vanced), their years of service, and an itemized description of their
NYSESLAT scores, identifying the areas (reading, writing, listening and
speaking) that were holding them back from proficiency. The ESL teachers
shared with classroom teachers and AIS providers how to best support critical
thinking development at each level of language development so as not to frus-
trate the student or teacher. We also looked at sample NYSESLAT exams to
see how classroom instruction could better be aligned to NYSESLAT require-
ments.
Wh er e a r e w e now ?
Changes in reading instruction along with student observations have led to the
creation of grade level rubrics in critical thinking at all grade levels. We are cur-
rently working with teachers on using these rubrics to differentiate instruction in
their classes. At this time of year, teachers are also inquiring into students who
have shown no progress in reading up to this point. Our focus group of students
continues additional small group instruction while we monitor their progress by
comparing Fall and Spring data available. Our data sources include results from
the Fountas & Pinnell reading assessments, the NYC Acuity Predictive and ITA
assessments, and assessments from the Schoolwide Testing Fundamentals Pro-
gram. We hope to see a good deal of improvement by the end of the school year.
Wh er e a r e w e goin g?
We have learned a lot this year about inquiry work. As we continue to grow
and learn through ongoing opportunities for inquiry, we hope to see an increase
in the amount of independent inquiry taking place as well as the development
of various self sustaining inquiry teams all functioning at the same time school
wide.