EDL 539 – Leadership for Students with Special Needs
Exemplary Sample of Student Work
QIC-Decide Rubric
Criteria
Form
Question
Data
Results
Spelling,
Punctuation
& Grammar
Exemplary
4 points
QIC-Decide form is
completely filled out
and detailed
information is given
for each section’s
components
Proficient
3 points
QIC-Decide form is
filled out and
adequate
information is given
for each section’s
components
Basic
2 points
QIC-Decide form is
sketchy and
insufficient
information is given
for each section’s
components
s
Area of concern is
not clearly identified,
relevant, or timely;
stakeholders may or
may not be
identified;
expectations lack
rationale; and
question to be
answered is too
vague to determine
its importance
Inadequate
1 point
QIC-Decide form is
not followed or
responses are
inappropriate
Area of concern is
clearly identified,
relevant, and timely;
all stakeholders are
identified;
expectations are
logical; and question
to be answered is of
importance
Area of concern is
identified relevant
and; stakeholders
are identified;
expectations are
logical; and question
to be answered is of
importance
Plan for collecting,
summarizing,
organizing,
analyzing, and
displaying data is
valid and reliable
and the process is
clearly explained so
that the results will
be creditable
Plan for collecting,
summarizing,
organizing,
analyzing, and
displaying data is
valid and reliable
and the process is
designed to yield
results
Plan for collecting,
summarizing,
organizing,
analyzing, and
displaying data is
not valid and
reliable; the process
is not explained or
several of the parts
are missing
Plan for collecting,
summarizing,
organizing,
analyzing, and
displaying data is
not easy to
understand; the
process is not
explained or most
parts are missing
Chart or graph is
included and the
data clearly justify
the decision and
point the way to the
next steps
Chart or graph is
included and the
data answer the
question and guide
the next steps
Chart or graph is not
included; data are
not able to be used
to determine a
decision or to look
at next steps
Chart or graph is not
clear, labeled
appropriately, or
does not provide
data to answer the
question
Spell check has
been utilized
throughout the form;
correct grammar is
evident
One or two spelling
mistakes occur
within the form or a
few grammar
mistakes are
present
Spelling mistakes
occur throughout
the form, standard
grammar usage is
not evident
Errors abound
Area of concern is
difficult to tell or not
of significance;
stakeholders are not
appropriate;
expectations are
missing; and
question is not
relevant to the
program to be
evaluated
QIC – Decide
Name
Date
Question What question are you answering?
Area of Concern: Will the use of Michael Heggerty’s Phonemic Awareness activities for all kindergarten and first grade
students as an effective strategy to prepare students to become fluent readers? This is a Tier 1 intervention used in
addition to the core reading program.
Whom to involve: Director of Curriculum and Instruction, all kindergarten and first grade classroom teachers, Title I
teachers, building principal
Expectations: Kindergarten and first grade students will participate in Heggerty’s scripted program of phonemic
awareness activities for ten to fifteen minutes per day every day. When screened using AIMSweb, 80% of K-1 students
will meet the target for phoneme segmentation (Kdg. at the end of the year, 1st at each benchmarking period). With
improved phonemic awareness, more 1st grade students will meet fluency targets on the AIMSweb R-CBM during the
benchmarking periods. We know that students who struggle with phonemic awareness also struggle with reading.
Question to answer: Are 80% of kindergarteners and 1st graders meeting the target on the phoneme segmentation portion
of the AIMSweb?
Information What are the consequences of the decision? What information is needed to answer the question? How much? What quality of
information?
Consequences are (High Average Low): Low. Doing “Heggerty” is a low-cost Tier 1 intervention ($70 per teacher). It takes
only 15 minutes per day in the regular classroom and is useful for small groups or individual students as a Tier 2 or Tier 3
intervention. It is a scripted activity, so a teacher, an aide, or a parent could do it with the students. It requires no
supplementary materials or worksheets since it is an auditory activity. It has the potential to have a positive impact on
student learning. We know that students who struggle with phonemic awareness also struggle with reading. Improved
phonemic awareness should lead to improved reading.
Amount/type of data needed: AIMSweb data from benchmark tests at the end of kindergarten and from each
QIC – Decide
benchmarking period in first grade.
We will collect: The percentage of students that received phonemic awareness instruction (Heggerty) that met the target
on the AIMSweb phoneme segmentation test in kindergarten compared to the number of students who did not receive
Heggerty instruction but met the target on the AIMSweb phoneme segmentation test, the percentage of students that
received phonemic awareness instruction (Heggerty) that met the target on the AIMSweb phoneme segmentation test in
first grade compared to the number of students who did not receive Heggerty instruction but met the target on the
AIMSweb phoneme segmentation test, the percentage of students that received phonemic awareness instruction
(Heggerty) for two years in both kindergarten and first grade, that met the target on the AIMSweb phoneme
segmentation test in first grade compared to the number of students who did not receive Heggerty instruction in
kindergarten but did in first grade but met the target on the AIMSweb phoneme segmentation test
Collect and Summarize Plan, collect, summarize, organize, and analyze the information.
Formal Plan - Yes / No Why: No. This decision does not have an impact on staffing decisions. It is something that all involved
staff agreed to try in order to improve PA for all students and hopefully to eliminate the problem of struggling readers. We have
read about the importance of phonemic awareness and its connection to future success in reading. We recognize that our students
are coming to school without knowing nursery rhymes, or being able to play with words. This seemed like a reasonable way to improve
that aspect of reading to better prepare our younger students for success, and we had the support of our administrators.
Organize: We will organize the data into tables.
Summarize: We will need to determine the percentage of students who have met the target for phoneme segmentation on
the AIMSweb to see if the criteria is met.
Display: We will display the percentage of students who met the targets before and after instruction in phonemic
awareness (via Heggerty’s book) in a bar graph.
QIC – Decide
Decide Explain the results. Describe the decision. Justify using data.
Interpret: Eighty percent or more of kindergarten students who received Heggerty instruction met the target for
phoneme segmentation on AIMSweb in the spring. Eighty percent or more of first grade students who received Heggerty
instruction only in first grade met the target for phoneme segmentation on AIMSweb in the spring. Eighty percent or
more of first grade students who received Heggerty instruction in kindergarten met the target for phoneme
segmentation on AIMSweb in the fall.
Decision statement and justification: Are 80% of kindergarteners and 1st graders meeting the target on the phoneme
segmentation portion of the AIMSweb? Yes. This is something that has been recently added to our core reading program
as a Tier 1 intervention. Early indications are that it is an effective way to boost student achievement in phonemic
awareness. This intervention will take place before our earliest learners begin to struggle. Additionally, we will collect
data to determine whether this instruction has an impact on spelling and reading fluency for our older students as they
progress into 2nd-4th grades. There is hope that this will also be an effective Tier 2 intervention for our older students
who struggle in reading that are determined to lack phonemic awareness and have not received Heggerty instruction.
Next steps: We as a school will continue to collect data for the next several years to determine whether the effects are
long-term. We will look at our struggling readers in the future to determine whether they participated in Heggerty PA
instruction or whether they moved in to the district after first grade.
QIC – Decide