REACH ASSESSMENTS/PERFORMANCE TASK

We want every student in every part of the city to graduate prepared for success in college,
career and life. As a District, we are committed to high quality education for all of our students.
To reach every child, our school leaders, teachers and staff must work together and understand
their role. We set the tone with a careful hiring process and ongoing professional education.
Additionally, we evaluate teacher performance and recognize excellence aligned with District
goals.
Our Vision

Effective Teaching Leads to Student Excellence

Student Growth compares the impact of a school and/or teacher on the academic growth of his
or her students from one year to the next. Student growth is a significant factor when looking at
a teachers impact on student learning.
To ensure that growth is occurring year after year, Performance Tasks are given to students as a
form of assessment twice annually. Performance Tasks are written or hands-on. They give
student a chance to show mastery or progress towards mastery, of a selected standard or skill.
The skill and standard used is aligned with students grade levels and match with either the
Common Core State Standards (literacy and math) or national standards for the subjects they
are studying.

REACH Students Performance Tasks ask students to do something specific or find meaning on
their own rather than select answers from a list. They give us valuable information about what
students know and do not yet know. This gives teachers helpful clues they can use for students
to improve not just their knowledge, but how they put it all together.
Students are given both Performance Tasks at the beginning and end of year. Both tasks
measure the same standard(s) and skill(s). For the purpose of teacher evaluation, teacher are
assigned a score based on the overall growth of their student on these two tasks.
These assessments are designed by teams of CPS teachers. More than 250 CPS teachers
from preschool to 12th grade in 12 different content areas came together to write the
Performance Tasks used by CPS every year.
For more information: http://www.cps.edu/ReachStudents/Pages/Reach.aspx

R.E.A.C.H. Performance Task

Fall to Spring Growth 2014-2015
Teacher: Wade
Student

Test: Reading
Fall Score

Team: C

Spring Score

Point Growth

12

17

17

21

10

20

10

21

n/a

17

10

20

19

-1

17

21

15

21

11

21

10

10

15

20

11

15

21

12

17

21

13

21

21

14

14

18

15

11

21

10

16

15

21

17

11

21

10

17

n/a

18
19

13

21

20

16

20

21

11

17

22

16

21

23

20

20

24

15

21

25

16

21

26

13

21

27

17

21

28

17

19

29

11

20

30

20

Fall
Percentages:

Spring
Percentages:

Insufficient

Below

Emerging

17

Mastery

27

n/a

Growth:

19

3 n/a

Factors that Impact Student Growth

T-Test Results
Mean

14.56

20.12

SD

3.34

1.40

SEM

0.64

0.27

27

26

This REACH Literacy assessment was given to ninth grade students. The mean for BOY was
measured at 14.56, while the mean for EOY measured at 20.12. The students had an average
increase of 5.56 and their P value is less than 0.0001.
Area to target on: identifying authors purpose