Case Study: Teacher Engagement for Formative Assessment

MindPrint was originally introduced to the district with an 8-week study led by Donald Thompson, Jr., high school math teacher, as part of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the local Washington D.C. Teachers' Union (WTU) Teacher Leaders Program (TLP). Anacostia High School had participated in many initiatives over the years, yet students were still below 15% proficiency levels in reading and math. Teachers were struggling with "new initiative fatigue" and a lack of confidence in the potential of new programs making a difference for their student population.

Anacostia began using MindPrint in 2020 with math teachers and instructional coaches. After students took the MindPrint assessment, math teachers participated in bi-weekly teachers PLC meetings with MindPrint learning specialists to differentiate instruction based on group and individual student needs based on students' MindPrint data.

MindPrint summary data were consistent with other low SES schools where environmental factors contribute to a high percentage of students with executive functions challenges and most students with stronger visual than verbal skills. PLCs focused on providing teachers with clear strategies to address executive functions challenges to optimize classroom structure, develop students’ self-regulation and increase readiness to learn. To leverage students’ stronger visual skills, PLCs focused on providing teachers with more visual-based teaching approaches for students, including graphic organizers, images and visual aides. Teachers immediately noted that their math students were understanding math concepts more easily using these approaches.

MindPrint provided students and teachers with data essential to teaching and learning virtually and in person. Based on the strong positive feedback from teacher-leader Don Thompson and the math faculty, Anacostia adopted MindPrint schoolwide for the 2021-22 school year.