Conference: Ready…Set…Teach! Winter Institute

Time: 11:15–12:15 p.m. Central Time

Location: McCormack Place, South Building
Chicago, IL 60616

Description: The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) recently adopted a new statewide assessment, the Kindergarten Individual Development Survey (KIDS). This research-based observational tool was developed specifically for Illinois educators to collect school readiness information “in a way that is efficient, supportive of excellent teaching practice, informative to educators, and comparable across geographic and demographic boundaries.” KIDS conveys what skills, knowledge, and behaviors each child should possess—a beacon to guide the work of preschools, home child care centers, Head Start centers, family homes, and every other early childhood setting. The workshop is intended to build confidence and skills in Illinois educators to use KIDS data to improve their practice. Using KIDS resources and practices from the Forum Guide to Taking Action with Education Data, developed by the National Forum on Education Statistics (2012), the Data Use Workshop addresses five learning goals:

• Become familiar with the KIDS Assessment Data Cycle
• Be introduced to common first steps in data use, such as determining the questions to be answered with KIDS data and building data literacy
• Engage in a protocol to analyze data and identify students’ learning strengths and areas of need
• Draft learning goals and action steps
• Review how to monitor results

Partnership or Research Alliance: Midwest Early Childhood Education Research Alliance

Audience: Chicago Public School K–2 teachers and building administrators

Speakers:

• Jill Bowdon, Senior Researcher, REL Midwest, American Institutes for Research
• Billie Day, Researcher, REL Midwest, American Institutes for Research