In an undated case study describing pandemic-era practice, Instructure recounts New Caney's expansion of assessment beyond benchmarks. The district had adopted Canvas in 2015 and used Mastery Connect for grades 6–12. Teachers began using more frequent checks for understanding and using the results to adjust instruction in Canvas. Instructure case study.
The account includes reflections from Gretta Rogne, identified as the district's director of digital learning. It describes a gradual change in teachers' attention: looking beyond an assessment's overall score to what students understood about a particular standard. Teachers also shared resources through courses organized by subject and grade level, and common course templates supported their instructional planning. Instructure case study.
For your own teacher team, that distinction can change the next conversation. A test score can start a discussion, but choosing a lesson requires more detail. Which expectation needs attention? What did the task ask students to do? What would a successful response look like? Bring the task and a few examples of student work alongside the results so the team can investigate those questions together.
Your next PLC may turn up a question the prepared reports do not answer. CoPilot's Aviator can help your team follow it in the moment. A teacher can ask for results on a particular TEKS in plain language, using the assessment data available to Aviator. Instead of waiting for a follow-up report or stopping to search through reports together, the team can keep its attention on interpreting the evidence and deciding what to teach next. Explore Aviator.
For the longer view, CoPilot's Real Progress Goals connect that planning with student growth expectations. The feature provides student goals based on STAAR Progress Measure calculations. In your team's planning, those goals can supply broader growth context alongside the classroom evidence you are discussing. A goal describes a longer-term destination; the task and student responses help teachers decide on the next lesson. Real Progress Goals.
That distinction matters when choosing the next check for understanding. A brief classroom task can help a teacher decide whether to revisit an explanation, model another example, or move forward. It should be selected for the learning it can reveal. Its score, by itself, does not establish progress toward a STAAR goal.
For the next PLC, choose one standard from the current unit. Bring the relevant task, available results, and a few student responses. Agree on one instructional adjustment and what you will examine afterward. New Caney's reported workflow offers a useful prompt: make the assessment part of a teaching decision while there is time to act.
This Data Journeys article draws on Instructure's publicly available account of New Caney ISD. CoPilot commentary reflects our own perspective and does not describe New Caney's use or endorsement of our products.