Mika Roark

Coaching Session #8 – Reflection and Commitment to Change in Practice

Coachee: Mika Roark

Date/Time: May 13, 2026 12:30 p.m.

Overarching goal with students: I will work with five students that are in a fluency support group by providing supplementary passages and texts that match the topic of the curriculum (for example, space or immigration) to assist students’ knowledge of the vocabulary found in assessment passages about the topic. I will track students’ progress by using their December CBM fluency scores as the baseline. My goal is for each student to improve their score 5% by March 13, 10% by April 17, and 15% by May 15.

Problem of practice goal: Mika would like to see if the use of individual fluency component checks with students impacts their fluency score on their spring FastBridge CBM. Rate, accuracy, phrasing, expression, punctuation are the individual fluency components we will be working on. Mika has posters that the students review in each fluency support session, and she has made smaller, individual ones for each student in the group. As students are reading during small group time, she can point to the component that the student needs to focus on giving them immediate feedback “in the moment.” This eliminates distractions for the other students in the group.  After the students have finished in the group, Mika will have the students rate themselves on each of the components to get their perspective on how they are performing for fluency skills. Mika will also be noting their progress during group time.

Coachee reflections on student progress toward goal: Students who participated in the group all showed growth in their fluency skills. When looking at a growth report, two students showed modest growth, two students showed typical growth, and one student showed aggressive growth. The use of individual fluency trait cards and one-on-one conferencing with students had a positive impact on student awareness of their own reading, which helped improve their reading skills.

Coach reflections on student progress toward goal and coaching session:  Mika emailed the latest data to me showing the small group students’ scores on FastBridge CBM assessment for spring 2026. The graphs demonstrate growth from winter to spring for all five students; all students are on a positive trajectory for fluency. Students 1 and 4 made significant growth from winter assessment to spring assessment. Two students are now labeled “low risk”; two students are labeled “some risk”; and the student who is still at “high risk” has made consistent growth.

Mika and I discussed the scores together during our coaching session. She continues to work on fluency skills with the small group and confers with them as often as possible. Small group fluency work will end tomorrow, May 15, because of end-of-the-year activities at school.

Focus questions about problem of practice:

Even though there are multiple disruptions, what progress have you made on the individual components of fluency with the students in the small group?  Disruptions are continuing (four different required assessments and several special events). Mika has not been able to spend as much time on small groups. Tomorrow will be the last day of small group instruction.

What is the plan to finish out the school year as far as working on fluency skills and conferring with students?  Small group and conferring will be wrapped up tomorrow. Students will be sent home with A-Z books and fluency strategy materials for their use over the summer.

Reflect on the results of the assessments that you completed with your fluency group students. Mika was excited to see the results. She only looks at the data for the current school year (the graphs present data over multiple years). She looks at fall to spring growth. However, if you look at winter to spring, there is significant growth in the students’ fluency skills, and this reflects the small group fluency work that Mika employed with her students including conferring toward the end of April. All five students made growth toward their goal and have made improvement in the fluency skills the group focused on.

Focus questions about fluency work with small group:

Highlight a success story within the small group for fluency skills? At the February conferences with families, a mother reported to Mika that her daughter expressed that she was not good at reading. Shortly after that, the student tested out of all the phonics instruction and began working in the fluency group. This student placed in the 97% percentile for growth in fluency. Mika showed the student the graphed data; she smiled and blushed.

What has been one element of a conferring session that you can report on? With Student #5, the lowest student, he made lots of growth. This students’ parents do not speak English. Student speaks English but has a lot of unknown words. Even when he can read words in written text, he doesn’t know what they mean. He is a choppy reader because he is trying to read the words correctly. Mika had the student listen to himself reading. Afterward, he was able to accurately identify expression and pace as the elements of fluency that he needs to work on.

Focus question about coaching:

What is your biggest take-away from the coaching sessions this semester? Mika said that coaching has pushed her to try new ideas that she has and hold her accountable for trying them out. Talking about those ideas and why they might be important has helped make them a priority.