Directed Reflection:
Assessment Analysis
Assessment Description: Describe the pre- and post-assessment test, instrument, or strategy.
1. What kind of test or assessment did you use? Was it multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, open-ended, or something else?
The kind of test that I used was a summative assessment that used a combination of multiple-choice and open ended questions. There were 20 multiple choice questions that tested various areas of unit that had been taught over the course of two and half weeks. There were also two open-ended that lent themselves well to the students either explaining the answer in a couple of sentences or listing the asked for items in a list. There was also a diagram of a bean seed that students were asked to fill in with the provided words. There were three blanks that needed filled in. Students were given the needed words in a word box at the top of the page and were asked to write those words on the lines that pointed to the asked for structure on the bean seed diagram.
2. Was the assessment oral, written, performance (e.g. do something like shot free throws or play notes on a musical instrument), or something else?
The assessment that was given at the end of the unit was written. It consisted of multiple- choice, open-ended, and a diagram with fill-in-the-blank items. Students were read the directions orally and any confusing vocabulary in the questions was briefly explained. Assessments throughout the unit consisted of performance assessments. This was especially the case in the final lesson plan “The Life Cycle of a Plant” in which students made books detailing the various stages a plant went through as it grew and in the lesson “Do you have a green thumb” where students kept journals on the plants they were growing.
3. Did you administer the assessments to the whole group or to individuals?
I administered this assessment to the whole group although some were absent or left during the administration of the test.
4. How long did the pre- and post-assessments take to administer?
The pre- and post-assessment took approximately 45 minutes to administer. There were two students both times that it took about one hour and fifteen minutes to complete the test. It is important to note that this was expected with these two students before each administration of the test. There were also two students who finished the test in about 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Were there any remarkable things that happened during the pre- and post-assessments?
The
only remarkable or somewhat unexpected thing that happened during the
pre- and
post-assessments was that the students were having a lot of trouble
with the
vocabulary on the tests. These words
were not limited to science terminology that the students needed to
have
learned during the unit, but were random words on the test. Most of these students were students who had
reading
Assessment Suitability: Analyze whether the assessment used was appropriate for the objectives and learners.
1. How did the assessment measure the content goals of the unit? Did the questions or items measure the overall purpose of the unit or did they measure only partial facts of the unit? Describe.
The assessment measured the content goals of the unit by taking a snapshot of each lesson and pulling out the most important information from each lesson that was presented in the unit. This assessment was a sampling of the content presented in the unit. After looking back, I feel that the some of the questions or items on the assessment, but not all, measured only partial facts of the unit and not the overall purpose of the unit. For example, the pre- and post-assessments ask for a lot of vocabulary about photosynthesis and the parts of the seed. While the goal of the unit was to build an understanding of plant growth and the plant cycle, just asking questions about the vocabulary of the content does not give me a picture of the students’ conceptual understanding of the concept of plant growth and the life cycle of a plant.
2. Was the format of the assessments appropriate to the goals and the learners? For instance, if the assessment was written, could the students read the test adequately?
The format of the assessment was in some ways appropriate, but in some ways it was not appropriate. The assessment was appropriate in that it was a written assessment for a third grade classroom. By third grade we expect third graders to be able to read and write. It was also appropriate because of the type of questions that were asked. Multiple-choice, a couple open-ended, and fill-in-the-blank questions are all appropriate for this grade level. What was not appropriate was that there were too many multiple-choice questions with too many words. There were also not enough pictures or diagrams on the test that might have enabled the students to have shown what they knew more successfully. All in all, the format consisted of too much reading. Being in a classroom where the reading levels are so scattered and low, this assessment was not developmentally appropriate for the learners.
3. Was the assessment long enough or too long to assess goals? Why?
The assessment was too long to assess the goals. There were too many multiple-choice questions with too many confusing and big words. While observing during the administration of the test, I noticed that students were becoming frustrated with the test. This was evident through body language and when students started marking any letter to finish. Some students also skipped items and did not come back to them.
4. Were the directions clear enough to be understood by learners?
The directions were clear enough to be understood by learners. Directions were also gone over verbally prior to the administration of the test and then on a one-on-one basis as needed, especially with my student who is not English proficient.
5. Was the scoring clear? Were there surprises in scoring? Were student responses clear enough to score according to directions?
The scoring was clear on both the pre- and post-assessments. The only surprise in scoring is when I was grading one paper. I noticed that the student had skipped an entire page. Knowing this student, I knew that he did not do this on purpose and allowed him to complete this page the next day and not turn to any other part of the test, which I had already graded. Finally, student responses were clear enough to score according to the directions that I had set forth.
Performance Description: Present data and describe results.
1. Describe the average pre- and post-assessment performance and any gains made.
The class average on the pre-test was 29% and the class average on the post-test was 62%. The lowest score on the pre-test was 12 out of 100 and the highest score was 64 out of 100. The lowest score on the post-test was 36 out of 100 and the highest score was 84 out of 100. As you can tell, there was a gain of 33 percentage points between the pre- and post-assessments. The class as a whole did show improvement.
2. Describe the pre- and post-assessment performance of individual learners whose scores are remarkable for some reason. If some external situation influenced a particular score, note that. For example, a particular student may have been ill or had to leave early or a fire drill interrupted.
There are three students whose scores stand out and are remarkable for some reason or another. Deyvi is my student is not quite English proficient. His pre-test score for the unit was 12%. His post-test score was 68%. While this was not passing, it was remarkable improvement. Here, I believe it would be important to note that Deyvi is one of my diverse learner selections. During the unit he received various intervention strategies to improve his retention and comprehension of the material. Keaston’s post-test score also showed remarkable improvement. His pre-test score was 40% and his post-test was 72%. Keaston is one of those learners that learn best through hands-on and visual learning which this unit was heavy with. This could account for his improvement. Finally, Mikayla’s pre-test score was 28% and her post-test was 80%. I have no explanation on what could have influenced this particular score. It is also interesting to note that the highest score on both the pre- and the post-test came from Elya who is my advanced learner and other diverse learner selection.
Analysis: Analyze the results of the group and individual learners.
1. Were the pre- and post-assessments score expected? What was expected or unexpected?
The pre-assessment scores were expected. The students had not been exposed to the content material presented in this unit before. The pre-assessment scores were expected to be as low as they were. The post-assessment scores were not expected to as low as they were. While most students did show considerable gains from their pre-assessment scores, I expected the gains to be much greater between the pre- and post assessments and the scores to much higher for the post-assessments. I believe that the reading level of the class may have had something do with this unexpected event. I believe that the reading level of the test was too complicated even for some of the best readers in the classroom. The science terminology, even though it had been presented visually, was just too complicated in a testing situation.
2. Were individual learner scores expected? What was expected or unexpected?
I expected Elya to be my highest scorer because she came into the unit with more knowledge of the content material due to her home-schooling. Her post-test score was unexpected. I expected it be much higher, thereby increasing the gain she made from her pre-assessment. I did not expect Deyvi’s gain between the pre- and post-assessment. From 12% - 68% is a remarkable gain and one that shows that he understood something or something enabled him to perform better on the test. It could have quite possibly been the intervention strategies that we used during the unit.
3. Did the results demonstrate student learning?4. From the results, what was learned best? What was not learned?
Looking at the results, what was learned best from the unit were the parts of the seed. This was demonstrated through the diagram where students had to label the parts of the seed using the vocabulary listed at the top of the page. The fill-in-the-blank/labeling items were items 23-25. On these items there percentage correct on the pre-test went from 22% on item twenty-three and 28% on items twenty-four and twenty-five to 83% and 72% respectively on the post-test. I feel that this was due to the hands-on nature of the lesson. It was through this lesson that students were dissecting the seed and learning the vocabulary as they dissected each part of the seed. Students also labeled their own drawings in their journals as they dissected the seed. I feel that this aided in the retention and learning of this information. Item fourteen also seemed to be learned. This question stated the following, “A flower is _______ when an ovule and pollen combine to form a single seed.” On the pre-test 17% of the class answered this question correctly. On the post-test 78% of the class answered this question correctly. I am not sure that they all understood what an ovule was, but I think that they did understand that when a single seed is formed, reproduction has occurred. Reproduced was the correct answer. The hands-on flower and seed dissection lessons helped in the retention and learning of this information. There was also a drastic increase in the number of students who answered item four correctly which dealt with the conceptual understanding of photosynthesis. On the pre-test 17% of the class answered this question correctly. On the post-test 83% of the class answered this question correctly. Students were required to do their own drawings of the process of photosynthesis. We also modeled this process through a class skit during our discussion of the process. Incorporating these various learning styles may account for this drastic gain in learning.