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Assessment Data and Analysis

Overview
The assessment that this analysis will cover was the unit test given to students at the end of
their chapter on Equivalent Forms. This test was designed to cover expression equivalence, solving
equations, solving systems, simplifying rational expressions, and operations on rational expressions.
Methods used included open response/reflection questions to assess students abilities to
verbalize thinking and reasoning skills. Also used were the methods of true/false, multiple choice (with
more than one selection possible), and long hand work problems.
In general, grading will always be done as a balance between work shown and the answer given.
Mathematics is an area where it is equally important to be able to reason and problem solve as it is to
get to the correct answer. Therefore I tend to count 50% of points from work shown and the process
used and 50% from the correct answer. Sometimes process will count more depending on how many
steps are used to solve a problem compared to the significance of the correct answer. Partial credit is
also given if a single mistake is made but the process after the mistake is correct. If students arrive at the
correct answer that would be true given a single mistake, there is no further deduction of credit.

Examples
Problem: Problem:
Solve the equation for k 2 2 +4 2 +6+8
( + 1)2 + 2( + 1) 3 = 0
5 2 +34
a. = 5
b. = 4 Ideal Response:
c. = 0 Show the factoring of each polynomial
d. = 2 into parts
Simplify by using the Giant One
Ideal Response:
technique
All work shown including substitution or
Perform the operation correctly
expansion of the polynomials
Look for further simplification options
Algebra showing that there are two
Write the final expression correctly
potential answers
Check process done by plugging
Points Taken Off For:
answers back into the equation
Mistakes in factoring or simplifying
Both solutions circled
Performing the operation incorrectly
Not simplifying completely
Points Taken Off For:
Limited or no work shown
Guessing and checking by plugging in
the answers instead of solving
Only one solution circled
Assessment Results
The test had a maximum score of 35 points with 5 points of extra credit possible on a challenge
question. The analysis will be over all 55 students between three classes.

Highest Score: 39.5


Lowest Score: 17
Average Score: 32

To measure what students achieved compared to my expectations, I organized the outcomes in the
following subgroups.

Below Expectations score: 17 23


Meet Expectations score: 23 30
Above Expectations score: 30 40

Number of Students in Each Subgroup

7
25
Below Expectations

23 Meet Expectations
Above Expectations

Percentage of Students in Each Subgroup

45
45%
40 42%
35
Below Expectations
30
25 Meet Expectations
20 Above Expectations
15
10
13%
5
0
An opportunity to earn points back on the test was given to all students. This included reflecting on the
mistakes made, showing new reasoning and work, and showing the ability to get the correct answer.
After test corrections were made, the new subgroup spread is shown as the following.

Number of Students in Each


Subgroup after Test Corrections
4

21 Below Expectations
30
Meet Expectations
Above Expectations

Analysis
Students in each subgroup tended to follow the same patterns and trends that impacted their
scoring. The students in the subgroup that fell below expectations showed that they often missed items
listed in the directions, so potentially did not read them, or did not understand, or did not know how to
answer each piece. These students had more trouble in general verbalizing their thoughts into words
and I noticed that many of them were also students who did not participate in class for various reasons.
This connection will come in handy later because I hope that encouraging students to speak and
participate in class will help them overall to become more skilled at verbalizing their thoughts when
working through mathematical processes. This subgroup also tended to have trouble with the process
involved in the final section on rational expressions which was the most difficult piece because it
required application of the previous sections. Also in general, this subgroup tended to have less work
shown or no work at all which implied that the students guessed in certain areas. This could potentially
be due to not wanting to work at the test, or having honest confusion about some of the elements
involved. After the opportunity for test corrections was given, many of these students took advantage
and came in to get help in order to further understand the content and improve their overall score.
The students that met the expectations of the test tended to have better verbalization skills and
showed a range of work from a limited amount to a great amount of work in scatterings across the test.
These students had some confusion on parts of the processes involved, but in general showed a firm
grasp of content knowledge with some limitation on application. These students also tended to show
that they were putting in a good effort on the entire test, there were only some instances of confusion
or had limited trouble with various parts.
Students who exceeded expectations shows that they had very good problem solving
techniques and often times could skip smaller steps because of their ability to detect patterns and make
connections. These students tended to show more and generally more organized work that clearly
showed the reasoning being done. This subgroup had good verbalization skills and a solid understanding
of vocabulary and its implementation in context. Students who fell above expectations showed a
general comfort with content knowledge and an ability to apply their knowledge in various ways.
Overall, there was a very small percentage of the class who did not meet the achievement
objectives, and while remediation opportunities have been given to help build their comfort with the
content, I chose to move on to the next topic because of a general understanding and achievement of
the learning objectives and unit goals.

What does this assessment show about the learning that did or did not occur in the unit?
Because the majority of the class met or exceeded expectations on the exam and from thorough
analysis of what general trends appeared, I can make the conclusion that the learning objectives were
met at a significant level. The evidence to support this is clear from the students abilities to generally
answer all questions with informed and knowledgeable work. Also, from analyzing the exams, there
were no significant clusters of confusion shown, meaning that while there may have been some
scattered and in the moment problems with application, understanding, or following directions, there
were no visible holes of sections of content knowledge.
The most difficult part involved the solving of rational expressions which was also the most
challenging section of the chapter that was studied. Even though this part of the test was the lowest
scoring area, it was still clear that students had a general understanding of the problem solving process.
This is because students were generally able to work through each problem and only minor mistakes
were made in algebra errors, factoring, or forgetting single steps here and there. However, it was clear
that students learned a significant amount about this topic as evidenced by the fact that before the
section, students did not know what a rational expression was and by the end they were able to
successfully construct and solve operations on complex rational expressions.
Overall, the learning that occurred in the unit was clear from the general success and ability of
the students to meet the learning objectives and achieve or exceed expectations on all formative and
most specifically the summative unit assessment.

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Assessment Plan


In general, I believe that the assessment plan of various formative, two small summative, and
one large summative assessment worked well. I was able to track student progress through the entire
unit and closely monitor for any holes in knowledge or general areas of confusion within each class.
Strengths of this plan would include the number and variety of assessments. Having different types of
assessment, whether it be quizzes, tests, projects, practice time, presentation opportunities,
verbalization, or simply walking around and checking in with individuals makes it much more likely to
identify and address any issues in confusion among a group of students who all learn in different ways
and at different speeds. Also, it is important to have a lot of assessments, whether formal or informal,
ongoing throughout the unit in order to check student understanding in small intervals and small
sections of content knowledge, rather than trying to catch up over a large amount of information and
plug holes that way.
Some weaknesses of this assessment plan would be the speed and lack of applicable work. This
was a fairly large topic to cover in a short amount of time and it proved to be a challenge to provide
students with enough time to show their progress while learning new content the whole time. If I were
to do this unit again, I would plan extra time specifically around rational expressions and a couple
smaller assessments to help the students and I determine the level of their understanding. Looking back,
I believe there was too much content measured in too large of a chunk in the unit assessment because
there had not been time to put a smaller assessment specifically designed to measure the smaller parts
of the topic. Also, this unit was very difficult to model with real world situations which made it difficult
to put in any assessments that tested the students abilities to apply their content knowledge in other
forms of assessment other than direct algebraic solving techniques.
Overall, I believe that this was a strong unit; there were many opportunities to measure student
progress and clear up confusion during the progression of instruction. Students clearly learned a lot
during the expanse of the unit, as evidenced by their success in meeting the learning objectives on a
daily basis and for the overall unit.

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