Data Analysis Individual Scores The data analyzed comes from the fifteen questions on the test that
related to the topics in the unit that I taught(questions 1-8 and 12-18). The three other questions dealing with information taught by my mentor teacher helped to assess the students learning and the full 18 question test scores were recorded in the grade book. Each student was assigned a number for confidentiality. Below is a graph of the individual scores of the students from the pre-test and the post-test. Student 16 was excluded from the study because he left for India halfway through the unit.
Pre and Post Test Results
120% 100% Percentage Correct 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Student
Pre-Test Post-Test
The average score on the pre-test was 61% and the average score on the post-test was 94%. This data is presented in the graph below.
Average Class Test Scores
Average Percentage Correct 100% 50% 0% Test Score (%) Pre-Test Post-Test
The Box and Whisker Plots below show how the average test scores grew between the pre and post-tests. The majority of the class was above 88% on the post-test.
Learning Growth Each student had a learning growth of at least 7%. The student who only grew 7% received a high score on the pre-test and did not have any higher to grow. All other students grew 13% or more as outlined in the graph and chart below. There was an average learning growth of 33%.
Chart of Students Pre and Post-Test with Learning Growth
Student 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Average Pre-Test 40% 80% 73% 80% 40% 60% 60% 73% 40% 40% 93% 53% 53% 60% 80% 67% 66% 53% 33% 40% 86% 80% 61% Post-Test 100% 100% 100% 100% 53% 93% 87% 100% 93% 93% 100% 87% 100% 100% 100% 100% 93% 100% 87% 87% 100% 100% 94% Learning Growth (+) +60% +20% +27% +20% +13% +33% +27% +23% +53% +53% +7% +34% +47% +40% +20% +33% +27% +47% +54% +47% +14% +20% +33%
Student Learning Growth (+)
Difference in Percentage from the Pre-test to the Post-test
70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Student
Learning Growth of Special Groups There were 23 students in my class, and 22 of them were tested. Of those 22 students, 11 of them were female and 11 of them were male. The females in my class had an average learning growth of 31% and the males had an average learning growth of 36% as pictured in the graph below.
Average Learning Growth
Percent Average Learning Growth
37% 36% 35% 34% 33% 32% 31% 30% 29% 28% Female Gender Male
Each student in my class had specific learning needs. There was one ESOL student, one student with an IEP, two students with 504 plans for ADHD, four gifted students, five gifted extension students, and six students who received reading services. The students who had the largest learning gain were those that had the farthest to go. The graph below shows the average learning growth of specific groups of students.
Average Learning Growth
Percent Average Learning Growth 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% ELL Reading Services ADHD IEP SCOPE SCOPE Extension
Special Group
The one ELL student had the smallest percent growth. I believe that the language barrier was extremely difficult for her. She also missed one day of instruction and it was difficult to find time to catch her up on the information that she missed because she was pulled out of the classroom for an hour each day. I also believe that the vocabulary in this lesson was complicated. Student 5, the ELL student, had an understanding of how magnets work, but it was difficult for her to comprehend the specific vocabulary associated with magnets. She confused the concepts of attract and repel on her test and this hindered her understanding of the test. She did have the test read aloud to her, but not all of the accommodations helped. Student 5 did learn from my unit, but I believe that we could have done more with more time, more thought, and more resources. I would have given a different approach to the vocabulary attract and repel. Breakdown of Data by Question On the pre-test, many students had a difficult time answering question 18 because it required knowledge of magnets and some higher-level thinking. On the post-test, however 17 out of 22 students answered the question correctly. Another difficult question for students on the pretest was question 16, which asked the students if the magnets were attracting or repelling. On the post-test 20 out of 22 students got the question correct. Below is a graph that analyzes the pre and post-test by question.
Pre and Post Test Breakdown by Question
Number of Students Who Got The Correct Answer 25 20 15 10 5 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Question Number Pre-Test Post-Test
The graph shows that more people got the answer to number 12 correct on the pre-test than the post-test. I believe this happened because two students were confused by the question. The question asked if a magnet would attract to a plastic water bottle. The students who answered wrong on the post-test may have thought the question asked if a magnet would attract through a plastic water bottle. All other questions on the graph show that more students answered correctly on the post-test than the pre-test. Overall, I believe there was a significant growth in learning from the unit that I taught on magnets. The students were engaged and excited with each new lesson. Every student improved their score from the pre-test to the post-test and all of my students passed with scores above 80% except for the one ELL student.