Assessment Data and Analysis

Josh George

The Pre and Post Assessment that I gave my students was conducted in my
History Unit that lasted about a month or so in which we examined the early
civilizations of the Western Hemisphere, the early European explorers, and their
impact on the Americas following their arrival known as the Columbian Exchange.
The purpose of the assessment was initially to see if the students had any prior
knowledge about the history unit and with the post assessment to gauge the
students growth over the course of the unit. The pre and post assessments were
identical with two different IB Criteria being assessed. The pre and post
assessments were identical because a majority of the students had never been
exposed to most of the material covered over the course of the unit. This enabled
me to not only gauge what (if any) prior knowledge they had on the material as well
as providing a good indicator of their growth from day one of the unit to the end.
The front side of the assessment consisted of 9 multiple-choice questions, which fell
under the Knowing and Understanding IB Criteria, and the backside consisted of 3
short answer/essay questions that aligned with the Critical Thinking IB Criteria.
Since each side was designated a specific Criteria they were scored and graded
separately providing two separate scores in the gradebook. The front side with the
multiple choice was either a right or wrong answer and was scored based on
Standards Based Grading with .5 (lowest score possible) - 4 (highest score possible)
scale. A 9 out of 9 resulted in a 4, a 8 out of 9 resulted in a 3.5, 7 or 6 out of 9
resulted in a 3, 5 out of 9 resulted in a 2.5, and anything below that was scored as a
2. The only exception was if the wrote nothing than they received a 1.5 or a 1. The
backside was a bit more subjective in grading as it was based on whether they for
one answered all parts of the question and two the quality of the answers. I gave
each of the three questions a point value based on the number of parts and
difficulty of the question. The first was 2 points, the second was 3 points, and the
third was 4 for again a total of 9 points total on the back that was translated into
Standards Based Grading by the same scale as the front. The only difference being
that if there was little to no effort given on the backside a 1 or .5 scores were
possible. For the first questions that had to describe two ways the Mayans may have
disappeared. The second question they had to choose either Inca or Aztecs and
provide the conquistadors name what their motives were and what advantages they
had. The Final question was at least one positive, one negative, and lasting effects
(2 points) of the Columbian Exchange. If they answered all of the parts and gave
quality answers they received a the full points amount for each question.

Assessment Data and Analysis

Knowing and Understanding Pre vs Post Graph

4
3.5
3
2.5
Standards Basede Grading Score
Knowing and Understanding Pre

2
1.5

Knowing and Understanding Post

1
0.5
0

Students

Critical Thinking Pre vs Post Graph

Josh George

Assessment Data and Analysis

Josh George

4
3.5
3
2.5
Standards Based Grading Score

Critical Thinking Pre

Critical Thinking Post

1.5
1
0.5
0

Students

Assessment Data and Analysis

Josh George

Boys: Knowing & Understanding

4
3
Standards Based Grading Score

Boys Pre
Boys Post

1
0

Students

Girls: Knowing & Understanding

4
3.5
3
2.5
2
Standards Based Grading Score
1.5
1
0.5
0

Girls Pre
Girls Post

Students

Knowing and Understanding Pre Assessment

Assessment Data and Analysis

Knowing and Understanding Post

Assessment

Boys: Critical Thinking

4
3
Standards Based Grading Score

2
1
0

Students

Boys Pre
Boys Post

Josh George

Assessment Data and Analysis

Josh George

Girls: Critical Thinking

4
3.5
3
2.5
2
Standards Based Grading Score
1.5
1
0.5
0

Girls Pre
Girls Post

Students

Critical Thinking Pre Assessment

Critical Thinking Post Assessment

This data shows that between the girls and boys that there wasnt any
drastic differences. For the most part, they are right on par with each other
with only minor differences in scores.

Assessment Data and Analysis

Josh George

I believe that it showed that my students had immense growth

especially with the Critical Thinking portion of the assessment. I feel that my
students could have shown a bit more growth with the Knowing and
Understanding portion of the assessment as it was supposed to be the easier
part of the assessment. However, I know that for myself I was never a good
test taker when it came to multiple choice and always did better when I was
able to explain my answers, which may have been the case for my students
as well. Overall, I was glad to see the growth that I did.
The strength and weakness of my assessment plan was pretty much
the same thing. I feel that the fact that none of the students had much
background knowledge for the unit help to show a good set of growth and at
the same time, I can see how it would be a weakness. I can see how it might
make it a bit too easy to show growth nearly across the board. Im not sure if
it is a stronger strength or a stronger weakness but irregardless it enabled
me to see a lot of growth with my students from the beginning of the unit to
the end.
Knowing and
Understanding Pre
3
3
4
2
3
2.5
2
2
2
3
3.5
3
2
3
2
2.5
3
2.5
3
2
2
2.5
2
3
2

Knowing and
Understanding Post
3.5
3.5
3.5
3
3.5
4
3
2
2.5
3.5
4
4
3.5
3
3
3.5
3.5
4
3
3.5
2.5
2
3
3
2

Gain Score
0.5
0.5
-0.5
1
0.5
1.5
1
0
0.5
0.5
0.5
1
1.5
0
1
1
0.5
1.5
0
1.5
0.5
-0.5
1
0
0

Gain Score
Percentage
50%
50%
-100%
50%
50%
100%
50%
0%
25%
50%
100%
100%
75%
0%
50%
67%
50%
100%
0%
75%
25%
-33%
50%
0%
0%

Assessment Data and Analysis

2.5
Average Score: Pre
2.576923077

3
Average Score:
Post
3.173076923

0.5
Average Gain Score
0.596153846

Josh George
33%
Average Gain
Percentage
39%

I am happy with the results here as on average my students went from the
2.5 area to a 3. This is significant because in the Standards Based Grading a
3 is at grade level expectation and anything below that is below grade level
expectation. In other words, I feel that my students in this class were able to
take their pre assessment scores and show growth toward grade level
expectation. However, being that this was the Knowing and Understanding I
would have liked to see the average gain score and percentage at closer to a
1 a and a 50% jump as this was the easier portion of the assessment. Yet I do
want to note that five of my Gifted and Talented students were absent for a
field trip the day of the pre assessment and never had a good opportunity for
them to take it without pulling them out of important lessons in class. Those
same students on the Post assessment that averaged out to a 3.5 which
would have impacted my data slightly for the better.
Critical Thinking:
Pre
2.5
2
2
1.5
2
2
2
2
2
2
3
2.5
2
2
2.5
3
2
2.5
2
2.5
2.5
2
2

Critical Thinking:
Post
3
2.5
4
2
2
2.5
3
2
3
3
4
3
3
3.5
2
3
3
3
3
2.5
3
2
3

Gain Score
0.5
0.5
2
0.5
0
0.5
1
0
1
1
1
0.5
1
1.5
-0.5
0
1
0.5
1
0
0.5
0
1

Gain Score
Percentage
33%
25%
100%
20%
0%
25%
50%
0%
50%
50%
100%
33%
50%
75%
-33%
0%
50%
33%
50%
0%
33%
0%
50%

Assessment Data and Analysis

2.5
2
1
Average Score: Pre
2.153846154

3
2.5
2.5
Average Score:
Post
2.807692308

0.5
0.5
1.5
Average Gain Score
0.653846154

Josh George
33%
25%
50%
Average Gain
Percentage
35%

I was happy with the Critical Thinking scores as many of my students were at
an average of 2 on the pre assessment. It is important to note though, many
of the students that received 2s were given 2s purely on their attempt at
the Critical Thinking questions not necessarily based on the quality of the
answers which was the case for the post assessments that were graded on
quality. I believe that this actually doesnt show the whole growth of my
students as many of the students would have received 1s on the pre
assessment had it been scored based on quality, which would have resulted
in a higher gain score and percentage gain. Nonetheless, I was still very
happy to see over a .5 jump in score regardless of the data skew. I would
have like to see the post assessment average to have been over the 3 mark
of at grade level expectation but given that again 5 GT students didnt take
the pre assessment and were left out of the data I cant be too upset with the
results.