Phase One Table of Contents 2 Common Core State Standards 3 Teacher Content Knowledge 4-8 Phase Two

Visual Representations of Pretest and Posttest Scores

Analysis of Pretest and Posttest Scores

The scores on the pretest ranged from fifty-three to one hundred, and the average score was an eighty-one. Six students scored above a ninety, nine scored an eighty or above, two scored above a seventy, two scored a sixty, one scored in the fifties, and one student was absent. The pretest indicated that eighty-five percent of the class had a proficient to advanced understanding of the content and scored a seventy or above, and the other fifteen percent of the students lacked an understanding of the content and scored below a seventy. The assessment tested the students on technical terms relating to biographies, as well as, comprehension skills related to reading a biography. The high pretest scores are a reflection of the students’ ability to read, comprehend the text, and answer questions from the text. The students had also just completed a unit on expository non-fiction texts, which aided them with correctly answering portions of the assessment. The range and the average improved on the posttest. The scores on the posttest ranged from sixty to one hundred, and the average score was a ninety. Seven students scored a one hundred, six students scored above a ninety, four scored an eighty or above, three scored in the seventies, and one scored a sixty. After the unit lessons, ninety-five percent of the class had a proficient to advanced understanding of the content and scored a seventy or higher on the posttest. One student scored below a seventy on the posttest, but her score did improve seven points from the pretest.

The vast majority of the students’ test scores improved on the posttest, with the average increase being nine points. Many of the proficient students in the class, such as Josie, Rosemary, Davis G., Garrett, and Pierce, improved their scores from eighties to nineties and one hundreds. These students did well on the pretest most likely because of their ability to comprehend text and their prior knowledge from the expository non-fiction unit of study. Their posttests had fewer errors on the technical information regarding biographies and included more accurate details on their short answer responses. Advanced students in the class, such as Charlie, Iman, Ella, Sophie, Walker, and John, improved their scores from high eighties and low nineties to high nineties and one hundreds. Like the proficient students, they included more accurate details on their short answer responses. Additionally, these students did not miss any of the questions concerning technical information about biographies. One advanced student, William, did not improve his score like the others did. I believe this was because he was on vacation during the majority of the unit lessons. The remedial students in the class, such as KJ, Davis C., and Matthew, improved their test scores from seventies and below to high seventies. These students have a hard time concentrating and made careless errors on both assessments. These students also had difficulties with the reading comprehension questions on the assessment.

One remedial Student, Frances, improved her score from a sixty to an eighty-seven. She had the most improved score of the class. She was not familiar with the format of the assessment and was confused by the directions. I think that her understanding of the format and her active participation during the unit lessons contributed to her score increase. The student with the lowest score in the class on both the pretest and the posttest did not have a significant improvement. This student has a low reading level and she was unable to read the biography passage that accompanied the assessment quickly enough to finish the assessment. Both her pretest and posttest lacked responses to the short answer questions, but she answered the multiple choice, true or false, and matching questions more accurately on her posttest.