Katie Hardy

ELED 533-Section 5
Math Student Work Analysis

Assessment Analysis

Overview

After administering the pre-assessment to my practicum class of twenty-two second

graders, I was given the task of placing these students into groups for differentiation purposes if

I were to instruct these students on measurement. The math SOL that I created a pre-

assessment for was SOL 2.11, the student will estimate and measure length to the nearest inch

and centimeter. When it came to creating these groups, I initially struggled with finding ways to

group students. Because I had essentially three different types of questions, I originally thought

of creating groups for each kind of question (estimation, measuring, and using a ruler) but then

decided that it would be a little too tedious and unrealistic. I then decided to create four

flexible groups based on overarching misconceptions or trends I noticed about these students

when it came to measuring and estimating. Overall, students fell into four different groups.

First, whether a student had a more advanced idea of measuring and answered most of the

questions and also measured by counting spaces, how you are supposed to measure. Second,

whether a student was on the right track about measuring, but instead of counting the spaces

of an object, the student counts the lines or marks of a ruler. Third, whether a student

needed some more instruction on measuring, like not knowing how to count measurements,

and has the misconception of reading the end of the ruler instead of an object. And finally, the

fourth group was if a student was off track with the rest of their classmates in regards to

measurement concepts. I was surprised to find that all these students fall somewhere within
these groups, and since they are flexible groups, the students would move accordingly based on

mastery of measurement concepts and debunking misconceptions about measurement.

Descriptions of Groups

As stated earlier, I managed to place my students into four different groups. The first

group, which I describe as the high group or the counting spaces group, are made up of

students who have the most knowledge about measuring, including estimation, counting

spaces when it comes to measuring with a ruler, and using a ruler in general. There are six

students in this group. These students can estimate with inches and centimeters, which I

gathered from the students correctly choosing the right multiple choice answers for estimating

the lengths of a line. The students also understand the there is a difference between inches and

centimeters, which I surmised from them using the correct units for each problem, saying

inches or centimeters when the question asked for inches or centimeters and not just using

inches for all questions. In addition, most of these students measure with spaces, but a few still

count lines instead. For example, when a question asked to measure two inches between six

inches and eight inches, these students responded with two, though some of these students

had answers like 2 , which I think may just be a reading error. After reading their answers to

this pre-assessment, I am curious about whether these students will be able to apply the

understandings from this pre-assessment to some real-world applications and activities where

students need to measure with rulers or some other tool for measurement.

The second group that I put together can be described as the mid-high or the

counting lines, group, and they are made up of students that are on the right track towards
understanding how to measure and mastering measurement concepts. There are seven

students in this group. These students have some general idea of estimation, but need a lot

more practice and instruction; they didnt get both estimation questions right, but they have a

sense of estimation, like when a line was three inches, they said it was five inches and knew it

wasnt one inch or ten inches. Many of these students count lines instead of spaces when it

comes to measuring with a ruler. When a measurement and ruler is placed in front of them,

and the measurement is two inches, they responded that it was actually three inches, since

they counted the marks that take up the bar: the marks for 6, 7, and 8. These students

counted the marks, three instead of the two spaces that are between 6-7 and 7-8. That same

misconception was also evident when it came to reading their response for actually using a

ruler. These students need more practice with rulers and measuring the spaces, not the line

marks. For example, one student measured a line that is three inches long and responded that

the line was four inches in length. After reading the answers that the students gave for this

assignment, I am curious as to asking these students on how they got this understanding of

counting lines instead of spaces on a ruler, and whether this misconception carries over to how

they measure with things in the real-world.

The third group that I created can be described as the mid-low group or the end of

the line group and there are seven students in this group. This group is made up of students

who need some more guidance when it comes to measurement concepts, a little more work

than the second group. When it comes to estimation, this group is very similar to the second

group; they have a general idea of estimation, but need more practice and instruction on

estimating measurements. For example, one student was able to estimate a ten centimeter
line, but also incorrectly estimated a three inch line for ten inches. This could be a testing error,

but this group may also needs a little more help on the difference between inches and

centimeters. These students also need more instruction and help on how to measure, with a

ruler in particular because these students read the end of the ruler of the object or line that is

measured. A bar that is three inches long and ends at the 8 marker was described by these

students as being eight inches long. The students in this group need more practice with rulers,

in particular paying attention to the reading the end of the object when the object doesnt start

at the zero end of the ruler. After reading their responses, I am curious as to whether the idea

of reading to the end of the object is consistent throughout other measurement problems. I

am also curious if this was a misconception that they derived on their own, or whether a

previous teacher or adult as taught them to just look at the end of the object and read that

number. Because while this could be a way to introduce to students how to measure with a

tool like a ruler, it is only true if the object is lined up starting at the zero end of the ruler, which

the questions on my pre-assessment did not.

The last of my four groups was tricky to determine whether to have or not. It is only

made up of two students, but they are my low group or my end of ruler group, and they

need the most instruction when it comes to measurement concepts. When it comes to

estimation these students have a weak understanding of estimating, and maybe even just

assume it is the highest number provided. These students may even need some more

instruction on what it means to estimate, at least when it comes to measurement. One of the

answers I found surprising from both students was that when asked to measure the length of a

provided bar, they both wrote the end of the ruler pictured. For example, one bar is two inches
long and is placed in marks 6-8, but the ruler goes until inch marker 10. Both students wrote

down that the bar was 10 inches long. I dont know if this is because they both misread the

question, or because they didnt know how to measure the bar pictured. Both of these students

definitely need more practice and instruction on how to use rulers, and I would like to work

with them directly on using rulers for measuring. One of these two students didnt attempt one

of the questions about measuring with a ruler, and the other wrote down the end of the ruler

for both the inches and centimeters questions, saying that a 3 inch line was 12 inches and a

12cm line was 30 centimeters. I initially thought of placing these two students with the third

group, but because they have a different understanding of how to measure, reading to the end

of the whole ruler instead of the end of the object measured, I decided I would work with these

two individually until they at least worked over that misconception. After reading these

responses, I am curious as to how they got the misconception of measuring with rulers and only

reading the edge of the ruler or if they were never even taught on how to measure with a ruler

in the first place.

Instructional Plan

Differentiated Task

For my differentiated task, I first looked to our textbook to find an activity that could be

differentiated, but would be equally engaging for all students. An activity that stood out to me

was Make Your Own Ruler and I think it could be beneficial for each group of students (Van

de Walle et. at, 2014, p.285). By having students create their own rulers, they will hopefully

understand that when measuring, we count the spaces, not the markers when determining a
measurement. After all students have created their own rulers, I would have each group of

students measure different objects in the room to meet their specific group needs, or to

challenge some students. The students could first measure these objects using the rulers we

made as a class and then measure with a standard ruler. It would be neat to have the discussion

of comparing the measurements made with their created rulers to the standard rulers we use

in everyday life. Also, to make it more fun and investigating project for the whole class, I will set

the task so that way each group of students have to report back to the class as a whole on

what measurements they made on the specific objects.

How This Task Meets Every Groups Needs

For the first group, the students who have the most understanding about measurement,

my plan for them is to challenge them with measuring the bigger objects that would be in my

classroom. Some of the objects can range to teachers desk to bulletin boards, and my hope is

that by giving these students bigger objects to work with, they may decide to work together to

combine their rulers to get accurate measurements. This can help with their addition skills as

well as their measurement skills. I would also make sure to have them explain their strategy

and procedure when they came back and reported their findings to the whole class. If time

permits, I could also have one student in this group work with one or two others students to

show them specifically how they did it.

This task meets the needs for second group of students, the students who are on the

right track towards mastering measurement concepts, because it gives them more

opportunities to practice measuring. Most of these students are counting the markers on the
rulers instead of spaces, so my goal is that by creating their own rulers, and using those spaces,

they will make the correlation between using the spaces on their rulers to counting the spaces

on a standard ruler. Because I dont want to overwhelm these students, I would assign them to

measure objects that require good measuring, but are the size of a ruler or less. These objects

could be tools like staplers or scissors, or maybe even students choice. Like the first group,

these students will also be asked to report their findings to the whole group, so that way they

have motivation to complete this task for others, and so they can share their measuring skills.

I decided to combine my last two groups, since the fourth group has only two students

in it and I think they would benefit from working with more students than just each other.

Because these students need the most instruction and assistance when it comes to measuring

with rulers, I want to give them manageable objects to measure, similar to the second group,

but make sure they are objects that have a clear answer, like a paper clip and maybe utensils

that have exact measurements. I want to help them get confident in their measuring abilities,

and feel proud and excited to share their measurements with the class. I would spend most of

my time helping this group, especially the two students from my lowest group, to make sure

they are measuring correctly and understanding how to use their rulers, the one they made and

the standard they will use in the future.

Reflection

This assignment was another example and exercise that helped show how important

student data can be to make instructional decisions. For me, it seems like the theme of this

semester of graduate school here at JMU is how to use data from students to make decisions
and see how students are learning. Completing this assignment in particular was enlightening

on working through the whole process of implementing a pre-assessment, analyzing the data,

and creating a plan for instruction based on the pre-assessment data. Teachers make so many

decisions every day for the students they work with, and what better way to make the best

decisions for your students than by using information directly from them. By using student

data, a teacher will fit the needs of his or her students more carefully, which can help with any

issues that are happening in the classroom. Student data can also be derived from so many

things that happen in a teachers classroom, whether it is from summative assessments like

formal tests and projects, and formative assessments like the pre-assessment I administered in

my practicum placement.

Completing this assignment definitely revealed how important it is for me to use

student data in my future classroom. Before taking this semester load of questions, using data

and talking about things like checks for understanding and formative assessments were not the

most critical clear idea for me, and I knew that it was done and that teachers are expected to

do it. I also understood the research and reasons for why using student data was important, but

I didnt yet have the opportunity to really experience using student data except in reflections of

some lessons I did throughout practicum lessons. With this assignment, I am glad that I got to

go through the whole process of analyzing student work, especially placing students into

flexible groups. I did have the opportunity to place students into groups based on ability for one

or two lessons in previous practicums, but that was only going off of observations I made about

who worked well with who and mixing students based on ability. For this assignment, I really

liked how I got to place students into ability groups based on the data I was given from the pre-
assessment. By using this data, it helped me feel better about making specific decisions on how

to make the groups, and I feel confident enough that I can defend the decisions I made about

the groups, knowing that the data could help support those decisions.

As I go into student teaching next semester and hopefully having a classroom of my own

next school year, I am looking forward to using assessments and data to help make decisions

about my instruction. As a pre-service teacher, I have heard so much about how everything is

data or evidence driven, and those words honestly intimidated me until completing

assignments like this. After completing this assignment, I feel more confident on collecting data

or evidence from my students, and I now know that I can use that data effectively to make

informed teaching decisions!

References

Van de Walle, J., Lovin, L., Karp, K., & Bay-Williams, J. (2014). Teaching student-centered

mathematics: Developmentally appropriate instruction for grades pre-k-2. New Jersey:

Pearson Education, Inc.