Analysis Summary 
 

Deliverables 
❏ Performance Assessment 
❏ Instructional Goals 
❏ Targeted Audience Profiles 

Team Members 
● Christy Ballew 
7th Grade Math Educator, Bagley Middle School 
cballew1@my.westga.edu  
● Kristy Gamble  
Graphic Designer, eCampus  
kgamble@westga.edu  
● Monique Holloway 
8th Grade Science ​Educator, Bear Creek Middle
mhollow4@westga.edu
● April Parmer, M.S 
Educator, Sammy McClure Middle School
aparmer@my.westga.edu  
● Topaz Thompson,​ ​M.S.Ed 
Educator,GIVE Center West Middle School 
Topaz_Thompson@gwinnett.k12.ga.us  

Background 
● Who: ​28 6th-grade science students 
● What: ​Instruction for 6th-grade science students focused on addressing the performance 
gap in making scientific claims and supporting those claims with evidence and reasoning.  

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● When: ​2018-19 academic year (first semester) 
● Where: ​Teacher A’s class at Sammy McClure Sr. Middle School in Dallas, GA 
● Why: ​Results from a pre-test at the beginning of the school year reflected that 11% (3 out 
of 28) of Teacher A’s 6th-grade students demonstrated proficiency in making a scientific 
claim and supporting that claim with evidence and reasoning.  
● How: ​The students will participate in a series of lessons designed to educate how to 
make and support a scientific claim with evidence and reasoning using the CER 
Framework.  

Performance Assessment 
 

Actual Performance  Desired Performance  Primary Cause  % of Performance 

Gap 

11% of students were  75% of students will  Students lack  64% discrepancy  
able to make and  be able to make and  independent skills 
support a scientific  support a scientific  needed to make a 
claim using evidence  claim using evidence  scientific claim and 
and reasoning.  support that claim 
and reasoning. 
with evidence and 
reasoning. 

Instruction Goals 
❏ Recall information related to a specific topic (Knowledge).  
❏ Identify pieces of evidence from various resources (articles, labs, background knowledge, 
class lessons, and notes, etc.) that directly relate to a scientific topic or question 
(Comprehension).  
❏ Make a scientific claim based on evidence from various resources (Application).  
❏ Analyze directly relevant, scientific evidence supporting a scientific claim (Analysis).  
❏ Utilize scientific evidence to synthesize reasoning to support a scientific claim via a 
written response (Synthesis).  
❏ Critique the adequacy with which peers make scientific claims and support those claims 
with evidence and reasoning (Evaluation).   

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Targeted Audience Profiles 

 

Group Identification  Teacher A’s 6th-grade science students - 4th period 

General Characteristics  Females 43% 

Males 57% 
 
Caucasian 68% 
African American 25% 
Hispanic 7% 
 
On level (no IEP) 78% 
IEP or 504 18% 
Gifted (Advanced) 4% 

Total Number of Students  28 

Location of Students  Sammy McClure Sr. Middle School - Dallas, GA 

Levels of Experience of  Students have a limited understanding of citing textual 

Learners  evidence in English/Language Arts, but have not been 
exposed to instruction related to making scientific claims.  
 
 

Attitude of Learners  20 students are eager to attempt making scientific claims, 

but 8 are apprehensive about using evidence and 
reasoning to support their claims, as they view this task 
as difficult and confusing.  

Skills of Learners that  Students have a basic level of understanding of how to 
Influence the Success of  use the computer to retrieve information. Students often 
the Instruction  need guidance when using textual evidence in 
English/Language Arts. Acclimating to middle school, 
students have limited science background. 

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