DATA ANALYSIS GUIDE

The following is a data analysis protocol that assists in digging deeply into the data at the following
levels: standard-, item-, and student.

Part I: STANDARD ANALYSIS:

Determining a Focus Standard(s)

Grade & Strengths Areas for Growth

Subject
Standards Percent # of Standards Percent # of
with Highest Correct or Questions with Lowest Correct or Questions
Scores Proficient Scores Proficient

Questions to Consider:

• Are there any commonalities among the strength-area standards?

• Are there any commonalities among the growth-area standards?
• In looking at the standards identified in the completed chart, is there an additional standard
not included in your chart that you may want to consider as a growth area for focus?
• Do we have enough questions associated with the standard to really determine if it is a
strength or growth area? How many questions are enough? Why?
• As part of our analysis we will also apply what we know about rigor and assessments. Take
a look at the questions associated with the strength/growth standards. Do the questions
associated with each standard address the rigor spectrum? Based on your analysis, what
might you recommendations would you make for future and/or reassessment of the
standards?

Now, upon the standards-level data, the number of questions per standard, the description of each
standard, what do you think might be three growth-area standards for your team to focus on? Why
did you select these standards? What are the sub skills necessary for students to perform well on
these standards?

Focus Rationale What are the subskills?

Standard(s)
Part II: ITEM LEVEL ANALYSIS:
Look at the test and determine which questions on the test correspond with each of the three focus
standards we identified at our last local session. What was the correct answer? What was the most
commonly chosen incorrect answer? What does each question ask the students to know or do?
What hypotheses do you have about why the student may have chosen this incorrect answer or had
this misconception?
Focus Standard—Question ___:
Quest # (Write out
Question)/Rigor Level of
Question
Correct Answer? What
does it tell you students
know/need to know how
to do?
Misconception #1: (Most
Commonly Chosen
Incorrect Answer-What
does the distractor tell
you students don’t know
how to do?)
Misconception #2: (2nd
Most Commonly Chosen
Incorrect Answer-What
does the distractor tell
you students don’t know
how to do?)
Misconception #2: (3rd
Commonly Chosen
Incorrect Answer-What
does the distractor tell
you students don’t know
how to do?)
Instructional Planning-High Impact Strategies
Describe the strategy(ies) you would use to address each misconception.

Strategies Why the strategy? How will it

address the misconception?
Misconception 1:
Misconception 2:

Misconception 3:

Part II: Analyze Test Items (cont.)

Focus Standard—Question__:
Quest # (Write out
Question)/Rigor Level of
Question
Correct Answer? What
does it tell you students
know/need to know how
to do?
Misconception #1: (Most
Commonly Chosen
Incorrect Answer-What
does the distractor tell
you students don’t know
how to do?)
Misconception #2: (2nd
Most Commonly Chosen
Incorrect Answer-What
does the distractor tell
you students don’t know
how to do?)
Misconception #2: (3rd
Commonly Chosen
Incorrect Answer-What
does the distractor tell
you students don’t know
how to do?)

Instructional Planning-High Impact Strategies

Describe the strategy(ies) you would use to address each misconception.
Strategies Why the strategy? How will it
address the misconception?
Misconception 1:
 Misconception 2:

Misconception 3:

Part II: Analyze Test Items (cont.)

Focus Standard—Question__:
Quest # (Write out
Question)/Rigor Level of
Question
Correct Answer? What
does it tell you students
know/need to know how
to do?
Misconception #1: (Most
Commonly Chosen
Incorrect Answer-What
does the distractor tell
you students don’t know
how to do?)
Misconception #2: (2nd
Most Commonly Chosen
Incorrect Answer-What
does the distractor tell
you students don’t know
how to do?)
Misconception #2: (3rd
Commonly Chosen
Incorrect Answer-What
does the distractor tell
you students don’t know
how to do?)
Instructional Planning-High Impact Strategies
Describe the strategy(ies) you would use to address each misconception.

Strategies Why the strategy? How will it

address the misconception?
Misconception 1:
Misconception 2:

Misconception 3:

Part III: Grouping Strategies

Take a look at who chose certain answers/distractors.

• If it’s the majority of the students who chose the “same” wrong answer, choose whole
group. For those who mastered it, what they will they be doing/engaged in?
• If it’s a few who chose the same distractors, group those students together because it is
likely that they share the same misconception.
• If there are individual students who are the only ones who chose a particular distractor or
didn’t perform well at all, consider individualized instruction. The justification has to be
more than they scored low on the entire assessment. We are dealing in data
(standards/items) specifics.

Whole Group Small Group Individual

If you choose whole group
instruction, explain why and
provide data that supports non-
differentiation.
Which students need a Which students need an
deeper level of support than individual level of support to
whole group? Why, and reach proficiency? Why and
what data supports this? what data supports this?
● Who are the
students? (Justify
decision with data.)
● Be sure to group by
misconception and
not by percentage
groups.

RE-ASSESSMENT
How will the standard/skill/learning target be re-assessed formally or informally to check for mastery?
Why this method of assessment or why did you choose this/these assessment types? How will they be
used?