Impact of Student Learning
Secondary Education - Biology Example
Description:
Designing  successful  assessment  is  often  a  difficult  task,  knowing  what  to  do  with  collected   assessment  data  can  be  even  more  challenging.  According  to  InTASC  standard  6,  one  of  the  most   important  aspects  of  creating  successful  assessments  is  examining  performance  data.  With  No  Child  Left
Behind  and  the  proliferation  of  standardized  testing,  it  is  more  important  than  ever  to  know  if  what  you   think  you  taught  was  understood.
To  highlight  my  experience  with  using  performance  data  I  picked  my  implementation  of  a  school   wide  program  at  capital  city  public  charter  school.  The  program  is  called  “Intensives”  the  essential  notion   of  intensives  is  to  collect  performance  data  as  a  grade  level  team.    This  is  done  using  both  students  testing   results  from  previous  years  DC  standardized  test  grades,  a  school  purchased  testing  program  called
ANET,  as  well  as  in  classroom  observations  by  the  team  teachers.    Students  are  then  put  into  groups   according  to  a  specific  or  group  of  related  common  core  standards.  I  worked  with  my  teacher  and   administrative  team  to  select  students  based  on  standards  and  group  them.  The  artifact  that  follows  is  the   collection  of  different  assessments  I  used  to  re-­‐teach  and  help  students  master  the  specific  standard  that   my  students  were  struggling  with,  proportions.  Additionally  there  is  a  graph  highlighting  student   performance  on  a  1-­‐4  grading  scale  on  their  proportions  common  core  learning  standard,  from  before
and  after  the  intensives  intervention  that  I  implemented.
Reflection:
This  collection  of  questions,  as  well  as  their  context  (the  Intensives  program)  demonstrates  a  few   key  areas  of  designing  and  utilizing  successful  assessments.  I  believe  they  demonstrate  the  utilization  of   performance  data,  a  balance  of  summative  and  formative  work,  and  the  identification  and  modeling  of   quality  work  and  expectations.
First,  as  previously  discussed  it  is  very  important  to  not  only  collect  assessment  data,  but  to  act  on   it.  Specifically  InTASC  6.C  states  that  it  is  important  to  work  independently  and  collaboratively  to   examine  performance  data,  and  use  that  information  to  guide  planning.  While  I  am  not  able  to  show  the   specific  collaborative  planning  document  with  students’  performance  data  by  standard  for  FERPA   concerns,  in  the  artifact  section  you  will  find  a  graph  of  student  grades  before  and  after  intervention.  It  is   important  to  note  the  significant  (T<0.01)  average  increase  in  scores  from  a  1.5  to  a  2.5.  The  intensives   program  and  attached  classwork  document  was  not  given  to  all  of  my  students.    It  was  only  given  to   about  15  students  in  my  intensives  class  that  meet  three  times  a  week.  This  allowed  instruction  to  be
specific  and  focused  on  only  those  students  who  needed  extra  support  on  a  single  standard.
The  intensives  program  is  possible  in  large  part  because  of  the  way  the  school  and  I  grade   assessments.    By  using  standards  based  grading  it  is  possible  to  record  the  progress  of  a  single  student  on   a  single  standard  over  time.    This  style  of  grading  assessments  has  been  shown  to  be  highly  effective  at   allowing  teachers  to  adjust  instruction  meaningfully  towards  individual  student  learning  (Scriffiny,
2008).  This  is  useful  for  InTASC  standard  6.B,  not  only  do  the  assessments  match  the  standard  they  are
grading,  they  are  intentionally  paired  and  recorded  directly  along  with  those  standards.
The  Second  reason  I  picked  this  artifact  is  because  I  feel  it  shows  a  nice  balance  between   summative  and  formative  work  (6.A).  As  can  be  seen  in  the  document  there  are  multiple  opportunities   for  the  student  to  get  engaged  in  the  process  and  practice  the  skill  being  assessed  before  the  student  is   required  to  attempt  the  problem  on  her/his  own.  The  design  of  the  work  as  well  as  the  size  of  the  class   also  allowed  me  to  differentiate  the  product  and  process  of  the  assessment  based  on  readiness  for   learners  moving  at  different  paces.  For  example  while  one  student  might  have  been  required  to  finish  all   of  the  “you  try”  problems  in  one  class  period,  another  student  who  was  moving  slowly  might  have  been
given  extra  time  at  home,  or  after  school  (6.H).
The  last  reason  I  selected  this  assessment  was  because  it  showed  a  couple  of  the  ways  I  have   modeled  expectations  and  quality  for  an  assessment.  Specifically,  InTASC  standards  6.D  and  6.F  point  out   the  importance  of  modeling  the  expectations  and  the  identification  of  quality  work.  This  artifact  shows

Impact of Student Learning
Secondary Education - Biology Example modeling  problems,  but  also  setting  clear  expectations  for  the  method  of  solving  the  problem.  For   example,  I  made  sure  that  every  student  labeled  the  different  parts  of  the  proportion  fractions.  This   seemed  silly  at  first  to  the  students.  However,  as  they  moved  to  solve  more  complex  problems  with   proportions  they  quickly  saw  the  advantage  of  labeling.  By  that  point  labeling  had  become  routine  and   accepted  as  part  of  showing  quality  work,  and  lead  to  higher  rates  of  student  success  on  the  more  difficult   problems.
Like  I  said  above,  one  of  the  things  that  went  really  well  about  this  set  of  assessments  was  the   specific  labeling  of  the  fractions.  But,  actually  I  only  implemented  the  labeling  system  on  the  fly  after  I   realized  that  students  were  still  struggling.  I  noticed  that  students  really  understood  HOW  they  were  to   complete  the  problems,  but  were  having  a  very  hard  time  pulling  information  out  of  the  text  based  and   applying  that  information.    Adding  the  labeling  in  a  concrete  fashion  really  allowed  the  student  to   contextualize  the  information  in  the  word  problems.  I  am  not  sure  if  I  will  teach  this  exact  lesson  again,   however  I  really  learned  a  lot  from  the  experience  that  I  had.  Next  time  I  encounter  a  similar  problem  of   students  understanding  process  but  struggling  with  implementation,  I  will  move  more  quickly  to  adopt   and  model  procedures  to  students.
Scriffiny,  P.  L.  (2008).  Seven  Reasons  for  Standards-­‐Based  Grading.   Educational  Leadership ,   66 (2),
70–74.

Impact of Student Learning
Secondary Education - Biology Example
Artifact:       o Q4  intensives  work:
Re-­‐introduction  to  proportions:
In  your  groups  you  have  each  been  given  some
M&M’s.  Additionally,  I  have  counted  out  some
M&M’s  into  a  mystery  basket.    I  want  to  give   away  the  M&M’s  in  my  basket  to  my  best  friend,
I  only  want  to  give  him  his  favorite  color.  Blue!
Unfortunately,  I  forgot  to  count  how  many  blue
M&M’s  I  had  in  the  jar!  I  need  you  to  help  me.
Using  proportions  I  want  you  to  estimate  the
number  of  blue  M&M’s  in  the  mystery  basket.
The  mystery  basket  contains  a  total  of  161  M&M’s.  Use  the  data  table  below  to  figure  out  how  many
M&M’s  you  have:
Color
Red
Green
Number   but
Blue
Brown
Yellow
Orange
Total
Now  use  your  sample,  and  your  knowledge  of  proportions,  to  predict  the  number  of  blue  M&M’s  in   the  mystery  basket:
******Remember  to  use  the  order  of  problem  solving  we  used  together  as  a  class*****
1.) Set  up  your  equal  fractions
2.) Re-­‐read  the  question  and  label  the  fractions
3.) Cross  multiply
4.) Solve  for  your  unknown
5.) Re-­‐read  the  question  and  do  any  final  operations
Your  prediction  for  blue  M&M’s,  based  on  your  sample:_____________________________________

Impact of Student Learning
Secondary Education - Biology Example
Demonstration:
1.
At  1  PM.    The  90  foot  tall  flagpole  at  CapCity  casts  a  30-­‐foot  long  shadow.  On  Peabody  Street,  a   neighbor’s  flagpole  casts  a  shadow  that  is  only  5  feet.  Use  proportions  to  figure  out  how  tall  the
neighbor’s  flagpole  is,  start  with  a  Drawing:
Then  set  up  your  proportion:
How  tall  is  the  flagpole:  _________________________________________________________
You  try  one:
2.
At  5  PM.    The  8  foot  tall  soccer  goal  casts  a  5-­‐foot  long  shadow.  The  basketball  hoop  is  10  feet  tall.
Use  proportions  to  figure  out  how  long  the  hoop’s  shadow  is,  start  with  a  Drawing:
Then  set  up  your  proportion:
How  tall  is  the  flagpole:  _________________________________________________________
Demonstration:

Impact of Student Learning
Secondary Education - Biology Example
1.
You  go  to  the  store  to  buy  a  pair  of  retro  Jordan  III’s  from  1988.  The  normally  cost  $120  but  today   they  are  on  sale,  40%  off!     a.
What  is  the  price  of  the  shoes  with  the  40%  off?   b.
What  will  be  the  final  price  with  an  additional  5%  sales  tax?
a:  ________________________                                                      b:  ________________________
You  try:
1.
Takis  at  7-­‐11  cost  about  $3.00.  You  only  brought  $3.50  with  you  to  the  store.  With  8%  sales  tax  on
every  purchase,  will  you  be  able  to  afford  the  chips?  Show  your  work!
2.
You  want  to  buy  an  xbox  one;  it  costs  $300  at  best  buy.  If  you  wait  in  line  on  midnight  for  the  first   day  it  goes  on  sale,  you  get  15%  off  the  total  price.  If  there  is  no  sales  tax,  how  much  is  the  total?
3.
You  want  to  go  see  Godzilla  on  next  Friday.  The  IMAX  3D  movie,  ticket  costs  $21.00.  However,   there  is  a  student  discount  of  20%  per  ticket.  There  is  also  a  luxury  tax  for  each  ticket  of  8%?     a.
What  is  the  price  of  the  ticket  with  the  20%  off?   b.
What  will  be  the  final  price  with  an  additional  8%  sales  tax?
a:  ________________________                                                      b:  ________________________

Impact of Student Learning
Secondary Education - Biology Example o Anatomized  before  and  after  scores  on  proportions  benchmark  test.
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