16 December 2014
QR Assessment sub-Committee Report
Submitted by Mitchell Anderson, Chair
The QR sub-committee administered the general QR assessment found at the end of this report to
all sections of Math numbered 205 and below (Math 100, 103, 104F, 104G, 104, 115, 121, and
205) during the first two weeks of November. The goal was to assess QR skills at the
introductory level. Each instructor was given numbered assessments and allowed 15 minutes for
the in-class assessment. 467 usable assessments were obtained. The initial results of the
assessment are included below.
Freshmen
Sophomore
Fresh/Soph
n
195
113
308
Mean
1.1846154
1.2477876
1.2077922
score =
0
20.51%
19.47%
20.13%
score =
1
46.67%
39.82%
44.16%
score =
2
26.67%
37.17%
30.52%
score =
3
Q1correct Q2correct Q3correct
6.15%
66.15%
20.00%
32.31%
3.54%
70.80%
17.70%
36.28%
5.19%
67.86%
19.16%
33.77%
Junior
Senior
All
105
54
467
1.3333333
1.3888889
1.2569593
9.52%
14.81%
17.13%
53.33%
42.59%
46.04%
31.43%
31.48%
30.84%
5.71%
11.11%
6.00%
80.95%
83.33%
72.59%
19.05%
9.26%
18.20%
33.33%
42.59%
34.90%
Of particular interest is that approximately 37% of the students scored 2 or higher, which
indicates competency. Only 6% scored an advanced rating by getting all three questions correct.
The committee would like to analyze the results disaggregated by course, but time constraints
did not allow for this. We may complete this in the future. Senior level courses in most
programs will be given the same assessment next semester, which will allow us to gauge
competency at graduation as well as being able to gauge value-added during their time at UHH.
We are more interested in the results above for Freshmen and Sophomores. The breakdown for
this group is within 1% point in all cases except for Q1, which is about 5% lower for the
Freshmen and Sophomores. Results for Juniors and Seniors is discounted somewhat because the
introductory math course should be taken earlier in their studies, indicating that these students
may be less comfortable with quantitative reasoning. Nevertheless, their results are consistent
and even higher in most cases than those of the Freshmen and Sophomores. The reader should
take note of the glaringly low results for Seniors on Question 2, the most difficult question. We
anticipate that Seniors will score higher when given the assessment in their major course.
Analysis of each question
Question 1 only requires students to be able to read simple information off of a single graph. It
is not surprising that 72% of the students were able to answer question 1 correctly.
Question 2 required students to get information off of two graphs and to identify the ratio of
ending prices to beginning prices, which requires critical thinking. This question is more
difficult than question 3 because it requires students to perform the same critical thinking on two
graphs instead of one, and compare the results. It is not surprising that this question had the
lowest success rate.
Question 3 required students to get information off of a single graph and to identify the ratio of
ending prices to beginning prices. This again requires critical thinking. It is not surprising that
the success rate for this problem is in the middle.
Closing the Loop
The purpose of this assessment was to set a benchmark to be used to compare with students at
the graduating level. No action is required at this stage for this type of assessment.
Please indicate your class standing by placing a check in the appropriate box.
☐
☐
☐
☐
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
On the accompanying page are two graphs that depict respectively the historic price of silver per ounce
and the historic price of gold per gram from the year 2000 to 2014. The tick marks and labels at the
bottom of each graph depict the first day of each year.
Circle each statement below that is a reasonable conclusion that can be made based on these two
graphs. You can either clearly circle the appropriate statement numbers, or the entire statement.
1. The amount of gold that could be purchased with $1000 at the beginning of 2008 is
approximately the same as the amount of gold that could be purchased with $1000 at the
beginning of 2009.
2. Gary bought $1000 in gold at the beginning of year 2002 and Sylvia bought $1000 in
silver at the same time. They both sold their investments at the beginning of year 2007.
Sylvia received more money than Gary at the time of the sale.
3. Thomas bought $1000 worth of gold at the beginning of 2002 and sold it at the beginning
of 2008. Patricia bought $1000 worth of gold at the beginning of 2010 and sold it at the
beginning of 2012. Patricia received more money at the time of her sale than Thomas
received at the time of his sale.
Historic price of Silver per ounce in the US
Historic price of Gold per gram in the US
This assessment is intended to assess the Visual Representation aspect of quantitative reasoning (i.e.
column three in the institutional QR rubric). The following table equates raw scores to the QR rubric.
Raw Score
3
2
1
0
QR Rubric
Advanced
Competent
Emerging
Beginning