Collection Methods
Unit Pre-test and Post-Test
A T-Test, or test used to measure the difference between a pre-test and post-test, was used to assess the amount of growth all of my students made prior to being exposed to the content covered in our unit of study in math in comparison to after learning the content. The pre-test was very similar to the format of the unit test to be given at the end of instruction; however, it had different questions and equations. Additionally, the pre-test data allowed me to determine which students already knew the content that was to be covered. These students who scored highly the first time they took the test were provided with differentiated content. Rather than focusing on addition and subtraction within 20 or story problems with three addends, these students were exposed to multi-step problems that involved double digit addition and subtraction. These students also continued to build their foundation of regrouping when necessary as they solved story problems with double-digit addition and subtraction.
Unit Pre-Test
Unit Post-Test
Unit Pre-Test
Quick Quizzes
During the unit, students took two quick quizzes that were used to assess student mastery of the big ideas of the unit. The first big idea was over teen solution methods and the second big idea focused on finding patterns and relationships with place value. These were checkpoints that allowed me to assess who had mastered skills and objectives and which students still required additional support in learning what had been covered. For the purpose of this data analysis, the back portion of the quizzes was not analyzed in my data due to the fact the back of the quick quizzes have 15 problems to assess student fluency of adding and subtracting within 10. Instead, I chose to focus on the data collected from the front portion to assess what specific skills pertaining to this unit of study were difficult for my class to master.
Student Interviews
Another data collection method used during this study included student interviews. These interviews were given at the beginning of the unit to determine what a small sample of students enjoyed about math, or if they enjoyed math at all, as well as to assess their knowledge of how to solve problems that we would learn to later solve in the unit. Only six students of varying ability levels were chosen to complete these interviews due to the limited amount of time I had to pull kids. If time had not been a factor, I would have pulled all 26 students for the interview to gain a more comprehensive analysis of my students' perceptions and ability levels.
Small Group Pre-Test and POst-test
Due to the fact that five of my students showed a strong foundation based on pre-test data, I also utilized a T-Test to assess the growth they made solving multi-step problems. When we first met as a group during our unit of study in math, I gave them a quiz. This quiz encouraged them to determine if they were adding, subtracting, or both, as well as solve for the answer. The same quiz was given after direct instruction during our small group time over the course of the unit.
