Analyzing Student Data in a Spreadsheet

In the past I have used spreadsheets in excel but still found this assignment hard at first. Although I have used spreadsheets in the past I never did averages, modes, etc. Once I watched the tutorials several times working on the spreadsheet became easier. Even though it was hard to understand at first, I do believe that spreadsheets can be very useful and once you have a good understanding on how to exactly use it, it can be very helpful in the classroom. Here is a link Student Data Spreadsheet.

For this assignment we were given a raw data chart. The information that was given was the names of the students, what grade they were in, what score they received on the pre-test, then scores on the 3 formative assessments, score on post-test and last the attendance of each student. Our task was to take this information and find the averages, medians and modes of all the information that was provided.With the data that was provided I did step-by-step on creating the averages, medians and the modes for all of the facts. First I would take the scores of each student and than find the percentage and then I did the overall class. Below is the chart of the students progress. The first chart represents the comparison of the pre-test and the post-test. The second chart represents the comparison and progress of each formative assessment and the last chart shows the Percentage Growth rate.


First I took a look at the pre-test and post-test scores. When looking I noticed that many of the students improved from the first test. This shows that the teacher provided effective information and the students really did learn more. When you take a look at some of the students who had lower scores than others like, Victor and Karen you noticed that after the post-test they improved a lot. What makes things interesting though is you noticed Joel who had the highest score for the pre-test scored lower on the post-test. When you see this kind of information you will have to look more into why these students had different outcomes. One reason may be that you noticed that Victor and Karen attend all classes, were as Joel missed two classes. This can show that maybe the two days that were missed, the teacher shared very important information that may have helped Joel's score on the post-test, if he were to have attended all 10 classes. By looking at this information can really help you figure out why certain outcomes occurred by looking more into detail of each individual and really show how you can fix these bad outcomes.

Second I looked at the comparison of each of the formative assessments that the students did. This can show the teacher some good information on which assessments worked for some students and which didn't work for the students. This can really help see were each individual student has their strengths and weaknesses. As a teacher this will help you plan accordingly to help your students have success in your classroom.

The last thing that I looked at was the percentage growth of each individual as well as the whole group. As we can see the whole group scored an average of 239.05% on percentage growth. This shows that the teacher provided effective teaching skills as well as the formative assessments helped the students improve greatly. Although the class had a high percentage growth, I would still take each individual percentage growth and see why each one had the outcome that they did. But overall I find that this average shows that the teaching was effective and will help for future planning for your classroom. Overall I think this is a very effective tool for teachers and can really show the progress of your students. By breaking down all the information you can really see what works for your students and what doesn't. By having this information will only help you as a teacher provide the most effective learning experience for you and your students. Not only will it help you with planning but it will allow you to create certain lesson plans that help all your students succeed.