Baseline Assessment
For my baseline assessment, I chose to use the first quiz I gave to this class. When I announced the quiz a few days prior, I had told the students that it would cover sections 2-1 to 2-3 in their textbook. I did not give the students a study guide to prepare for this quiz; it was up to them to review and study what they thought was necessary. The quiz was focused on finding the domain and range of a function, the vertical line test, and finding and interpreting linear models as well as correlation coefficients. There were six questions, each with multiple parts, on the quiz and students were given thirty minutes to answer them. The quiz was out of fifty points and there was an extra credit question at the end worth two points. Surprisingly, both "Oscar" and "Evan" received the same grade of a 39/50 on the quiz (including the extra credit). The average for this quiz was a 42/50, so both students scored below the average.
When looking at "Oscar’s" quiz, I noticed that he did show some work for a few of the problems and others he did not show any work. Also, he left one question blank. There could be a few explanations for this. The first is that he ran out of time and did not get a chance to answer it. Alternatively, it is possible that he did not understand the vocabulary in the question or wasn’t sure of the proper way to solve the problem. Finally, "Oscar" did attempt the extra credit and he received one extra point out of the possible two.
Next I looked at "Evan’s" quiz. He also left one question blank, possibly for one of the above reasons that "Oscar" may have had for leaving his answer blank. "Evan" showed about the same amount of work that "Oscar" showed on his quiz. Finally, he did attempt the extra credit and got it right, earning him an extra two points on his quiz.
Overall, I learned a lot about these two students and the rest of the class from this quiz. I think that "Oscar" and "Evan" have the potential to do better. I believe that a study guide would greatly benefit all of my students in order to help them to better prepare for the next quiz, have a greater understanding of the material, and earn higher grades. Furthermore, from analyzing the questions that students ("Oscar", "Evan", and the rest of the class) left blank on this baseline assessment, I noticed that it seems they mostly had to do with some type of vocabulary. In terms of my teaching, I am going to try to stress the importance of understanding and using correct vocabulary. I will make sure that I always use correct vocabulary when talking to students and have them do the same during class discussions or when they explain their work (both orally and written). I believe that vocabulary is so important for students to learn and have a firm understanding of because it will help them to understand bigger ideas and they won’t get caught up on the actual terms.
