Summative Assessment Analysis (SAA)

ISTE Assignment #4
ITEC 7305
Name: Katie Mooney

Date: 2/7/2023

ISTE standards addressed

7b Use technology to design and implement a variety of formative and summative assessments

that accommodate learner needs, provide timely feedback to students and inform instruction.

(ISTE-E 7b)

7c Use assessments and other qualitative and quantitative data to guide progress and

communicate with students, parents and education stakeholders to build student self direction.

(ISTE-E 7c)

Description of the Summative Assessment

The test displayed is called a common formative assessment. These assessments are provided by

the county as a checkpoint in the middle of a unit.They are meant to show teachers how well the

students are learning the material and if anything needs to be reviewed or remediated before

moving on and taking the unit summative assessment. This particular CFA was taken by the 102

sixth grade Language Arts students on my team after the first half of our unit on informational

text analysis, central idea, and citing textual evidence. The test was given through our testing
program, Synergy. The entire test was online, multiple choice, and had a range of depths of

knowledge. The test was designed to grade automatically and show the students their score as

soon as they completed it. When taking the quiz, students are unable to open any other tabs until

the quiz is complete. The intent of CFAs is not to prepare or even necessarily study for them, but

are used as an indicator for teachers whether or not the students are learning the material. This

was taken about two weeks into Unit 4, after discussing strategies to determine central ideas,

make inferences about an informational text, and analyze arguments and claims. Students read

and annotated informational texts, compared and contrasted two sides of an argument, and wrote

their own argument using articles as evidence to support their claim. After taking the CFA,

teachers are then meant to use the data to determine what standards students still need to work on

before taking the summative exam. We can then use remediation time or class time to work on

those particular standards or with those particular students that need the time to review.

Visual Representation of the Data

The mean score of the test is 68.04%. The median was 70% with a range from 0-100%. The data

shows that the largest portion of students have mastered the standards. However, almost as many

students that mastered the material fell in the developing category as well. The test is broken

down to show results based on student ethnicity. This data shows that hispanic students scored

lowest. That specific chart does not account for our English language learners that are not

proficient in English. Due to this inconsistency, I also looked specifically at the subgroup of level

one and two ESOL students. There are eight students that took the CFA with a level one or two

of English proficiency. The mean score was 56.25%. This data shows these students

underperformed compared to the class average. The data also shows student performance based

on standard. This chart shows that students scored lowest on standard 6LAb.12, 11, and 10 and

performed highest on standards 6LA.E.40, 39c, and 39a.

After analyzing the data, I have devised a plan to address the specific standards that students

did poorly on. The lowest performing standard was 6LA.B.12; analyzing how key

individuals, events, or ideas are developed. During our remediation time, called tiger time, I

will work with students in small groups to review a text, annotating the text to make

inferences and analyze the connection between characters, events, and ideas. I will model the

expectation for students and ask guiding questions to help them gain an understanding of the

standard. Students also struggled with 6LA.B.11; central idea. Central idea is a major

standard in sixth grade Language Arts that is vital that students understand. The poor

performance on this standard shows me that we need to address it again during class time. We

will continue by reading informational texts during class and practicing the strategies that

help us determine the central idea. Students will practice by chunking the text, looking over

text features as well as the title and pictures to determine the overall main idea. Aside from

addressing the lowest performing standards, I know that I need to remediate with my level

one and two ESOL students that had an average of a 56%. I will use small group instruction

time to sit with them and review the academic language vocabulary that may confuse

students still learning the English Language. I will provide visuals and graphic organizers to

help them gain an understanding of that specific vocabulary. Realistically, I know they may

not test as well as their English speaking friends due to the language barrier, but we will

discuss strategies to help them overcome this barrier when having to take tests in English.

Reporting results to Students and/or other stakeholders

After completing the CFA, I communicated the results to the students. I showed the data to the
students, showing them how to read the chart and what the results mean. We discussed as a class

the results based on standard and which standards we underperformed on. We also discussed the

most commonly missed questions to discuss any misconceptions and answer any questions that

students were confused about. I asked students why they thought the question was missed. Many

students felt the question was confusing and there were more than one answer that could be right.

Through this conversation, we discussed test taking strategies and the importance of choosing the

BEST possible answer. The results of this test were also shared with parents via the parent portal.

Again, this is a checkpoint to show where the student stands and how much work needs to be

done before the unit test. While students will not have the opportunity to retake this test, they can

show progress and mastery when they take the unit test. If they improve from the CFA to the unit

test, their grade will be replaced with the unit test grade. The results of the CFA show me where

we need to continue working and improving before the next exam.

Reflection

As a checkpoint in the middle of the unit, the results were expected. I prefer to have more than

44% mastery of the content, but accept that the material needs to be remediated and reviewed to

allow the other 55% of students to master the content. These assessments allow me to view the

student’s strengths and weaknesses based on standards. The outliers that tested in the beginning

category are the ones I know to monitor and work closely with during small group instruction.

The students that mastered the content can be given enrichment activities during this time and

more challenging material to practice. Tests like this allow me to work with students on studying

strategies in Language Arts class in middle school. Many students do not know how to study for

Language Arts tests, so this was an opportunity to learn and address this situation. I was able to

explain the importance of students reading every day and how the simple act of reading for thirty
minutes each night can help with their reading comprehension which will help them do better on

reading exams. Overall, I was able to see how I can use the data to reach different groups of

students, including my level one and two ESOL students, and how to remediate specific

standards that need to be addressed.