Assessments Help Teachers Improve Students Biology Knowledge
Starting in the summer of 2013 the biology teachers at Anderson High School in an effort to get ahead of the day when biology may become a graduation requirement. As coordinator leader of this project to the the goal was to be simple: a. Develop a common calendar that was standards focused. b. Agree on distinct units of study so that mini-assessments might be administered at the end of each. c. Have learning logs to discuss what information students seemed to be struggling with and how it might be better taught especially if one of us had better success. d. Use the mini-assessment scores to help us choose students for the biology remediation that would occur during Success time each day. DATA: At Anderson this year we began the year doing mini Assessments over units of study for two to three chapters of material as exemplified in Mini Assessment number 3 (see attached file). For each mini assessment teachers gave the mini assessment within the same one week period using a scantron like system. The data was then tallied with regard to each question. Questions were chosen to reflect specific standards that the students were to have knowledge of at the end of the unit. A sample of the analysis data is attached (see Mini #3 analysis). Conclusions: At the end of the first semester after having concluded three mini assessments using the above system and some really untimely and disruptive weather we decided upon a different system which most of the biology teachers seem to like and feel better about. First we began to realize that using the system that we were using first semester at best we might have 3-5 questions from any chapter or section of study and that as a result we were getting a very weak snapshot of what our students were retaining. Secondly, we saw some very real potential design flaws in our calendar for first semester. We had scheduled and planned for example Cells, Membrane Permeability, Photosynthesis, and Respiration right before Christmas and the end of the Semester and as a result in part we believe our score were very bad. It is our plan to move that to the middle of the semester next year and finish the semester with Ecology, which most students have already had some exposure to and should make the end of the semester less of an uphill climb. Finally, as previously mentioned the crazy weather at the start of the semester threw any testing schedule we might have had out the window so we quickly improvised what might have resulted in a better plan in the end. During the second semester I have put together a 10 question mini-assessment for each of the chapters we plan to cover and as teachers finish the chapter, and when it is convenient to their calendars they have the students take the mini assessments. When all the teachers have completed the mini assessment for a chapter I then post it to Schoology.com and we have some online discussion on the results. This plan has allowed more teacher flexibility and yet generates data to help guide us in our planning for next year.
Issues this Best Practice Addresses:
The best practice was developed to address: a. Low overall ECA scores in biology each year b. To try to get us ahead of the day when biology might become a test like algebra and English, required for graduation. c. A means for better identifying “biology bubble kids.”
Major Challenges to Implementation:
The major challenges to implementation were: a. Time for the teachers to meet. b. Time for someone to run and analyze the data c. Resources, computers, scanners for tests, and paper and toner to create the mini assessments.
Benefits Derived from Implementing this Best Practice:
Benefits Derived from implementing the best practice: a. Biology teachers have a better idea of which students are “bubble kids” and need remediation prior to the ECA. b. Teachers are starting down the path of sharing information, ideas, and techniques that work for them with other teachers who might be struggling with how to present or teach other concepts. c. As a result of the common calendar and standards focus I think our teachers have an improving knowledge of the standards that will only improve over time as we work more and more to hone our focus on them in order to help students achieve better scores
Evidence Illustrating Success:
As this is the first year we have done this I can present examples of: a. The types of data we have collected b. Anecdotal thoughts about the benefits of the process from other teachers c. Explanations of how the data has been used so far.
Additional Materials:
Submitted by: John Skipper, Anderson High School