Running head: STUDENT LEARNING ANALYSIS 1

Student Learning Analysis (SLA)

Laurie C. Vance

Kennesaw State University

STUDENT LEARNING ANALYSIS 2

Introduction
Avery Elementary School is part of Cherokee County School District and is located in

Canton, Georgia about 40 miles north of Atlanta, Georgia. Avery opened its doors in 2007 with

an enrollment of 1,053 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The demographics at Avery

Elementary School vary with mostly Caucasian and Hispanic students. There are also small

populations of African-American and Multi-Racial students. Only five percent of students are

English Language Learners (ELL) and thirteen percent of students have disabilities. The

socioeconomic status is predominately-upper-middle class in Avery’s districted area with only

nineteen percent of students receiving free and reduced lunch (Table 2).

At the time of this lesson, I was a twenty-six year old Caucasian female in my third year

of teaching third grade. I had twenty-four students ranging from eight to nine years old. Eleven

of the students in my class were girls and thirteen were boys. Of the twenty-four students, two

students qualified for the gifted program (AIM) and two additional students were eligible for

testing for the gifted program. One student qualified for the English as a Second Language

(ESOL) program and one student received accommodations from a 504 plan relating to spelling.

One student received services from the Early Intervention Program (EIP) in ELA after scoring
STUDENT LEARNING ANALYSIS 3

below the twenty-fifth percentile on the Reading Comprehension EasyCBM, Only one of the

twenty-three students had a tier three RTI (Response to Intervention) plan. The ethnic/racial

population of my classroom breaks down into the following percentages: 87% White, 8%

Hispanic, and 5% Multi-Racial.

Context of the Lesson

This lesson took place during the center rotations of my third grade math block. Small

groups center on students’ abilities and focus on challenging all students at their individualized

level. While the teacher meets with leveled groups, other students are activity engaged in

differentiated/individualized leveled activities. Formal and informal assessments, i-Ready

diagnostics, class assessments including pre and posttests, as well as teacher observations

generate math groups.

The lesson was an introduction to area and falls into the domain of measurement and

data. By the end of this lesson, students should be able to understand the definition of a square

unit and that square units are often measured using different sizes. Additionally, students should

understand square units’ measure area by covering a shape and counting the squares. As a

prerequisite to understanding this skill, students must understand how to partition rectangles into

equal-sized squares as well as know that squares have four equal sides. Some key lesson

vocabulary for this unit includes area as well as square unit. In the context of this lesson, area is

the amount of space inside a closed two-dimensional figure. A square unit is a square with side

lengths of one unit used to measure the area of a figure.

This lesson prepares students to relate concepts of addition and multiplication, such as

arrays and distributive property, to finding the amount of space in a closed plane shape. The

Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMP) include: (2) Reason abstractly and quantitatively, (3)
STUDENT LEARNING ANALYSIS 4

Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others, and (5) Use appropriate tools

strategically. The Common Core State Standards aligned to this lesson include:

CCSS.Math.Content.3.MD.C.5: Recognize area as an attribute of plane figures and understand

concepts of area measurement, CCSS.Math.Content.3.MD.C.5.a: A square with side length 1

unit, called "a unit square," is said to have "one square unit" of area, and can be used to measure

area. CCSS.Math.Content.3.MD.C.5.b: A plane figure which can be covered without gaps or

overlaps by n unit squares is said to have an area of n square units, and

CCSS.Math.Content.3.MD.C.6: Measure areas by counting unit squares (square cm, square m,

square in, square ft, and improvised units).

Method
During this lesson, I

collected quantitative data

through a pre and post-assessment

to measure the impact of student

learning. The assessment directly

aligns with student objectives and

learning goals. Students must

understand what a square unit is

and use square units to measure area. Students’ measure area by covering a shape with equal size

squares without gaps or overlaps. Students must also utilize and reason with standard measures

such as square centimeters, meters, inches, and feet. The assessment counted for eight points.

The first problem is worth 4 points. The second and third are worth one point, and the last

question was worth two points.

STUDENT LEARNING ANALYSIS 5

Analyzing and Reporting Data

Upon completion of the lesson, I compiled overall data of the whole class, sub groups, as

well as two individuals. The whole group data compares pre and post-assessments. Based on the

analysis of the data, seventeen percent of students received a score between 90 and 100%.

Twenty-five percent of
Whole Group Pre and Post-Assessments
students received a score 100
90
between 80 and 89%. Twenty- 80
Student Scores (%)

70
five percent of students also 60
50
Pre
received a score between 70 40
30 Post
and 79%, and thirty-three 20
10
percent of students received a 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718192021222324
score below 69%. Student Numbers
STUDENT LEARNING ANALYSIS 6

I chose to examine gender and exceptionalities as subgroups to analyze. In my classroom,

there are thirteen males and eleven females. According to the data, sixteen percent of male

students scored between 90 and 100% on the pretest. Thirty-eight percent of male students

scored between 80 and 89% on the pretest. Sixteen percent of male students scored between 70

and 79%. Thirty percent of Male Student Pre and Posttest Scores
100
male students scored 69% or
90
80
below on the pretest. Student Scores (%) 70
60
However, on the posttest, 50
Pre
40
sixty-two percent of male 30 Post
20
students scored between 90 10
0
and 100% and thirty-eight 1 3 5 7 8 9 10 12 13 15 16 20 22
Student Numbers
percent of male students

scored between 80-89%.

According to the data, eighteen percent of female students scored between 90 and 100%

on the pretest. Ten percent of female students scored between 80 and 89% on the pretest. Thirty-

six percent of female students

Female Pre and Posttest Scores
scored between 70 and 79% as
100
well as 60% and below. 90
80
Student Scores (%)

However, on the posttest, 70

60
50
twenty-seven percent of Pre
40
30 Post
female students scored
20
10
between 90 and 100%. Forty-
0
2 4 6 11 14 17 18 19 21 23 24
five percent of female students Student Numbers
STUDENT LEARNING ANALYSIS 7

scored between 80 and 89%. Ten percent of female students scored between 70 and 79%, and

eighteen percent of female students scored below 69%.

The second subgroup analyzed was

Gifted Pre and Post Test Scores
gifted students. Student 11 and Student 18 100

Student Scores (%)

80
both qualified for the gifted program.
60
According to the data, Student 11 scored 40 Pre

20 Post
100% on both the pre and the post
0
assessment. Student 18 scored 33% on the 11 18
Student Numbers
pretest and 63% on the posttest. While these

are both failing scores, this student grew by 30% from pre to posttest data.

Finally, I selected two students based

on benchmark data collected from the I- Individual Pre and Post Test
Scores
Ready Winter diagnostic. Student 15 scored 100
Student Scores (%)

80
in the 65th percentile while Student 21 scored
60
th
in the 29 percentile. According to the data, 40 Pre

20 Post
Student 15 scored 100% on the pretest and
0
88% on the posttest. Student 21 scored 25 % 15 21
Student Number
on the pretest and 50% on the posttest.

Reflection
During this lesson, the learning objectives included; students should be able to

understand the definition of a square unit and that square units are often measured using different

sizes. Additionally, students should understand square units’ measure area by covering a shape

and counting the squares. Students were most successful on The Common Core State Standards
STUDENT LEARNING ANALYSIS 8

used in this lesson include; CCSS.Math.Content.3.MD.C.5: Recognize area as an attribute of

plane figures and understand concepts of area measurement, CCSS.Math.Content.3.MD.C.5.a:

A square with side length 1 unit, called "a unit square," is said to have "one square unit" of area,

and can be used to measure area. CCSS.Math.Content.3.MD.C.5.b: A plane figure which can

be covered without gaps or overlaps by n unit squares is said to have an area of n square units,

and CCSS.Math.Content.3.MD.C.6: Measure areas by counting unit squares (square cm,

square m, square in, square ft, and improvised units).

Upon reflection, students were most successful in achieving the learning objective:

students should understand square units’ measure area by covering a shape and counting the

squares. Many students answered questions one, two, and three correctly; however, they

struggled with number four. Based on this fact, the learning objective students struggled with

most was students should understand square units’ measure area by covering a shape and

counting the squares. Students who missed number four considered the rectangles a square and

need remediation on the properties, characteristics, and definition of a square.

This lesson took place during the center rotations of my third grade math block. Small

groups center on students’ abilities and focus on challenging all students at their individualized

level. While the teacher meets with leveled groups, other students are activity engaged in

differentiated/individualized leveled activities. Formal and informal assessments, i-Ready

diagnostics, class assessments including pre and posttests, as well as teacher observations

generate math groups. Informal assessments allow the teacher to get a true portrait of student

understanding beyond the scope of formalized assessments. I-Ready diagnostic benchmark

assessments gauge student understand overall and directly correlate to math curriculum taught

during classroom instruction.

STUDENT LEARNING ANALYSIS 9

References

Cherokee County School District. (2016). Avery Elementary School: About Avery Elementary

School. Retrieved from: http://cherokeek12.net/averyes/about/

Grade 3 » Measurement & Data. (n.d.). Retrieved March 22, 2018, from

http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/3/MD/

Ready Georgia Mathematics Curriculum. (2017). North Billerica, MA: Curriculum Associates,
LLC.