Common Assessment in Geometry

ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT

Common Assessments in Geometry
Wichita Falls High School


* In what ways will implementing a newly formatted common assessment help student achievement in the classroom and on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills Test in geometry?
* How do I improve the usage and effectiveness of common assessments in the geometry classroom?

·Goals and Objectives:
1. To design a common assessment for geometry that will focus on student learning and teacher instruction.
2. To have an assessment that will allow students to stay on track with the teacher and the class.
3. To build an assessment that will help teachers stay aligned with each other as well as with the curriculum.

·Persons Responsible:
1. The Team consists of: myself (Brittany Barbosa), a counselor (Shonna Norton, who used to be a math teacher), the math department head (George Samus), and the calculus teacher (John Roy)
2. The participation of all the geometry teachers who will be giving the common assessments and helping with questions and information.
3. The teachers from the entire math department which includes algebra 1, math models, geometry, algebra 2, pre-calculus, calculus, statistics, and AMDM.

·Action Steps:
1. The Team will research data from old common assessments that were used two years ago. We will take into consideration the format and the question types. We want the new common assessment to bring in higher-level thinking in the form of TAKS type questions.
+ Who: The Team
+ When: 2 weeks before school starts

2. The team will also use the internet to search for useful common assessment information as well as investigate common assessments used in other schools in our district and area.
+ Who: The Team
+ When: 2 weeks before school starts (same time as above)

3. We also want the geometry teachers to create a test question bank to help us design a mock common assessment. This will help us develop questions or problems that the geometry teachers feel are significant to the geometry class.
+ Who: All geometry teachers
+ When: During our back to school work days

4. We will meet with the math department to enlist the help of willing math teachers in the choosing of appropriate questions for the common assessment. This will give us a wide variety of opinions on what is considered an important lesson or problem in geometry.
+ Who: The team, all geometry teachers, and the entire math department
+ When: During our back to school work days

5. The team will meet to design of the first common assessment draft. We will take the questions and problems that were chosen from the math department and put them into the TAKS format so the students become familiar with that style way before actually taking the TAKS test.
+ Who: The team
+ When: 1st and 2nd weeks of school

6. We will meet with the geometry teachers and present them our draft in order to receive their feedback and their thoughts before we finalize the assessment. We hope to answer any questions or concerns they may have at this time. This will also allow us time to reflect on our progress as well.
+ Who: The team and all the geometry teachers
+ When: At the 3 weeks mark (half way through the first six weeks)

7. We will then finalize the common assessment and give it to the geometry teachers to administer.
+ Who: The team
+ When: Finalize in weeks 4 and 5; give to geometry teachers at week 6. Common Assessment will be taken before the end of the six weeks.

8. Finally, the team will meet to grade and evaluate the student progress. We ask that all the geometry teachers attend this meeting so we can take into consideration both the grade as well as the teachers’ thoughts on each students’ progress.
+ Who: The team and all the geometry teachers
+ When: Beginning of the 2nd six weeks

9. We will then share our findings with the math department, and we will hear their thoughts on our research.
+ Who: The team, all the geometry teachers, and the entire math department
+ When: Beginning of the 2nd six weeks

10. We will also give a powerpoint presentation to the entire faculty at one of our staff meetings. We will ask for their thoughts and concerns.
+ Who: The team
+ When: Some time during the first semester

·Resources:
We will use past common assessments as well as data collected from those assessments. We will use internet search engines to help gather more information. We will also access TEAMS, DMAC, and other student information resources.

·Monitoring:
We will need to monitor student progress through each of the geometry teachers. We will gather their input as well as grades on the common assessments. We feel that grades are not always a sure sign that students are or are not achieving in the classroom. Thus, the team feels that the teachers’ notes and thoughts on each student are vital in deciding the final outcome. We will also have to take into consideration outside factors that could affect a student during the day that the common assessment is given. We will also observe the students in the classroom setting, and possibly interview students to obtain their feelings about the common assessments. We will also see if the teachers are on the same track as each other as well as with the curriculum. One of our goals is to help teachers stay on the same pace as each other. In the past teachers have been as far as four to five weeks apart in their instruction, which is very alarming. To give all students the same opportunity to learn, we, as teachers, need to be on the same outline and teaching the same curriculum.

·Evaluation:
We will definitely us the students’ grades on the common assessment, and we will use the teachers’ notes and thoughts to help gauge their progress. We will also be sharing the research progress with our math department so their input will be useful also. We will also use reflection, both individually and group, to help evaluate our effectiveness.