Student Assessment Profiles

Final submission

Rachel Snyder
/2015

Rachel Snyder
2
Student #10 Background Profile:
Student #10 is a 10-year old white male in the fifth grade at Horizon Elementary School.
This student frequently has trouble staying on task as he is easily distracted. As such, he
regularly struggles to understand content and with keeping caught up; he studies best when it is
quiet and has difficulty ignoring the noise of other people while he is trying to work. On
occasions when he is not interested in the assignment or if he finds it too difficult or challenging,
he will argue with his teacher and become very defiant. He also gets frustrated very easily when
tasks start to stretch him to reach a higher level; when frustrated he will cover his eyes with his
hand, pull his shirt over his head so he cannot see, or even pound his head with his fist or hit it
against the desk. Over all, though, Student #10 is a very sensitive and imaginative boy,
frequently describing incredible scenarios that are only loosely related to the discussion on hand.
Although he has difficulty expressing himself in socially appropriate ways, most of the children
in his class seem to accept him. He enjoys coming to school because of all the nice people
there, but has had some issues dealing with bullies.
Student #10s grandmother is a substitute teacher; he seems to be very close to her. He
lives with his parents, sister, and three of his brothers (the fourth brother passed away sometime
previous). Student #10 enjoys spending time watching TV or playing games with his family as
well as his friends (see the appendix for student survey).

Student #21 Background Profile

Student #21 is a very pretty, active 11-year old white female in the fifth grade at Horizon
Elementary. This student acts very mature and is a good, hardworking, conscientious student.
Math comes easy for her and she has been identified as a high ability learner. While she studies

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best when it is quiet, Student #21 is also able to ignore background noise when she is working.
She is also a persistent worker and will keep working at an assignment until it is finished, no
matter how challenging or frustrating it might be. This student has set very high expectations for
herself and strives to meet those expectations in everything she does.
When Student #21 is not in school, she enjoys being outside, playing basketball,
rollerblading, and tumbling. She also loves to read and can often be found with her nose buried
deep in her books after she has completed her assigned work. She has one brother and two
sisters, and the four of them live together with their parents (see the appendix for student survey).
From observing this student throughout the semester, I have noticed that she usually prefers to
work alone. When students are given a choice between working with a partner or independently,
she almost always chooses to work on her own. However, Student #21 is also a very good group
leader; in situations where group collaboration is part of the learning experience, she is always
fully participating and the one to keep her group on task.

Assessments Administered to Both Students:

Background Assessment
This assessment was given as a survey to gather information about each learner as
a person as well as how they most like to learn. My dyad partner and I designed
the assessment together based off of a survey sample from Dr. Murray (see

Appendices A and B).

Assessment #1: Literacy Assessment
Assessment #2: Math Assessment
Assessment #3: Health Assessment

Assessment #1: Literacy

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The first assessment I administered was a spelling inventory developed by Pearson-Hall.
This spelling inventory can be found in the Words Their Way series of teacher resources. It is
designed to assess students orthographic knowledge and identify where along the continuum of
spelling development stages students best fit. Specific features that this inventory highlights are
students use of short vowels, consonant and diagraph blends, long vowel patterns, other vowel
patterns, complex consonants, syllable junctures and easy prefixes and suffixes, harder prefixes
and suffixes and unaccented final syllables, reduced vowels, bases, and roots. By analyzing the
data output from this assessment, teachers can then design their instruction to most effectively
cxzsand properly assist students in progressing along the spelling stages. This assessment is
administered every trimester as a diagnostic assessment. Students are not given an opportunity to
study the words on the spelling inventory in advance; however the same list is used for each
spelling inventory assessment throughout the school year.
The reason I chose this assessment is because I was interested to see the contrast in
development between Student #10 and Student #21. I also wanted to know how spelling and
phonics instruction might best be maximized to help each student to progress.
This assessment was given as a whole-class assessment. The data from this assessment
showed students on a fairly broad range in their spelling development. Figure 1 depicts the
breakdown of the percent of students in each spelling stage. As a whole, the class performed very
well. The majority of students in this class, including Student #21, fell into the Derivational
Relations spelling stage of development, which was the highest stage able to be assessed by
using this spelling inventory. Of the 22 students who took this assessment, Student #10 was the
only one in the Letter Name Alphabetic spelling stage. Students who have reached this stage of
spelling development rely heavily on the beginning and ending consonant sounds of a word and

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will usually include a vowel in each syllable. Student #10s results indicated that he has entered
the late Letter Name Alphabetic stage, which means he is also able to use consonant blends,
diagraphs, and short vowels successful with consistency.
Figure 1:

Spelling Stages
Letter Name- Alphabetic

5%

Within Word Pattern

Syllables & Affixes
Derivational Relations

27%
64%

5%

Student #10 Analysis

In comparison to the class average, as well as in comparison to the average of males in the class,
Student #10 scored at a much lower level (see Figure 2), spelling just eleven out of twenty-five
words correctly.
Student #10s classroom teacher shared with me that his results indicate that he has
regressed several steps since the last spelling inventory was administered. While I believe this
student sincerely does struggle, I suspect that he found the spelling inventory either uninteresting
or too challenging, and thus did not put in his full effort throughout the assessment. According to
the classroom teacher, this students literacy readiness indicates that he is approaching grade
level; however his performance on this assessment seems to suggest that his readiness is far
below grade level, at least in terms of spelling development.

Figure 2:

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Student Comparison

Score

Student #10

Male Average

Class Average

Student

Student #10 Action Plan:

Based off of this data, I would focus my spelling instruction for Student #10 very heavily
in the early Within Word Pattern stage because I feel he is capable of performing well within
this stage on a consistent basis. This instruction would focus on long vowel spelling patterns, rcontrolled vowels, more-complex consonant patterns, and diphthongs and other less common
vowel patterns. I would make sure that this focused instruction was presented in such a way that
was motivating, fun, and engaging for this student. This would most likely mean creating or
finding games that would get the student involved in practicing spelling and using words with
the afore mentioned qualities. These games could be used as a form of formative assessment to
ensure that the student is making progress prior to the next spelling inventory being
administered. I would also involve other students in Student #10s action plan as he does not like
to work alone and enjoys socializing with his peers. I believe this would help to motivate him to
improve and work harder to achieve his goal. I would also have the student try to use more
varied words at different levels in all of his writing and require him to go back, edit, and review
each piece of writing individually and with a peer before turning it in to be assessed.

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Student #21 Analysis

Student #21 scored higher than the class and female student averages with 23 out of 25
words spelled correctly (see Figure 3). This score is five points higher than the class average and
six points higher than the female student average. The results of this student indicate that she has
reached the upper end of the Derivational Relations spelling stage. According to my mentor
teacher, Student #21 has been performing just above the grade level benchmarks each time this
assessment has been given.
Figure 3:

Student Comparison

Score

Student #21 Action Plan

As the data from this assessment indicates that Student #21 has entered the latter spelling
stages measured by this assessment, I would begin action plan for her instruction by preparing
her to take the Upper-Level Spelling Inventory that is used in upper elementary, middle school,
and high school. This inventory includes primarily the same spelling features as the
Intermediate-Level Spelling Inventory that was originally administered in addition to Greek and

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Latin elements and assimilated prefixes. For this student, I would challenge her to find word with
these spelling features in her independent reading and have her keep track of them in a reading
journal. I would also challenge her to practice using these words in her daily writing exercises so
that she could practice the spelling skills measured by the upper-level assessment.

Assessment #2: Math Chapter Test

This second assessment that was administered is the chapter 10 end of chapter math test
developed by the fifth grade team of teachers at Horizon Elementary. Half of the assessment was
presented in a multiple choice format, while the remainder of the test simply required students to
solve each problem and record their answers. Students were required to write all of their answers
for the assessment on the front of the page in an answer box. The purpose of this assessment was
to measure each students mastery of the chapter 10 math content: multiplying and dividing
fractions, reducing fractions to their simplest form, and using a model in order to demonstrate
understanding of the division of fractions in order to find the quotient (see the appendix for a
sample of this assessment). The reason I chose to administer this assessment was because I
wanted to see how Students #10 and #21s strengths compare in reading readiness and
mathematics. The questions asked on this assessment are detailed in the chart below along with a
description of the task each question required:
Question 1

Question 2

Solve Answer in Solve. Answer in

simplest form.
simplest form.
2
2
8 =?
10=?
5
7

Question 3

Question 4

1
2
hours studying last
night. She spent
1
of the time
5
studying science.
How much time did

Solve. Answer in
simplest form.
4
12
4 1 =?
25
13

Iris spent 2

Question 5
Solve. Answer
in simplest
form.
2 1
2 =?
5 3

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she spend studying
science?

Multiply a
whole number
by a fraction.
Reduce the
answer to its
simplest form.

Question 6

Multiply a whole
number by a
fraction. Reduce
the answer to its
simplest form.

Question 7

Find each
quotient. Use a
model.
1
7
=?
8

Find each
quotient. Use a
model.
1
6=?
5

Divide a whole
number by a
fraction.

Divide a fraction
by a whole
number

Convert mixed
numbers to an
improper fraction.
Multiply two
fractions.

Question 8
1
2
pound of raisins to
divide equally into
10 different bags.
What fraction of a
pound will be in
each bag?
Marty has

Divide a fraction
by a whole number.

Convert mixed
numbers to an
improper
fraction.
Multiply two
fractions.
Reduce the
answer to its
simplest form.
Question 9

Convert mixed
numbers to an
improper
fraction.
Multiply two
fractions.
Reduce the
answer to its
simplest form.
Question 10

Solve. Answer in
simplest form.
1
There is
4
of a birthday
cake left over. If
4 friends share it
equally, what
fraction of the
entire cake will
each friend
receive?
Divide a fraction
by a whole
number. Reduce
the answer to its
simplest form.

Solve. Answer
in simplest
form.
1
4 =?
6

Divide a whole
number by a
fraction.
Reduce the
answer to its
simplest form.

This assessment was administered to the whole class. Students had approximately 30
minutes to complete the assessment but had the opportunity to spend more time on it later in the

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day if they needed to. Figure 4 indicates students scores according to the percent of questions
answered correctly.
Figure 4:

Student Scores
1.0
0.9
Percent Correct

0.8

Student Scores

0.700000000000001
0.600000000000001
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Number of Students

Eight students received 100% on this assessment with seven students receiving 90%, five
students scoring at 80%, and the remaining 4 students scoring a 70% or lower. The benchmark
set for this assessment was for students to achieve at least 80% mastery, thus 83% of students in
the class made or surpassed this goal while 17% fell somewhere below the benchmark goal.

Student #10 Analysis

This students biggest struggle is with maintaining his attention and keeping his
frustration levels in check. He also struggles with completing tasks in a given time limit,
especially when they are perceived as difficult. Knowing this, I was concerned about how the
student would perform on this assessment given that there was a time constraint. I was also
concerned because another student seated nearby was distracting several of his peers by making
faces and poking at his neighbors desk divider folders. While taking the assessment, Student
#10 was obviously very frustrated as he kept kitting his forehead with his fist or banging his head

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against the desk. After a time, he also began playing with his shirt, pulling it up over his eyes,
and fidgeting with the desk divider folder. This student also did not finish the assessment in the
30 minute time limit; when he began working on his assessment later he was much calmer and
only took about ten more minutes to finish.
Student #10s results were very surprising to me, considering his behavior during the
administration of the assessment. Even though he did not receive the highest score in the class,
he still only missed one question, giving him a score of 9/10 correct responses. While I was
unable to analyze this students individual assessment to see what question he missed, he did
surpass the benchmark goal in order to demonstrate mastery of the content. Student #10s score
was also slightly above both the class and male student average scores.
Figure 5:

Scores

Number of Correct Responses

10
9
8
7
6
5
4

Scores

Student

Student #10 Action Plan

Based off of the data collected from this assessment, Student #10 reached the benchmark
goal in this content area. As such, I do not feel that he needs a great deal of further instruction
focused towards achieving mastery on this assessment. Rather, Student #10s action plan needs
to be focused on helping him to manage stress and anxiety during assessment. Specifically

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speaking, I would plan to teach him some deep breathing exercises in order to help him calm
down while testing. I also think it would help for Student #10 to have a secluded area in which to
complete an assessment; this would help him to not become distracted by other students and
could even allow for him to get up and walk around to get out any pent-up energy, thus reducing
the head pounding. After implementing this action plan, I would compare the students behavior
during chapter tests to see if it improvers over time. Additionally, I would be interested to see if
his assessment results show any improvement as he learns to manage and modify his behavior in
order to stay calm while taking tests.

Student #21 Analysis

Student #21 has been identified as a high ability learner, with her strongest content area
being in mathematics. The biggest problem she faced while taking this assessment was having
another student make faces at her and the other students seated in her table group. This other
students behavior, though, did not affect her personal performance any. Student #21 did exhibit
signs of stress and anxiety during the assessment administration, but she was careful in her work
and took the time to double-check all of her answers before turning in the assessment for
grading.
Figure 6:

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Student Scores

Student Scores

Student #21s score from this assessment was higher than both the female and class average; she
indicated complete mastery by getting 10/10 questions correct.

Student #21 Action Plan

As this students classroom teacher, I would give her enrichment activities that cause her
to further explore the relationship between fractions and whole numbers, especially as far as
multiplication and division of fractions is concerned. I would also challenge Student #21 by
giving her larger fractions with which to multiply and divide; this would help her to continue to
progress. I believe it would be useful to further assess this student in order to see how deep her
knowledge of fractions extends. This would help me to know where I should focus further
instruction in order to help her to continue to learn and achieve.

Assessment #3: Integrated Health

The final assessment I administered was one that I developed on my own in order to
assess students' understanding of viruses, vaccines, and the need to be health conscientious. The
reason I chose this to use this assessment was to help me to see how the learners I was analyzing
connect and gather information obtained from a variety of different sources and how they are

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able to apply it to their personal lives. I assessed the students learning by asking them to write a
paragraph that contained four key elements to demonstrate their understanding: (1) explain what
a virus is; (2) explain what a vaccine is; (3) tell why it is important to be vaccinated; (4) tell
about at least one other detail they learned from the lesson that they found important with a
justification for including this detail in their paragraph. The paragraphs were scored out of 24
points. Points on the content were given for including a definition of a virus and a vaccine in the
paragraph as well as the importance for being vaccinated and including one other detail with
justification as to why it is important to know. The rubric for this assessment, along with student
outcomes, is detailed in Figure 7 below.
Figure 7: Student Assessment Rubric and Outcome
1: Below expectations 2: Approaching expectations 3: Meets expectations 4: Above expectations
Requirements

What
is a
virus?

What is
a
vaccine
?

Importance
of being
vaccinated
(one reason)

Other
detail(s)

4
4
4
4
3
4
3
2
2
3
3
2
3
3
3
3

3
4
3
4
3
4
3
2
2
3
3
1
3
2
3
2

3
3
3
4
3
4
3
3
2
3
2
0
3
3
3
3

4
4
4
4
3
4
3
4
3
3
4
0
2
3
3
3

Student

1
2
3
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17

Proper
Mechanics
(paragraph
structure
and
punctuation
)
4
4
4
4
3
4
1
3
1
3
3
1
3
4
3
3

Graphic
Organize
r
Complete

Scor
e
(24)

2
3
3
3
3
4
2
3
3
3
3
1
3
3
3
2

20
22
21
23
18
24
15
17
13
18
18
5
17
18
18
16

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15
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25

4
4
3
4
3
3
0
3

3
4
2
3
3
3
0
3

3
4
2
3
3
3
0
3

3
4
2
4
3
3
0
3

4
3
3
4
3
3
0
3

4
3
2
3
4
3
3
2

21
22
14
21
19
18
3
17

Two of the students did not fully complete the assignment as required. Of the 24 students in the
class, 20 of them gave a good definition of viruses and 17 of the students had a good definition
of vaccines. There were five students who were did not quite demonstrate a solid understanding
of why vaccines are important. Every student (besides the two who did not complete the
assignment) included at least one additional detail they learned from the lesson; however two of
these students did not indicate why the detail they included in their paragraph was important to
know and understand.
Objectives were deemed as met if students received a score of three or higher as
recorded in the rubric above. Figure 8 shows the number of students that were able to meet each
objective from this lesson.

Figure 8:

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Health Learning Objectives

IEP
Other
HAL

Virus

Vaccine

Importance of Vaccines

Objectives Met

Student #10 Analysis

Student #10s graphic organizer was filled out more completely than I had expected and
included all of the details that were asked for. However, his paragraph was poorly written;
instead of writing in complete sentences and rephrasing the question as he has learned to do, he
simply went straight to answering the question. Additionally, his answers to the prompts were not
fully fleshed out and I was left wondering if he fully grasped the concepts. Student #10s scores
are highlighted in Figure 9 below. (See the appendix for this students assessment.)
Figure 9:
Requirements

What
is a
virus?

What is
a
vaccine
?

Importance
of being
vaccinated
(one reason)

Other
detail(s)

Student

10

Proper
Mechanics
(paragraph
structure
and
punctuation
)
1

Graphic
Organize
r
Complete

Scor
e
(24)

13

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Student #10 Action Plan
After observing this student throughout the lesson and reading his assessment paragraph,
I think that he probably had a pretty good understanding of the lesson objectives. However, he
needed to be reminded how to write a paragraph properly, including a restatement of the prompt
prior to answering the questions. As a part of my action plan for this student, I would prepare for
him a small checklist that he could keep on his desk as a reminder of how to write a paragraph in
order to answer a prompt. I would also remind him to use the text and other resources to check
his spelling. I may also ask him to respond orally to the prompts, especially since I know this
student struggles with writing, but his comprehension is generally very high. I think if he were
given the chance to verbally explain what he had learned from this lesson, then he would have
received a higher score on the assessment.

Student #21 Analysis

Student #21 did not fill out her graphic organizer as fully as I anticipated, being that she
is a high ability learner, but it was completed to the same degree as most other students graphic
organizers (many other students left the last question on the graphic organizer blank, which I
attribute to the fact that I did not emphasize or explicitly state that they should find and include
two more important details regarding their learning in this lesson). Her assessment paragraph
answered fully addressed each question asked in the prompt, and she included more details than
were required (see Figure 10).

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Figure 10:
Requirements

What
is a
virus?

Student

What is
a
vaccine
?

Importance
of being
vaccinated
(one reason)

Other
detail(s)

21
4
3
3
(See the appendix for this students assessment.)

Proper
Mechanics
(paragraph
structure
and
punctuation
)
4

Graphic
Organize
r
Complete

Scor
e
(24)

21

Student #21 Action Plan

My action plan for this student would be to think a little deeper about why vaccines are
important, not just for individuals, but also for the community. This information can be inferred
from several of the articles and multimedia resources that were included as supplementary
materials for this lesson. Additionally, she could also do more research on vaccines in order to
more fully answer what they are, how they work, and why they are so important in preventing
widespread diseases. If she were interested, I may ask her to become an expert in this subject and
prepare a short presentation to share with the class in order to deepen not only her own
understanding, but also the understanding of her peers.
Category
Points Per Child
List of three
assessments +
15
description of
assessment data
Identification of
specific behavior or
15
skill
Description of
15
action plan
Overall quality of writing
Submission of artifacts with final paper
(e.g. assessments administered,
student data samples, descriptions of

Total Possible

Your Score

30

30

30

30

30

30

10
25

10
25

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assessments)
Total Points Possible
125
125
Comments: Thorough introduction to each learner, analysis and situation of
each assessment and assessment results, identification of key areas of
additional emphasis for each learner, and appropriate and specific action
steps with respect to each assessment. Excellent job.