Pre-Assessment/Post-Assessment Data Analysis

Explanation of Grading:

The Pre/Post Assessments are identical, and each contains a total of 20

questions. The questions are a variety of multiple choice, True/False,
and short-answer questions. Each question is weighted equally at 3
points, for a total of 60 points for the entire assessment.

The multiple choice and True/False questions are graded on an all-ornone basis, where points are either awarded entirely or not at all.
o Example: Where is the Earth's water currently thought to have
come from?
a. The Earth's mantle cracked and water rushed up from the
second layer of the core (the anhydrous layer)
b. The Earth formed oceans when water vapor from volcanoes
condensed from the atmosphere and became liquid water
c. Meteors, comets, and other space materials carrying water
crashed into Earth for millions of years
d. The Earth has no water, only oceans of scientific sadness and
despair.
o Only an answer of C would be accepted here and
earn 3 points--all other answers would not earn any
credit.

Each short answer question may earn up to 3 points, where partial

credit may be awarded for an incomplete or partially correct answer.
o Example: Explain the difference between the common use of
the word theory and how scientists use the word theory.
o This short response must define each term for full credit.
Therefore, half of the credit (1.5 points) would be
awarded for the casual definition of the word theory,
and the other half of the credit (1.5 points) would be
awarded for the scientific use of the word theory.

Data Test

PreAssessment %
15.83
9
12.5

Total Average
Standard Dev.
Median

PostAssessment %
63.93
16.65
60.83

PrePost
Change %
+48.1
+7.65
+48.33

Table 1) This table shows the basics of the raw data from the pre and postassessments. Overall, students improved an average of 48.1% from pre-test
to post-test, with a final average post-test score of 63.93%. The standard
deviation from pre-test to post-test also increased.

Average Score by Question

(Post-Test)

3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0

Figure 1) This graph shows the breakdown of each question by score. Each
question has a maximum of 3 points possible.

Student Test Improvement %

70
60
50
40
Student Test Change (in %) 30
20
10
0
1

Student

Figure 2) This graph shows the percentage difference between the post-test
score and the pre-test score for each student.
Data Summary/Conclusions/Future Changes:

o From this data, there was clear improvement in each student.

o Some questions had remarkably low averages on the post-test.
These questions should be evaluated for poor/confusing wording,
and/or should be covered differently or more extensively in the
future.
o There is still room for improvement and additional learning.
o The pre-test/post-test data may be more valuable if questions were
more short-answer based.
o Students may get lucky on some questions by guessing,
especially on the True/False questions.
o Students may know part of an answer, but receive no partial
credits because of the type of question (all-or-none)

o As a whole, the concepts considered to be more abstract had the

lower question averages.
o

Some students had low growth, despite a low pre-test score. These
students might require special inquiry to identify areas for future
growth techniques.