Costa 1

Designing Authentic Assessments and Assessment Data

MIAA 330
December 03, 2013
Connie S. Costa
Cam Wong, M. Ed.











Costa 2


My head is swimming with data and information and Im feeling a bit overwhelmed! I
have reviewed information from the district level, the school site level, and the classroom level. I
tried to keep my focus narrow, concentrating on CST math results, student ethnicity, and parent
education. It should be noted that I used data from my districts Data Director software program,
the states Department of Education website, and information compiled by a district coach. I feel
there are big holes that leave a lot of data and information out of the big picture. However, I was
able to make some observations in regards to CST math results, English Learners and their CST
math results, as well as analysis of information regarding ethnicity and parent education from the
district, school site, and classroom levels.

When looking at the CST math results at the district level, gathered from
(http://star.cde.ca.gov/star2013/ViewReport), I noticed that there was a significant decrease in
the amount of students scoring advanced between sixth grade, (25%) and the seventh grade,
(8%). The above percentages are based on CST Mathematics results. I also noticed that scores
from the CST General Mathematics results showed a much greater percentage of Below Basic
and Far Below Basic scores for eighth grade (35%) and ninth grade students (42%), than students
scoring in the Proficient and Advanced categories, eight grade (28%) and ninth grade (25%).
Also, by eleventh grade CST Algebra 1 results showed an alarmingly high percentage of students
scoring in the Below Basic and Far Below Basic (68%) combined. It appears that district-wide
students are losing ground when it comes to successfully understanding mathematics.

When looking at CST math results for my school site, I used the website,
(http://www.cde.ca.gov/snapshot). This information showed that at my site, Claudia Landeen,
approximately 58% of our students, grade two through eight, scored at Proficient and/or
Advanced. This means that approximately 42%, of our students scored in the Basic, Below
Basic, and Far Below Basic levels.

When looking at CST math results for my sixth grade classroom, I used the districts
software program, Data Director. According to this data, last year (their fifth grade test results),
my students scored the following in math: Advanced 24%; Proficient 45%, Basic 18%, Below
Basic 3%, and Far Below Basic 9%. Compared to the school-wide results, my class percentages
are above in Advanced and Proficient and lower when compared to the remaining categories.
When my class fifth grade test results are compared on the district level they compare favorably
in the Advanced and Proficient categories; a bit lower in the Basic category; and well below in
the Below Basic and Far Below Basic areas.

My English Learners all scored Basic on their CST math as fifth graders, with the
exception of one who scored Far Below Basic. This information makes me wonder if standards
based teaching has kept these students from advancing? And, will Common Core State Standards
help move these students to become Proficient?



Costa 3

When looking at ethnicity, the only comparison I was able to make was how my school
and classroom compared to the district. Unfortunately, the data lent itself only to White,
Hispanic, and African-American ethnicities. The breakdowns for the Asian populations did not
correlate between the three data resources. The resource used for the district, was the information
gathered from the district coach. For my school site I used information found at
(www.cde.ca.gov/snapshot). The information for my classroom was found by using the districts
software program, Data Director.

When looking at the information regarding ethnicity I discovered that my classroom
mirrors closely, the district percentages and the school site percentages.

Ethnicity My Classroom My School Site My District
Hispanic 42% 45% 42.9%
African-American 15% 13% 12.6%
White 24% 22% 27.4%


It was also observed that the percentage of the English Learners in my classroom (15%)
is very comparable to that of the school site (18%) and the district (approximately 16%). The
information was gathered from the same sources used to gather the ethnicity data. Im not really
sure what this says other than my classroom make-up reflects that of the district make-up and my
school site make-up in the areas of ethnicity and English Learners.

When looking at parent education data I see that across the board, the greatest percentage
of parents have had at least some college. If I look at my class information I see that the majority
of parents with some college and beyond, have students that scored Proficient and Advanced. My
Far Below Basic students have parents with no high school, to some college, to post grad work.
Again, information is missing, therefore making any meaningful connection impossible.


Education Level My Class School Site District
Not a H.S. Grad 9% 12% 9.2%
H.S. Grad 15% 22% 20.7%
Some College 45% 35% 31.7%
College Grad 18% 23% 22.3%
Post Grad 12% 9% 11.3%
Declined to Give 9% 6% 4.8%

The guidelines for this assignment were rather vague, and Im not sure I fulfilled the
requirements successfully. However, if the purpose of this assignment was to pique my interest
in data analysis and making connections between various factors and student success and failure,
then it did its job. I would really like to see finer tuned data that would allow me to make
connections between parent education and student success, as well as socioeconomic status and
student success. Maybe in my free time