Comparing Online and Traditional Assessment Practices in Middle School Mathematics

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers across the world have been forced to explore different modalities of assessment, many of them virtual. Now that many of the most restricting policies for schools due to pandemic have been lifted, the use of these virtual assessments remain. Due to the recent nature of their use though means that not many studies have looked into the implications of these assessments on students let alone middle school students. This study aims to help fill in some of the gaps in this research. In this study, students will take one of two assessments with the exact same questions. One of the assessments will be paper and pencil, the other will be on Google Form. Students will be randomized into which modality they will complete and then the scores of the two groups will be compared. The goal of this is to determine if taking an assessment virtually provides a roadblock to displaying mastery of learning for the students. After students are done with their assessment, they will then take a short survey asking them how hard they perceived their assessment to be. The results of this study will hopefully tell us two things: whether one assessment is more challenging based on the scores and based off student’s perceptions

Mastery Learning Approach with Formative Assessment Process to Encourage Student Success in Mathematics Classroom

The mastery learning approach in education focuses on frequent check ins throughout learning to provide feedback. This feedback helps inform the teacher of how the students are doing and how to adjust lesson plans and activities. This feedback also informs the students of how they are doing in the class and provides the students with the opportunity to practice and learn from mistakes. This research study is an investigation of how the mastery learning approach in the mathematics classroom encourages students by utilizing frequent formative assessment and feedback. The purpose of this research was to determine whether mastery learning using frequent formative assessment and feedback increases student learning in mathematics. The main research question that the study was focused on was “how does the mastery learning approach with the formative assessment process encourage student success in the mathematics classroom?”. To accomplish the objectives of the research study, a quantitative research design was used. A convenience sample was utilized since the participants are students in the mathematics classroom. The participants of the research study were given a pre-test and a post-test to measure growth in one unit of Algebra 1. Throughout the unit, participants were given feedback on their assignments and were able to correct and resubmit their assignments for points back. At the end of the unit, participants were given a survey to determine how they felt about the mastery learning and formative assessment process throughout the unit

Do Journaling Activities in Middle School Physical Education Classrooms Improve Student Participation

ABSTRACT This study focuses on the correlation between journaling activities and student participation within the physical education classroom. Through the journal activities further focus will be given to students\u27 perceptions of barriers to physical activity, motivation, and self-efficacy and their relationship to participation in physical education. Volunteers for this study will be chosen from two physical education classes totaling approximately 60 seventh and eighth grade students at a Minnesota middle school. The duration of this study will be approximately four weeks. Data will be collected through daily observation at the beginning and middle of each class period. At the end of study participants will be asked to complete a Likert scale to gauge their perceptions and feelings of the intervention. Results of the data collection will follow

Vista Outdoor Inc. A Financial Analysis Report

Vista Outdoors Inc., which was incorporated in 2015, is headquartered in Anoka, MN. They are a designer, manufacturer, and marketer of shooting sports and outdoor recreational products and operate twenty-six manufacturing and distribution facilities across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. One of Vista Outdoor\u27s major keys to success is that they are the parent company of 41 brands that also design and manufacture sporting and outdoor products. On May 5, 2022, Vista Outdoor announced a plan to separate their Outdoor Products and Sporting Products reportable segments into two independent, publicly-traded companies. This separation is expected to be completed in the calendar year 2023. Vista believes this will be compelling value for shareholders. Overall, Vista Outdoor is a profitable company and will continue to have success in the future. In recent years they have had devastating impairment losses, which might happen again, but historically they have been profitable. Vista Outdoor is a profitable and successful company with a good firm strategy

Exploring the Effect of Optional Homework on Test Scores

This study focuses on the impact of optional homework on test scores in high school chemistry students. The focus is only on whether giving students the option of doing homework assignments will have any impact on test scores. Students were assessed with comprehensive unit tests. There are be two control groups and two experimental groups in this study. The research study took place in a Minnesota high school with eighty-four junior and senior students. It was found that students who received optional homework improved by 10.6% on average on test scores. That is a marked improvement from those receiving required homework, who only improved by 5.7%

Online Education in the Age of Social Media Influencers: Applying Net Promoter Scores to Asynchronous Online Delivery

Online students are mobile and networked and expect quality online classes. Dissatisfied online students’ educational choices are not limited to institutions with their geographical region. The ability of students to disseminate information about dissatisfactory educational experiences to potential student enrollees has increased with the growth of social media. Organizations wishing to use online enrollment as a growth mechanism or offset physical enrollment decreases need tools to understand their perceived market value and quality. A frequently used tool for consumer satisfaction, the Net Promoter Score (NPS), has rarely been applied to academia. This article highlights the application of NPS to online asynchronous education and its value beyond the traditional measures commonly used in higher education

Using Student Goal Setting and Individual Student Conferences to Increase Academic Achievement in Mathematics

ABSTRACT This study focuses on an elementary school in the Midwest region of the United States; this community serves as a regional center of education, commerce, and health care. Participants in this study are a classroom of 17 fifth grade students; 35% girls and 65% boys. The school district in this study recently adopted a new mathematics curriculum, Bridges. In using this new mathematics curriculum, the teachers have noticed that many of the fifth-grade students are consistently scoring in the red on the assessments. This research study will investigate whether implementing goal setting and individual student conference sessions will improve fifth grade students\u27 academic achievement, specifically related to mathematics. The following research questions will be used: Does using Student Goal Setting and Individual Student Conferences Increase Academic Achievement in Mathematics? What happens to students’ self-evaluation skills when they are required to evaluate their own work? This research will investigate whether implementing goal setting and individual student conference sessions will improve fifth grade students\u27 academic achievement, specifically related to mathematics. With the Bridges math curriculum, students are given a pre-assessment for a unit followed by a post-assessment. After each of these assessments the students complete a self-reflection sheet based on their scores and feelings on the assessment. The unit pre and post assessments will measure student growth through the unit and the assignments will show how the formative assessment process is helping them with the mastery of skills. Data will be compared after each assessment to see if improvements have been made since implementing the goals and conference interventions. The research design selected was a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative action research. The quantitative approach uses the rubric in the Bridges math curriculum, while the self-reflection sheets can be analyzed using a qualitative grounded theory approach. A mixed-methods approach was chosen because the researcher wanted to measure growth, but also understand how students felt about the use of setting and reaching goals, feedback on formative assessment, and the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. Data will be collected via individual, small group, and whole group observations; student conference (discussion); scores from formal and informal assessments, and work samples. Five minutes will be set aside each day to allow students to complete and/or reflect on their mathematics goals. Each student will meet with the teacher at least once a unit (lower students more frequently) for an individual student conference related to their mathematics goals and academic progress. Each unit lasts approximately twenty class periods. With the Bridges math curriculum, students are given a pre-assessment for each unit followed by a post-assessment. After each of these assessments the students will complete a self-reflection sheet based on their scores and feelings on the assessment. After gathering the data from the methods above, the pre-assessment score and post- assessment score will be calculated and compared to summarize growth in learning from the beginning to the end of the unit

Improving Phonemic Awareness Skills Using Heggerty with Two Kindergartners

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effects of Heggerty’s Pre-Kindergarten Phonemic Awareness Curriculum on kindergartners\u27 phonemic awareness skills. The intervention was implemented with two kindergarten students. Both students were receiving prior interventions with little growth. Heggerty was provided two times each week for approximately 15 minutes; students’ progress was monitored using EasyCBM, curriculum-based measurement probes. The results of the Heggerty intervention showed progress for one student and little progress for the other student. This paper outlines the importance of reading, phonemic awareness, and early reading intervention as well as the analysis of the Heggerty Intervention to increase phonemic awareness skills

A.I.M. Handbook Parent Handbook

Students that are in special education receive a wide variety of services depending on their qualification. Special education encompasses all types of services including academics, speech and language, occupational therapies, and social and emotional learning skills. Students can receive social and emotional learning services for a wide variety of behaviors or concerns that are being seen and within these services there are a multitude of curriculums that fit the needs of a variety of different students. Based on current research there is a social skills curriculum that encompasses six different components in order to teach students to be a more well-rounded individual. Lessons within the curriculum help students to learn skills and strategies to manage their emotions in their everyday life. Because of this research and this social skills curriculum, a handbook was made in order to share with parents what their students are learning and the different components and research behind the social skills curriculum of A.I.M. Accept, Identify and Move. This curriculum is being used in more schools as a social skills curriculum for all ages