Running head: SMARTER BALANCED ASSESSMENT !

Brittini Wade

National University

December 12, 2018

MAT 636: Signature Assignment

SMARTER BALANCED ASSESSMENT !2

Abstract

For this assignment, I will be giving a brief introduction of the school I am employed at and the

description of the Smarter Balanced Performance Task assignment that I distributed to my

students. Next, I will interpret the results and analyze the students’ strengths and weaknesses. I

will discuss what implications are needed for future math instruction and reflect on my own

learning as an educator. I will also include students’ original work and the answer key with the

rubric.
SMARTER BALANCED ASSESSMENT !3

Introduction

I work at Plumas Charter School in Quincy, CA. There are a total of 332 students

enrolled in grades K-12 across the various site programs throughout the county. Over three

fourths of the student population is white and a little over half are considered socioeconomically

disadvantaged. I currently have 11 students in my 8th grade math class, however, only 9 students

were present at the time of this assignment. This is my second year having them in my class so I

feel that I have a firm grasp on each student’s background and mathematical knowledge.

I have been implementing the CAASPP Training Tests and Interim Assessment Blocks

every so often, so for this assignment I decided to use a Smarter Balanced Performance Task

from Inside Mathematics titled Party. My students are finishing up the unit on “Functions” so I

felt that a culminating task to show their conceptual understanding of the different concepts we

have been going over in class was a great way to end this unit.

This performance task gives the students a chance to “choose and use number operations

in context, find and use an algebraic formula, and relate formulas and graphs”. The first part of

the task gives a brief description of a specific scenario. A person is organizing a party and the

rates are given. The five questions that follow are:

1. Sarah thinks there will be 60 people at the party. Show that the cost will be $1350.
2. What is the cost of a party for 100 people at the Vine House Hotel? Show how you figured it
out.
3. C dollars is the cost of a party for P people. Find a formula that gives C in terms of P.
4. Sarah’s party cost $1750 in all. How many people came to the party? Show your
calculations.
5. Which of these graphs shows the connection between the number of people at the party, P,
and the cost, C? Explain how you figured it out.
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INDIVIDUAL QUESTION RESULTS

Question Correct Incorrect

1 89% of students could show why
$1350 was the correct price for 60
people
2 89% of students could show how to
calculate the cost for 100 people
3 No student received full credit on this
question.
4 56% of the students could calculate
the number of people in attendance
5 67% of the students knew that the
initial value would not be at 0 and
would remain at a zero slope for the
first 30 people then rise at a constant
rate
11% of the students who missed this
question divided the total price by the
number of people without taking into
account the first charge
11% of the students took the incorrect unit
rate from the previous question to answer
this problem
All of the students found the rate of change
and initial value without taking into
account that the rate of change for the first
30 people is different for the rest of the
people, therefore each student received 1
point out of 3 for this question
The remainder of the students forgot to take
into account the 30 people they considered
at the beginning of their calculations
33% thought that the graph should start at
$750 and rise from there without a zero
slope for a bit

Student Raw Scores Percent

#1 8/10 80%
#2 5/10 50%
#3 6/10 60%
#4 6/10 60%
#5 8/10 80%
#6 6/10 60%
#7 6/10 60%
#8 4/10 40%
#9 0/10 0
SMARTER BALANCED ASSESSMENT
Student Scores
0
1 2 3 4 5 6
Student Number
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
Points Understandings
0 Students with this score attempted the
task
4-5 Student could show why $1350 was the
correct price for 60 people and how much
it would be for 100 people.
6 Students could calculate costs for
different numbers of people, work
backwards from cost to number of people,
and most of them could identify a graph
and give a reason for why it matched the
context
8 Students could meet the demands of the
task including writing a mathematical
equation for calculating cost
!5
7 8 9
Misunderstandings
Student had difficulty identifying the
correct graph and had difficulty writing a
mathematical expression
Some of the students had difficulty
working backward from cost to number of
people. Students forgot to add the first 30
people giving them the answer of 50
instead of 80.
Students did not qualify their equation by
mentioning the constraint that P needed to
be greater than or equal to 30 for the
equation to work
SMARTER BALANCED ASSESSMENT !6

Implications Needed for Further Math Instruction

My students were able to take a verbal description and apply the information they learned

about functions to solve real world problems. I was very pleased with the results. To further

instruction on this unit, I will need to go over how to set up algebraic equations with a fixed cost.

My students did not take into account the initial 30 people that had a fixed price. I also think that

my students need practice graphing different scenarios because they were so used to seeing a

straight line only on a graph rather than a zero slope at a certain point then having it constantly

rise at a certain rate. My students also need practice making a table of values to check against the

graph or other appropriate strategies to compare the graph to the description. We need to discuss

how different events affect the shape of the graph. The one student who received a zero on this

assignment failed 7th grade math last year. He never completes the homework and does not have

very much support at home. We often will work together on assignments at a later time and he

can usually explain his thinking to me with some assistance or I pair him up with a partner to

guide him through the assignments. I did not do that for this assignment which explains his low

score.

Reflection

Performance based assessments allow teachers to assess areas of learning that traditional

assessments do not address. Instead of requiring students to select a response for the correct

answer, performance tasks allow students to “apply their knowledge and skills through some

form of product, presentation or demonstration focused on key aspects of academic

learning” (Hofman & Kahl, 2013). Having my students practice different Smarter Balanced

Assessment questions and performance tasks will not only help them when the testing window
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opens, but also allows me to gain some insight on what concepts they have mastered and where I

need to improve my teaching practice. “Students who have learned conceptual ideas in a

relational manner and who have learned the processes and practices of doing mathematics will

perform well on tests, regardless of the format or specific objectives” (Van de Walle, pg. 91). If I

continue to have my students explain their reasoning, use multiple representations, and practice

the concepts in various ways I think they will do well on the Smarter Balanced Assessment in

May. I was pleased with this performance task but will keep the results in mind to aid my

instruction and further their mathematical thinking.

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References

Hofman, P., & Kahl, S. (2013, September/October). The Promise of Performance Assessment

and the Challenges. Retrieved December 15, 2018, from

https://www.advanc-ed.org/ source/promise-performance-assessment-and-challenges

Van de Walle, J.A., Karp, K.S., & Bay Williams, J.M. (2013). Elementary and middle school

mathematics: Teaching developmentally. 8th Edition. Boston: Pearson.