Eliana Aguirre

Student Learning Analysis

Assessment Overview

In order to assess my ninth grade World History students’ abilities to summarize and determine
the key points of a primary source, I created a formative assessment where they could
demonstrate this skill. Using a primary source that related to our current unit on Nationalism in
the 19th century, I collected data from my students on their abilities. I then used this information
to help me craft a modeling lesson where I showed students how I would read and annotate a
primary source in order to come with an effective summary and key points. By having a
benchmark for where students’ abilities were currently at, I was able to identify the major flaws
in their approach to summarizing and identifying key points. This allowed me to modify my
instruction and tailor it to student needs. After modeling for the students and giving them
feedback on their initial formative assessments, I asked them to fill out a Google Form where
they were able to rate their confidence in being able to summarize and find key points.
Additionally, the form had a space for questions. Before reassessing, I went over concerns raised
in the Google Form. The reassessment gave students another primary source related to our unit
and asked them to once again summarize and identify key points. All assessments were
categorized into three categories: “Below Expectations,” “Meeting Expectations,” and
“Exceeding Expectations.” Please review the graphs and explanations for each assessment below
in order to see student growth through both data and examples of student work.

Learning Goal

Students will be able to summarize and find key points from a primary source.

Relevant Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate
summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.

6.2.2 Growth of Nationalism and Nation-States – compare and contrast the rise of nation-states
in a western and non-western context.
Pre-Assessment Analysis of Data and Student Understanding

The graph above displays student ability to summarize a primary source and find key points
before any instruction was given. Students were given a primary source related to their current
area of study and were asked to write a summary and identify key points from the passage. The
passage, written by Italian Nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini, aimed to explain to Italians how God
desired for them to unify under one Italian identity and explain the benefits unity could provide.
The blue bar at the top shows that fifty two percent of students were in the “Below Expectations”
category. Students who fell under this category showed an inability to accurately summarize the
primary source.

Example of “Below Expectations” Work:

“The article is talking about how God is the most important. We should be thankful for
him and all that he does. Europe does not love him enough. If we love God we should
love our country.”

Students who fell into the “Meeting Expectations” category demonstrated an understanding of
most of the key points at hand. Since understanding all key points is necessary for an exemplary
summary, these students did not fall into this category.
Example of “Meeting Expectations” Work”:

“The passage is discussing bringing Italy together because of divine design. Mazzini
thinks that Italians were once broken apart but need to come back together. Mazzini
discusses God and says that God made this country for them and they should be a part of
it. Italians should come together.

Eight percent of students fell into the category of “Exceeding Expectations” and were able to
demonstrate their ability to identify key points and subsequently write an accurate summary.

Example of “Exceeding Expectations” Work:

“In the passage, Mazzini starts off by talking about how God intended for Italy to become
a nation but evil forces split it apart. Mazzini sees that Italians have things in common
and believes that they should unify. He is saying that Italians should have pride for their
country. He believes that Italians will be stronger together and can create a powerful
nation.”

Subsequent Instruction and Student Feedback

Following the initial formative assessment, I looked over the student work and left comments.
The goal was to either affirm student thinking or provide direction on where they may have gone
wrong. My goal for the individualized feedback was for students to have an opportunity to see
their errors and correct them in the future. Additionally, while reading student work I used the
data I collected to help me prepare a lesson that would aid students in their ability to identify key
points and summarize a primary source. When looking at student work samples, I noticed a few
common themes. The first was that summaries were not addressing all aspects of the primary
source. Students had a tendency to focus on the introduction and conclusion paragraphs,
neglecting anything in between. Additionally, I could see that students were struggling with
defining tricky words and phrases. Without having identified their meaning, students could not
accurately summarize.

With these ideas in mind, I decided that modeling through a guided reading of a primary source
and composing a summary would be the best way to help my students see and understand the
process. Choosing another text from our current unit, I modeled how I would break down a
primary source and the techniques I would use. Two of the skills I taught students while reading
were chunking and making sense of tricky words and phrases. After going through the reading
together, we composed a summary based on our notes and annotations. By breaking the primary
source down paragraph by paragraph, I was able to show students how to address a primary
source in its entirety. Additionally, by showing students how to use context clues and web or
textual sources to help them make sense of tricky words and phrases, I was able to show students
how to make what appears to be difficult text more accessible and easier to summarize.

After our guided reading, I

was prepared to give
students their final
formative, the post-
assessment. Before I did
this, I wanted to give
students an opportunity to
share where they thought
their personal skill in
being able to identify key
points and summarize primary sources fell. I also left a space for comments where students could
leave suggestions as to how they could improve their skills. I did this via Google Forms. As seen
in the pie chart above, most students were confident in their abilities to identify key points and
summarize after the modeled guided reading and summary composition. Only nineteen percent
of students rated their skills to be at a one or a two. Seeing as I made the suggestion box a
required field on the form, I was able to see what students who rated themselves low thought
would be beneficial to assist in their learning. A common theme I noticed was not being able to
understand tricky words and phrases. Although we had already covered this skill, I spent the first
ten minutes of class before giving the post assessment modeling my thought process behind
encountering tricky words and phrases. I also gave the students recommendations to useful
sources to help them decode these unfamiliar words.
Post-Assessment Analysis of Data and Student Understanding

After looking at the post assessment results, I saw great growth from my students. After the
subsequent instruction, only 1 student (two percent of my data), was unable to successfully
identify key points and summarize. Despite their inability, they showed great growth like their
peers. Although they were unable to accurately summarize, the aforementioned student went
from only addressing the topic sentence of the primary source to making attempts to address it in
its entirety.This summative assessment was modeled similarly to the initial formative. Students
were given another passage from the corresponding unit and were asked to identify key points
and summarize. The one change made from the first formative assessment was a requirement for
students to annotate their primary sources. In doing this, my goal was to force students to dissect
the text and show that they understood how to use the skills we learned during the guided
reading. I saw evidence of their abilities through their annotations. Subsequently, with my
students who exceeded expectations, I was able to see use of these skills in their summaries as
they addressed all parts of the text and were able to simplify tricky words and phrases.
Conclusion

The evidence I gathered from my summative assessment shows my ability to use student data to
help alter my instructional techniques. In looking at the data provided by my first formative
assessment, I saw that only eight students show mastery in their ability to summarize and
identify key points from a primary source. After providing individual feedback and performing a
student centered modeling of the guided reading and summarization process, fifty-five percent
of my students showed mastery in the skill. Additionally, I saw that forty-three percent of my
students were meeting expectations and were on a great path toward mastery. The data provided
by these assessments shows me the importance of student-centered instruction and using patterns
found in student work to guide my instruction. In conclusion, the summative assessment showed
evidence of student growth and progress toward mastery in being able to summarize and find key
points in primary sources.