Shutesbury 2004 MCAS 4th Grade Math Item Analysis
Stephen Bannasch <[email protected]>
Oct 6, 2005
pdf copy (148k)
Overview
The graph below shows the average response to the 39 questions on the
2004 4th grade Math MCAS test at Shutesbury Elementary school. The
state has not yet released the item analysis data for 2005 on its web
site. These data show where our students are doing better and worse
than the state average. Shutesbury students did considerably better
than the state average on the topic of Measurement and considerably
worse on the topic of Patterns, Relations, and Algebra.
Data like these can be used to find out what areas of math students at
Shutesbury are having trouble with. Each column on the graph represents
one topic area in 4th grade math such as Geometry and Measurement. Each
data marker represents one question and the average score Shutesbury
students scored on that question. The data plotted have been normalized
to the statewide Massachusetts average. This means that the statewide
average is equivalent to 1.0. The horizontal lines indicate the mean
value for the Shutesbury score in that topic.
For example look at the data point at the bottom of the column in
Patterns, Relations, and Algebra (PR). That is question 11, it is a
Short Answer question and has a value of 0.32. That means
Shutesbury students scored only 1/3 of the state average for that
question. Across the state 62% of the students answered that question
correctly. At Shutesbury only 20% of the students answered it
correctly. The scaled value of 0.32 is produced by dividing the
Shutesbury average into the State average.
Questions We Had Difficulty With
The following is a list of 9 questions from the 2004 4th grade Math
MCAS where Shutesbury students scored less than 0.9 when scaled against
the Massachusetts average for that question. The questions are sorted
from most incorrect to less incorrect.
Question #: 11
Question Type: Short Answer
Topic: Patterns, Relations, and Algebra
Shutesbury (correct): 20%
Massachusetts (correct): 62%
Scaled Value: 0.32
Only 20% of the students answered this question correctly however the
other 80% actually skipped this question entirely.
Question #: 30
Question Type: Short Answer
Topic: Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability
Shutesbury (correct): 36%
Massachusetts (correct): 61%
Scaled Value: 0.59
Only 36% of the students answered this question correctly however the
other 64% actually skipped this question entirely.
Question #: 21
Question Type: Multiple Choice
Topic: Number Sense and Operations
Shutesbury (correct): 32%
Massachusetts (correct): 50%
Scaled Value: 0.64
64% of the students picked B.
Question #: 7
Question Type: Multiple Choice
Topic: Number Sense and Operations
Shutesbury (correct): 36%
Massachusetts (correct): 54%
Scaled Value: 0.67
The incorrect responses were almost evenly divided between A, C, and D.
Question #: 19
Question Type: Multiple Choice
Topic: Patterns, Relations, and Algebra
Shutesbury (correct): 52%
Massachusetts (correct): 74%
Scaled Value: 0.70
Most of the incorrect answers were B and C.
Question #: 17
Question Type: Open Response (4 point scale)
Topic: Geometry
Shutesbury (correct): 1.80
Massachusetts (correct): 2.28
Scaled Value: 0.79
16% of the students skipped this question.
Question #: 3
Question Type: Multiple Choice
Topic: Patterns, Relations, and Algebra
Shutesbury (correct): 64%
Massachusetts (correct): 79%
Scaled Value: 0.81
20 % of the students selected B.
Question #: 12
Question Type: Short Answer
Topic: Geometry
Shutesbury (correct): 52%
Massachusetts (correct): 63%
Scaled Value: 0.83
All 48% of the students who got this question incorrect skipped it.
Every student who answered the question got it right.
Question #: 2
Question Type: Multiple Choice
Topic: Number Sense and Operations
Shutesbury (correct): 64%
Massachusetts (correct): 77%
Scaled Value: 0.83
20 % of the students selected C.
The data used for creating this
report can be found at:
http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/mcas/mcasitems.asp?mcasyear=2004&district=272&school=&grade=04&subjectcode=MTH