Breaking Down Quizzes

I, like any teacher, know that I am supposed to give assessments to my students in order to find out just where they stand in my classroom.  I create a quiz (or use one that is created for me), the students get a score, and then I know if they are getting it or not.  Right?

Well, it just wasn't working that way for me.  I knew Johnny got 5 out of 10 wrong, but I didn't know what that meant.  Did he get all of the addition questions right and bomb the subtraction?  Was Johnny doing great with antonyms but lacking in homophones?  Entering a number in my grade book wasn't telling me these things.  In fact, all it told me was what percentage of the quiz Johnny got right, not how to help him learn those things he missed (which, isn't that the point of the quiz anyway?  To figure out what the students know or don't know and to help guide my instruction?)

So I developed this little Quiz Breakdown for me to use that would tell me what standards the kids knew, where they were lacking, where I should pull small groups, and what skills just needed to be taught whole class.  Looking at this I can, in one quick glance, assess my class as a whole and decide what direction to take my next lessons in.

Here is how it works.  When the quizzes are corrected, I go one by one and input the information on the chart.  When a student gets a question wrong (say #1), I put a tally by the number 1.  I then write the #1 by that student's classroom number.  I do this for all 30 students (it takes all of 10 minutes to do)  









Once the data is in, I then know who needs remediation on certain skills, what standards I need to review whole class, and what standards the kids have basically mastered.  You can see from this close up of the chart, that I need to make sure to do another whole class lesson on recognizing various angles (this was the first week doing that).  20 of my 30 students missed the two questions dealing with that standard.  Prime factorization, on the other hand, seems to have sunk in, as only one child missed that question.

The final step is to create my remediation groups.  I write the standard/skill for the group, then look for all of the children who missed that skill.  You can see in this picture, Student #7 missed the question about ordering decimals (along with 3 other children).  I have chosen to make that a focus of one of my small group remediation lessons so I put #7 under my first group.

Since most of my students did fairly well on this quiz (whoo hooo!) I don't need to pull a second ordering decimals group.  That is why there are no names there.

I keep these all year long.  Every other quiz or so, I look back and them to see if there are any patterns, growth, etc...  They really help me to get a better grasp on what my students are learning and help to guide my instruction.

Here is where you can access the form.. I have one for math/science and one for Lang Arts (as there are more questions in LA than math, on my assessments)  Feel free to use whichever fits your needs.

33 comments

  1. omg Stephani I LOVE this form!!!! The one I use for RTI & PLC is similar but yours is exactly what I was looking for!!!! This is a perfect summary page! May I share it with my P and colleagues? Thanks!!!!!!!!!!

    ❤ Mor Zrihen ❤
    A Teacher's Treasure

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  2. Glad you found it useful! It works for me, so I thought I would share it with others :)
    ~Stephanie

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  3. Love this. We have been talking a lot this year about data. This really is a great way to ensure you are meeting needs. I am so using this. I teach reading. So, on this quiz, there were only 10 questions? Is is review from concepts taught previously and newer skills? Thank you for sharing!

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  4. Love this. We have been talking a lot this year about data. This really is a great way to ensure you are meeting needs. I am so using this. I teach reading. So, on this quiz, there were only 10 questions? Is is review from concepts taught previously and newer skills? Thank you for sharing!

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  5. Thank you for sharing this! I've been working on creating something like this, so thank you again for sharing. It's perfect!

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  6. Mrs. Raynes, I give a weekly LA quiz that covers the skills I have taught that week, plus a bit of a mixed review and comprehension. It has 12 questions on it (if you download the form, you will see the LA looks slightly different from math) In math, I also give a mixed review/new learning quiz each week, but that only has 10 questions. The pictures are from my math quiz. :)
    ~Stephanie

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  7. Stephanie,
    What a great idea! I know I will be using these in the future.

    I nominated you for the Leibster Award...not noticing that you have already received it (duh)...but you get it again for being so awesome.

    Thanks for sharing all of your wonderful ideas.

    Elizabeth

    Fun in Room 4B

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  8. Stephanie -

    LOVE this! I'm downloading a copy to share with my Math PLC team when I get back to work next week. We need to discuss focused reteach and this does the trick! Thank you!

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  9. This reminds me of Words Their Way and how you mark what they missed!! Another fabulous idea, thanks for sharing! :)

    Marvelous Multiagers!

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  10. Hi,
    This is a lovely post. I read your blog. Your posting really appreciated. You’ve said it all beautifully. Thanks for sharing this. We are also provided the Quiz services.

    create quiz , Make your own quiz

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  11. Thanks for all your wonderful ideas! I will definitely being coming back to blog stalk here...hehe :)

    Lisa :) (new follower)
    http://madeintheshadeinsecondgrade.blogspot.com/

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  12. Your blog has been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award; not President! Go to my blog to learn the details and receive your reward.

    http://begborrowandteach.blogspot.com/

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  13. Thanks for the form. As a teacher, you always give assessments. But it's the breakdown of skills mastered or not mastered that really matters. I think this form will make my life easier. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  14. Holy moly - that is crazy data. Love it!!!!!

    Thanks for entering my giveaway! :)

    Holly
    Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade

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  15. I was searching the net looking for some cool stuff and stummbled accross your site. I wanted to let you know that I think your site has some good pages and that I have already saved this page so I can visit again soon Thanks!

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  16. This is a wonderful blog and you have great ideas. Thank you so much for sharing your 5 minutes of fluency video and your test break down. Both of these strategies are so helpful for 2 different tricky assessments. I really appreciate your generosity.

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  17. Keep up the good blogging! Much appreciated..

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  18. Stephanie, this is just so brilliant! I love how you think of each and every aspect of your teaching. This form is incredible and I will definitely be trying this on my next assessment. Thank you!!
    Kristen

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  19. Do you use this for tests as well? How do you organize this after you used them for each quiz?

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    1. I do use a similar one for tests (it just has more spaces on it). After each quiz, I keep them in a data binder that I have for my class. There is a section for LA, Math, and Science. Each sheet goes in the category it belongs, and when a new quiz comes, that new sheet goes on top of it. That way, I can go back over each sheet and take a visual assessment to see if there is growth for the child/class. It seems to be easiest for me that way.

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  20. I was unable to find it... when I clicked onthe link it said it was no longer there but I still want it :(

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  21. Humm....when I clicked on them, they worked. They should take you to the TpT store where you can download the doc for free. Here is the link again. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Breaking-Down-Quiz-Data

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  22. Do you not do one for social studies? Do you do any reteaching or small group or anything for social studies? Just wondering since next year will be my 1st teaching American History-5th and 6th grade. :)

    Shannon
    http://www.irunreadteach.wordpress.com

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  23. LOVE it! Thank you so much for sharing! :)

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  24. I love this....it is revolutionary! You are a genius. Thank you, Stephanie!

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  25. I LOVE this idea. I will be teaching 5th grade math - with letter grades for the first time this year. We previously had Beginning, Developing, and Secure. I love what you have done here, but I am wondering what math curriculum do you use?

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  26. I am so very impressed with all the products that I have purchased form you! I also teach 5th grade and your homework spiral review has been a life saver. Do you have your Language Arts/Comprehension weekly quizzes for sale? I would love to use these in my classroom as well! Thanks for all the inspiration.

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  27. Your blog is awesome and I have gotten so many great ideas from you! Thanks for sharing. I really like the way you formatted this form. I need to figure out a way to adapt this for my students - I will be teaching about 120 kids this year and I REALLY need to stay organized and on top of my data.

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  28. Hi Stephanie! I LOVE the 10 question math review questions for homework! Thank you so much for sharing!!! Do you happen to have them on Teachers Pay Teachers for Language Arts as well? If so, I would definitely purchase them!

    Thanks!

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  29. I started using this for our Chapter Review/Test- It was amazing! My students loved it. I have several students who struggle in math and for them to meet with me having different levels of students made them feel better about themselves (I pulled those students who didn't get that standard and some of my higher kids didn't do so well). I can't wait for them to take the actual test. My class average is usually 55% of my class receive a 70% or higher.

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  30. Thanks for sharing this resource. Our system is now using standards based grading and this will help a lot as I try to make that transition.

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  31. I'm very late to this post, but I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate this! Our brains must think the same way. I've been trying to figure out a good system for how to do just what you did here, but I haven't had the time and mental energy to flesh it out. (Mostly I've gotten as far as the tally marks and realized I still had no idea who needed help with it.) Now I don't have to "reinvent the wheel", thanks to you.

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