Michelle Ghedina Jason Leblang

Brett RoerTim Hanser

Automotive High SchoolTeam Assignment #1

School Population Automotive High School • 952 students on register

o 95% Male o 21% special education

Services offered - Self-Contained classes for all grade levels - Integrated Collaborative Teaching (formerly

CTT) in basic level classes - Resource room (Smart Study).

About Our Cohort• 24 Freshmen

o All students enrolled in a remedial freshman science course

20.8%

45.8%

33.3%

100%

About Our Cohort (cont.)

Problem• Students are not performing well on state exams,

specifically in history and scienceo Data sources - ARIS, Regents exams, report card

grades, and transcripts

• Students are able to verbally answer questions pertaining to information, but are unable to answer the equivalent written questions on exams

ExamplesGiven the food web to the right and the reading reading below, students were asked to answer a series of questions.

The organisms in the food web above live near large cattle ranches. One year, a few ranchers hunted and killed many mountain lions to prevent future loss of their cattle. Later, ranchers noticed that animals from this food web were eating large amounts of grain from their fields.

ExamplesTypes of questions they answer well:

1. Identify two specific populations that most likely increased in number after the mountain lion population decreased.

1. Identify a food chain that consists only of a producer, a primary consumer, and a secondary consumer.

ExamplesGiven the food web to the right, students were asked to answer a series of questions

Types of questions with which they struggle:

1. (The bolded part of this question…) Identify two specific populations that most likely increased in number after the mountain lion population decreased. Support your answer.

1. Explain how killing many mountain lions affected other ranchers in the community.

Sample Responses Q1More often than not, students who answered the identification part of the question simply did not answer the second part of the question. Of the students who responded to this part of the question, their explanations were not sufficiently explicit, or did not support their answer.

Example 1: I think an increase in the deer population will happen since the mountain lion is gone.

The student understands the core question, but is unable to articulate his response sufficiently to support his answer.

Example 2: The deer and the rabbit because they eat grain and grass. It starts from them and the rest of the animals go and eat the grain and grass.

Again, the student can answer the core question, but his explanation in no way supports his answer.

Sample Responses Q2Many of our students struggle to organize their thoughts. As a result, they will generate responses that are out of context, or lose sight of what the question initially asked

Example 1: They would not have to be scared to go in the wild alone

The answer, in a sense, isn’t incorrect, but the student doesn’t put the question into the context of the reading.

Example 2: When the deer population gets eaten by the mountain lion, the deer population is going to disappear, but if many mountain lions get killed by humans, the deer population is going to rise. If the place is too small, they are going to spread out.

The answer is not addressing the question.

Next Steps: Assessment • Diagnostic Assessment to gather baseline data

o Questions will be presented in two ways Question type 1- Questions will be direct and

provide specific directions on how to answer the questions.

Question type 2- Questions will be open-ended, utilizing prompts such as “explain”, “describe” , and “discuss”

o Analysis of responses will be used to develop lessons to teach necessary strategies

• Summative Assessment using the same format as the Diagnostic to assess acquisition of new problem-solving strategies