Summary…andaRecipeforChange.
• Creationofstatic(non‐interactivecharts)iscommonpracticeinbothschooldistrictsand
teacher‐trainingprogramstoanalyzeandreportstudentassessmentdata.
• Thepivotcharthasbeenaroundinspreadsheetsoftwareforalongtime.Evenso,it
remainsoneoftheleastutilizedfeaturestoanalyzeandreportstudentassessmentdata.
• Datatrendsarelesslikelytobemissedwhenusingpivotcharts,giventhatdatacanbe
filteredandchartaxesupdate dwithasimplepoint‐and‐clickordrag‐and‐drop.Inaddition,
questionsthatariseduringa presentation(e.g.“Doyouhaveagraphthatshows…”) can
nowbeaccommodated“onthefly”.
Asacase‐in‐point,thisposterpresentationusesfourstatic charts(Figures3,4,5,and7)to
displayReadingachievementdatainaTitlesubgroup. Manymorechartscouldbecreated
tolookatotherdimensions,suchastheRTIsubgroup.Onepivotchart(ratherthanmany
staticcharts)letsyoudynamicallycreatemanydifferentviewsofthedata, greatlyreducing
timespentdiscoveringhiddentrendsoridentifyingbestreportingformats,andto address
“whatif”questionswhenevertheyarise(thedayofapresentation,orseveralmonths
later).
Thefollowingrecommendationsareoffered:
1. Universitiesthathavepartnershipswithlocalschooldistrictsshouldhostworkshopson
pivotchartsthatfocusontheiruseinanalyzingandreportingstudentassessmentdata.
Standardizeddata‐gatheringtemplatesshouldbeprovidedtoworkshopattendeesthat
includeworksheetformatsoptimizedforpivotchartgeneration.Thesetemplates
shouldbedesignedforusebyschoolpersonneltogatherrealstudentdatathatcanbe
analyzedinafollow‐upworkshop.
2. Revisetechnologytraininginteachercertificationprogramstointegratepivotchart
trainingintheanalysisofpre‐andpost‐assessmentdataforwholeclass,subgroups,or
individuals. Suchdataaretypicallygatheredduringstudentteaching,aspartofa
TeacherWorkSample,todocumentimpactonstudentlearning.Suchtrainingcouldbe
implementedpriortothestudentteachingtermaspartofaTWSsimulationproject.
i
FromtheEducationalMeasurementGroupofPearson
“Astanineisatypeofscaledscoreusedinmanynorm‐referencedstandardizedtests.Thereareninestanineunits(thetermisshort
for"standardnine‐pointscale"),rangingfrom9to1.Typically,staninescoresareinterpretedasaboveaverage(9,8,7),average(6,
5,4),andbelowaverage(3,2,1).Usingonlyninenumbers,staninescoringisusuallyeasiertounderstandthanotherscoring
models.”
“Staninescoresareusefulincomparingastudent'sperformanceacrossdifferentcontentareas.Forexample,a6inMathematics
andan8inReadinggenerallyindicateameaningfuldifferenceinastudent'slearningforthetworespectivecontentareas.While
staninescoresaregoodatsignifyingbroaddifferencesinperformance,theyshouldbeusedcautiouslywhenmakinganyfiner
distinctionsaboutperformance.”