Students Analyzing Assessments with Item Analysis

Context

Students at Locust Grove generate formative and summative data by taking a pretest and posttest within a unit, and reflect on that data by performing an item analysis. An item analysis is a structured reflection that helps break down a test into meaningful components for a student. Pretest item analyses help students identify which learning targets they already know, where they need support, and help determine where they should start in their Learner Pathways. Posttest item analyses show students what they’ve learned, which learning targets they have mastered, and how their learning has grown through the unit.

For students to complete an item analysis, teachers provide a form to students that pairs with each assessment. The form walks students through each problem they missed and aligns each problem with a learning objective. Students are then able to group wrong answers and identify trends and possible gaps in their learning. For example, an item analysis for the Rational Numbers unit might show that a student has mastered identification of rational numbers, missed a few problems adding and subtracting them, and struggles applying multiplication and division to this concept. This student’s Learner Pathway would be adjusted so they focus some of their time on addition and subtraction of rational numbers, and the majority of their time on multiplication and division.