Running Head: STUDENT LEARNING ANALYSIS 1

Student Learning Analysis

Candice McClendon
Kennesaw State University





Author Note
I am currently on Maternity Leave and this SLA is based on a past event.
STUDENT LEARNING ANALYSIS 2
Abstract
The Student Learning Analysis or SLA is the synthesizing of data to assess the role of
instructional practice on student learning; guide decisions about future instruction; identify
specic plans or strategies to improve every students performance; and communicate the
results of instructional initiatives to others.

STUDENT LEARNING ANALYSIS 3
Student Learning Analysis
I teach rst grade at SHAPE American Elementary School, on the NATO BASE in
Belgium. The population of students is an international population of less than 700
students. The population of the school is always changing due to the high transient levels of
the military families. The families at the school are mostly middle to upper class with very
few poverty stricken families. In my classroom of rst graders, I have 7 American students, 1
Bulgarian student, 3 Spanish students, 1 British student, 2 German students, 3 Greek
students, 1 Romanian, 1 Slovakian, and 1 French student. All of my students are 6 or 7 years
old. All of my students except for the American students are at di#erent stages of ESL. I do
not have any students with special needs. With the exception of 2 students, all of my
students perform on grade level and are average to above average students.
The lessons I will be reviewing in this SLA is a science lesson on plants. The
standards addressed are as follows, $Life Science% Indicators: 1Sb.1: Recall the basic needs of
plants $including air, water, nutrients, space, and light% for energy and growth. 1Sb.2:
Illustrate the major structures of plants $including stems, roots, leaves, owers, fruits, and
seeds%. 1Sb.3: Classify plants according to their characteristics $including what specic type
of environment they live in, whether they have edible parts, and what particular kinds of
physical traits they have%. 1Sb.4: Summarize the life cycle of plants $including germination,
growth, and the production of owers and seeds%. 1Sb.6: Identify characteristics of plants
$including types of stems, roots, leaves, owers, and seeds% that help them survive in their
own distinct environments. By the end of the lesson students will be able to recall the basic
needs of a plant, list and describe di#erent types of plants and their environments, and label
and describe the function of the basic parts of a plant.
STUDENT LEARNING ANALYSIS 4
The learning is di#erentiated for my learners based on their responses to a pre&
assessment given at the beginning of the unit via the interactive board and response system.
The students will work mostly in groups formed by the results of the pre&assessment.
Students will be given assistance on vocabulary beyond the lessons taught to give them extra
support with their language barriers. The activities given to the students may vary in
di'culty level and expected student performance. Students will be challenged with higher
order questions and activities based on their ability.
Data will be collected using a post assessment via the interactive board and response
system, observations, and student performance on assigned tasks. The post assessment is
the same as the pre assessment and addresses all of the standards mentioned above. The
assessments will be multiple choice. Observations will be made during the students work
time and student performance on assigned tasks will be graded after completion for
accuracy. Students will plant a seed and complete the steps of the scientic method in their
plant journals. Students will record information they observe in their journals using pictures
and words. Students will be expected to show each stage of the plant life cycle, label the
basic parts of a plant, and describe the plants basic needs and why. In another task, students
will create an example of a plant life cycle using a medium of their choice. Each stage must
be present and clearly displayed and labeled with details. Students will create a digital story
about a plant that includes the basic needs of a plant, the life cycle of a plant, and the basic
parts of a plant. The book will also include information about the di#erent environments
and plant types that exist and what makes them unique.
When analyzing the data and looking at contextual factors, geographic location,
community, and school population seem to have little to no a#ect on student performance.
STUDENT LEARNING ANALYSIS 5
The socio&economic prole and ethnicity did show some di#erences in the results. The
students of a lower economic status performed slightly under the rest of the students. I
would think that this is due to their lack of experience and background knowledge. The
parents of these students are much less involved in their child's learning. The ethnicity also
showed some di#erences. The Greek students performed the highest and then the
American and British students. The rest of the ethnicity groups fell in the same bracket
below the ones mentioned in the previous statement. I believe that the Greek students
performed at the top because they have a connection with the English language. Especially
with it comes to science there are many words, prexes, and su'xes that are derived from
Greek words. Even though the students speak another language as their rst language they
were able to perform well because of their ability to use their own language as a connection.
The three ethnicities at the top also have parent involvement and outside experiences that
they could drawn from as they were learning. Their knowledge of the English language and
English prociency levels were also high. The students of other ethnicities also performed
well due to the di#erentiation provided. They were able to succeed while being challenged
at their own level. The use of technology and hands on activities gave all of the students the
chance to be more successful despite their language and skill level. All of my students are
procient at using the interactive board response systems and the digital story creation
program used on our school computers. The data gathered from the pretest will be reported
to students immediately. Students will be able to see which answers they got correct and
incorrect following the teacher instruction. The observations allow me to give students
results immediately as well. All other results will be given one day after the assignment.
Because the students are in rst grade I would limit the amount and content of data that I
STUDENT LEARNING ANALYSIS 6
choose to share with them. I would also keep the data positive and private when necessary.
Students this age are very sensitive about their performance.
After reecting on my teaching, I see that the students were most successful in
identifying and labeling the parts of a plant, as well as explaining their function. The next
most successful objective was the life cycle of a plant. The students really enjoyed watching
the plants grow. This authentic part of the learning was most e#ective. My students need
more opportunity to learn more about the di#erent kinds of plants and how their
environments a#ect the plants. My students were most successful with the performance
based assessments, such as the plant journal and observations, and the digital stories. The
students underperformed on the multiple choice assessments due to their English
prociency. The students are really motivated when they are doing an authentic task,
performance based task, or using technology. A professional development opportunity that I
saw is to help teachers integrate authentic tasks, and technology into their lessons. This
seemed to be what they students responded to the most and encouraged them to do their
best and think critically. I would increase the amount of authentic, performance based, and
technology that was used in the lesson and I would involve an outside expert to help
students connect to how this is used in the real world.