Tutoring and Assessment Case Study for Educ 331

Candidate: Haley Harrison

Subject: Math
331 Instructor: Dr. B. Wilson
Date: May 8, 2015

# of students: 6
Assessing:
Multiplication
Grade Level(s): 6th
School: Poca Middle School
Coop Teacher: Mrs. Absten
Date of Pretest: April 13, 2015
Average pre-test score: 55%
Date of Posttest: May 4, 2015
Average post-test score: 90%

Decision about Who, What and How to tutor/teach and How to assess:
When trying to come to a decision of who to tutor, Mrs. Absten and I realized I
always seemed to be observing during her math intervention. She would have math
interventions on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday every week. She would have
every child that fell under that category on two of those days. Therefore, I tutored the
children who were with her on only Monday and Wednesday which was 6 kids. My
first day there the students were struggling so bad with multiplication tables. I was
mind blown by that because they are in the 7th grade; you should be able to do
multiplication with no problem during 5th grade, in my opinion. Therefore, I felt since
day 1 thats what I should be doing and Mrs. Absten agreed. We decided the most
effective way to do an assessment would be to have the same pre and posttest. She
gave me some pointers before I made the test, like add in a couple problems with
decimals because hopefully the students would get to that. By giving the pretest on
my second day, the students were comfortable enough with me to be honest and try
there hardest.
Tutoring Lesson/Unit and Assessment Description:
I assessed the students with a long multiplication pretest. As stated before, Mrs.
Absten and I agreed that the pre and posttest should be the same thing. I gave my
pretest on April 13, 2015 and then three and a half weeks later on May 4th, I gave my
posttest, after tutoring the students for 8 hours. The test consisted of long
multiplication problems with a few decimal problems. Typically, I helped the students
one on one if they were struggling with a problem. They were used to Mrs. Absten

reflecting a problem on the whiteboard by using an Elmo, so I stuck to that method

since that was what they were used to. I thought that this was the best way to tutor
such a small number of students because its not constant one on one all the time, but
it is small enough to feed off of each other. By doing this, each student got the help
they needed without having to wait long periods of time.
Link to Standards:
The Seventh Grade CSOs are:
M.7.G.6

Solve real world and mathematical problem involving area, volume, and
surface area of two- and three-dimensional objects composed of triangles,
quadrilaterals, polygons, cubes, and right prisms.

M.7.NS.2

Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division of

fractions to multiply and divide rational numbers.

The content that I assessed and tutored during my placement was long multiplication
consisting of long numbers, decimals, and surprisingly to surface area.. I think that this is
important content, because if you cannot confidently multiply and divide integers you can
not be successful in further math related subjects.
Results of Assessments:
The results of the assessments are listed in the table below.
Student
A
B
C (male)
D (male)
E
F
Overall

Pre test score

50%
60%
40%
80%
30%
60%

Post test score

80%
90%
90%
100%
70%
90%

The scores when graphed look like this:

Blue: Pre-test
Red: Post-test

As the table and the graph show, students C and E had the greatest
accomplishment of gaining knowledge throughout the tutoring process. Even though they
may not be the best scores, they are the most improved. After recalling my tutoring
sessions, it makes sense to me as to why they were the most improved. Student C felt like
he/she had a reputation to uphold and played the too cool for school act, but once he
started seeing changes himself, he really tried. And underneath the entire attitude, he/she
was super intelligent. Student D was SO smart; Mrs. Absten told me she was actually in
the process of working on getting the child out of her math intervention because there
was no reason. He/she was flourishing, but not getting anything challenging enough.
Disaggregated Data
Below, I have disaggregated the data between the low scorers and high scorers.
The low scorers consisted of students E, C, and A. The high scorers consisted of students
B, F, and D. Although the high scorers obviously made better grades, these graphs show
that the low scored students had the biggest achievement instead of the high scorers.

Reflection and Data-based Decision Making:

Going through this entire experience, I honestly didnt know what to expect due
to never being placed in a special ed nor a middle school setting. However, I have found
this to be the most rewarding placement. I feels like a huge accomplishment to me to see
by looking at my charts and graphs that none of my students maintained or fell; they all
grew and learned something new. My greatest fear going into this was letting my
professor, my cooperating teacher, and myself down. I want to be able to make a change

in a childs learning experience that is so much often better said than actually done.
However by looking at these graphs and charts, I can be pleased with myself.
While tutoring the most effective way to help my special education students was
just going one on one and helping them individually. If I would talk to them as a whole, it
was hard to have all their attention because they would lose focus and become distracted
with everybody elses problems and what they were having trouble with. While student B
was having trouble with multiplying 9s, student E was having trouble with carrying their
numbers They were all at different paces and different levels in the program.
However, they eventually go the hang of it. By the time my placement was over,
they were doing great with their long multiplication, struggling with decimals slightly,
BUT doing surface area without any hesitation or problems. They love doing it so much
more than just plain old multiplication tables. It was challenging to them and when they
would get it correct, it was like the biggest accomplishment ever to them. Seeing their
reaction is something that I will treasure forever.

1.)

2.)

379
x 44

758
x 98

3.)

9,475
x 73

4.)

2,469
x 36

5.)

4,957
x 89

6.)

37,457
x 397

7.)

61,928
x 723

8.)

44,098
x 278

9.)

10.)

375.9
x 33
43.96
x4