Edpsy 641 Project Paper Elementary School
Susan Fries
EDPSY 641
Project Paper
As a principal of an elementary school, I am always looking for ways to improve my student’s testing scores. I am located in the heart of the most crime ridden area in Indianapolis. Since my students have many environmental issues at home, I wanted to set up the best testing situation possible in my school. I want them to have every opportunity and chance to do well on any test that they take. When testing elementary students, many factors must be in place. One such factor that I have often wondered about is the day students take the test. I wanted to know if there was a noticeable difference on the day the students took the test. I began my research by deciding how I would attempt to answer this question. I had to ask myself what would be the best way to get the most reliable results? I must admit, I changed my mind several times trying to figure out the best way to help my students. …show more content…
Finally, I had a plan.
I would give the same test to 5 students in 5 different classes on the five days of the weeks. These students would be randomly chosen so the results would be fair. I would compare the means to see if there was a significant difference in days to test students. First, I sent home a letter to parents asking permission to test their children if they were chosen for my research. I then had the teacher draw 5 names in each of the 5 classrooms for my research. Each day of the week, I had a different group of students.
I gave them the same test on different days at the exact same time: 10:00, in the exact same way. I scripted everything I would say and read it to each group verbatim. I then put the information in SPSS. Here are the
results:
Frequencies
[pic]
[pic]
[pic]
Descriptives
[pic]
As I looked at the results, it was obvious that Tuesday is the best day to test from the data I collected. Thursday would be the second best, followed by Monday. The data showed that if you tested on Wednesday or Friday, you would most likely get similar results. I asked myself, “Why then do teachers always give tests on Friday?” I did conclude that when using samples, you must realize that sample statistics will vary from sample. to sample. Since my sample is relatively small, I have a lot of variability. If I were to use a larger sample size, I would see a much larger variability. With this in mind, I calculated a true population mean for the entire group. The number was 241.25. I could not relate this to the days of the week, but it felt good to be able to figure it out. I will think of how I can use this for my next project!
[pic]
After looking at my results, I need to rethink this project. A larger sample size will give me more accurate results since sample statistics are closer to the true population parameter. I will remember this when gathering samples and research for my dissertation. In conclusion, I will not use these results as a way to change the testing environment at my school. Although common sense would tell you that children test better on some days than others, I would need to do another study before I would feel comfortable about sharing these results with anyone. I do not feel the results were reliable. I need to do this experiment again since I have learned a lot from all the mistakes I made.
EDPSY 641
Project Paper
As a principal of an elementary school, I am always looking for ways to improve my student’s testing scores. I am located in the heart of the most crime ridden area in Indianapolis. Since my students have many environmental issues at home, I wanted to set up the best testing situation possible in my school. I want them to have every opportunity and chance to do well on any test that they take. When testing elementary students, many factors must be in place. One such factor that I have often wondered about is the day students take the test. I wanted to know if there was a noticeable difference on the day the students took the test. I began my research by deciding how I would attempt to answer this question. I had to ask myself what would be the best way to get the most reliable results? I must admit, I changed my mind several times trying to figure out the best way to help my students. …show more content…
Finally, I had a plan.
I would give the same test to 5 students in 5 different classes on the five days of the weeks. These students would be randomly chosen so the results would be fair. I would compare the means to see if there was a significant difference in days to test students. First, I sent home a letter to parents asking permission to test their children if they were chosen for my research. I then had the teacher draw 5 names in each of the 5 classrooms for my research. Each day of the week, I had a different group of students.
I gave them the same test on different days at the exact same time: 10:00, in the exact same way. I scripted everything I would say and read it to each group verbatim. I then put the information in SPSS. Here are the
results:
Frequencies
[pic]
[pic]
[pic]
Descriptives
[pic]
As I looked at the results, it was obvious that Tuesday is the best day to test from the data I collected. Thursday would be the second best, followed by Monday. The data showed that if you tested on Wednesday or Friday, you would most likely get similar results. I asked myself, “Why then do teachers always give tests on Friday?” I did conclude that when using samples, you must realize that sample statistics will vary from sample. to sample. Since my sample is relatively small, I have a lot of variability. If I were to use a larger sample size, I would see a much larger variability. With this in mind, I calculated a true population mean for the entire group. The number was 241.25. I could not relate this to the days of the week, but it felt good to be able to figure it out. I will think of how I can use this for my next project!
[pic]
After looking at my results, I need to rethink this project. A larger sample size will give me more accurate results since sample statistics are closer to the true population parameter. I will remember this when gathering samples and research for my dissertation. In conclusion, I will not use these results as a way to change the testing environment at my school. Although common sense would tell you that children test better on some days than others, I would need to do another study before I would feel comfortable about sharing these results with anyone. I do not feel the results were reliable. I need to do this experiment again since I have learned a lot from all the mistakes I made.