WPP Part D

•   Did the project get implemented as planned?

So far everything is going as planned. All but two students were able to take the quiz online.  Entering all the students’ names was simple and took about fifteen to twenty minutes.  Creating the quiz took no longer than any other quiz has before.  I was also provided with the data needed to assess my students.   One of the ideas for this plan was to have students understand the reason behind them missing the questions they did.  As I walked around I asked each student if they understood why some of their answers were wrong and if they could get them correct next time.  Every student said yes and some were even anxious to explain their thought process for answering the way they did.  The data will not be complete until they take their unit test in the next couple of weeks but so far everything has been implemented as planned. 

•   Evidence of success in addressing the problem of practice

Because the students are on spring break, I will not know if they are getting higher scores on their retake quizzes until they get back.  I only had one student who retook her quiz before break and her score went from a 6/12 to 10/12.  She did not study before like I would have wanted her to, but she was so confident that she knew why she missed what she did and she claimed she would get an A. I was quite impressed with how much she improved.  This is a girl who fails all of her test and quizzes.  Even though this is only a small sample of my student population, it is a silver lining to solving the problem of students improving their assessment scores.  I also shared this with my administration and they are asking that I share this program with other colleagues.  

•   How would you approach another project of this type differently given what you’ve learned here?

I would research and try a few different programs before I chose one.  I feel that I got lucky and found a program that met most of my needs.  By looking at multiple programs, I feel like I could get a better understanding of what it is that I really want and what it is that I could really get from a program.  Next time I go to do this, I would like to start it in the beginning of the year so modifications can be made through out the year. 

•   What are the lessons learned that others might benefit from knowing about?

The first suggestion is to do thorough research for a program that can meet the most needs of the students in order to solve the problem.  I got lucky and found a program that did more than I had planned which helped when implementing the project.  Another suggestion is to constantly try new things and assess how well it works.  I created a few quizzes that my wife and I took so I could find as many glitches as possible before I actually created one for my students.  The last suggestion is to be patient.  I would have not gotten the results I did had I not taken my time to look at everything the program had to offer.  Using these three areas will help to determine whether a program will solve the problem. 

·      In what ways will you endeavor to do the same project again, and what will you change or not do?

This project has taught me that if I want to improve something in education, there is probably a solution out there that I need to find.  I think that a lot of times we accept that a problem occurs within our curriculum but we never try to solve it.  Doing this project gave me a new philosophy on solving these problems.  I plan on doing similar projects because I have seen the success it has had on my students already.  The only area I would change is that I would do more research to make sure I have the best program possible.  As for changes, I am not sure I will change anything for next time.  I am extremely happy with my results and as of right now it looks like my test scores are going to improve.  Out of all the projects I have done throughout this program, this is the one that has inspired me the most to improve the quality of education for my students.