Table of Contents

Executive Summary3

Needs Analysis3

BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM3

PROBLEM STATEMENT5

NEEDS ANALYSIS5

RATIONALE FOR THE NEED FOR INSTRUCTION 6

GOAL STATEMENT 6

Learner Analysis6

ENTRY BEHAVIORS6

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF THE TOPIC7

MOTIVATION7

EDUCATION AND ABILITY LEVELS 7

GENERAL LEARNING PREFERENCES 7

CONTEXT ANALYSIS8

COURSE AND Unit design8

Lesson Design9

FOrmative Evaluation Plan10

Formative Evaluation10

References13

Appendix A14

Appendix B27

Appendix C30

Appendix D31

Appendix E32

Appendix F35

AppenDix G37

AppEndix H38

AppEndix I41

AppEndix J43

AppEndix K45

Executive Summary

Needs analysis, done through teacher surveys and gathering data on assignments, quizzes, and tests from our Math I Students, shows a need for improvement, correction, and addition of content in the Math I Course offered by Georgia Virtual School. Once the issues with content as well as gaps in content were identified, correction to content was made, Jing videos with added content and written examples were added to enhance the written lectures that already existed, self assessments such as matching, labeling, multiple choice, flash cards, sorting, and other activities were added with practice problems in order for the students to have self-guided, ungraded activities that would illustrate their knowledge, and finally more resources of online learning objects, brain pops, presentations, and other interactive activities was added to enhance the course content. Once this was completed, and evaluation was completed through teacher review, department chair review, and data collected on assignments, quizzes, and tests from the Math I Students in the “new” course. Results from this data was used to show where the improvement occurred as well as where a need for improvement in content might still be OR explained why there was no improvement due to a summer course, repeat students, or other reasons. Our data can be seen in the attached appendices.

Needs Assessment

Background of the Problem:

The context or the system of interest that we will be dealing with is within Georgia Virtual School’s Math I Course. The Math I Course is offered to Georgia Virtual School students who are located across the state of Georgia, which therefore technically is part of many public, private, and home school sectors across the state of Georgia. So this course can ultimately affect and involve employees at the Department of Education, Parents, Students, Teachers, Administration Team, and Support Staff.

After reviewing our Math I course, we have concluded that students within the Math I course were unable to succeed in Math I without greater assistant from the teacher. From the way in which the courses are designed, we aim to have the teacher be an additional resource to the student. The material should be delivered to the student through a series of videos, activities, and practice.

The goal of the revised Georgia Performance Standards is to increase the students’ understanding. We cannot continue to teach the way we have before and expect the students to perform at this new level. In the Georgia Performance Standards High School Mathematics Research and Resource Manual, the “traditional” methods are addressed.

“Teachers need not fear that they will be made obsolete. They will, however, feel increasing pressure to bring their methods--along with the curriculum--into line with the way the modern world works. That means putting a greater emphasis on teaching kids to collaborate and solve problems in small groups and apply what they've learned in the real world. Besides, research shows that kids learn better that way than with the old chalk-and-talk approach.” (Georgia Performance Standards, 2007)

Although we have used the newer delivery method of virtual model, the original Math I course was close to a traditional classroom. There were “lectures” delivered via a written document. In our eyes this was far worse than a teacher standing in front of you delivering material. Few students are using these written lectures to attempt to master material.

In remarks by Secretary Arne Duncan he discussed how technology can transform education. One specific goal he addressed deals directly with our Math I course. Here is the first goal he mentioned:

“The first goal is learning--creating more effective and engaging learning experiences for all students. The content and skills students need to learn--as well as what we know about how, when and where they learn best--have changed. With technology, we can personalize learning, increasing relevance and the opportunity to achieve. Technology can help disadvantaged learners or learners with special needs to excel--from low-income early learners, to English Learners, to learners with disabilities.” (Duncan, 2010)

We can use technology to personalize learning and increase the student’s opportunity to achieve. By providing students a variety of ways to receive the same information, they can learn from what best works for them.

According to the student survey administered to all students participating with Georgia Virtual School, only 53% of the math students responded agree or strongly agree with the statement “The assignments in my online course adequately prepared me for the assessments given.” From the student’s perspective, the assignments, and likely the instruction delivered prior to the assignments we’re not addressing what was being assessed. (See appendix A) This makes us think we may want to look at the instruction, assignments, and assessments to see that they are all aligned to the objectives for lessons.

Problem Statement:

Students participating in the Georgia Virtual School Math I course are not adequately mastering the Georgia Performance Standards set forth by the State of Georgia with regards to Interpretation of Functions.

Needs Analysis:

We are in a unique situation with regards to this project. We had an established course that we can use to pull student data. This course has specific student data by assignment, quiz, and tests. We evaluated the data for the first module of the Georgia Virtual School Math I course. The reason we focused on this first course of the overall Georgia Virtual Math I curriculum was a timing issue. We knew we would want these students to participate in our small group evaluation and they would be at this point during our summer term. The data, which is located in Appendix B, shows the individual students performance in three units in the first course. The first unit – Interpretation of Functions – was the lowest.

Rationale for the Need for Instruction:

The data showed a deficiency in the third lesson on Intercepts. This will be our focus lesson. We selected this specifically because the concept of intercepts will be revisited in other Math I lessons as well as Math II and Math III. It is important that the students understand the x-intercepts as zeros and roots of a function as well as solutions of equations. This concept of intercepts will be significant in graphing linear equations and writing equations of linear functions.

Goal Statement:

After correcting content, enhancing instruction by adding media and additional external online resources, and creating self-assessment activities students will be able to master the Georgia Performance Standards for Interpretation of Functions, specifically Intercepts of a Function.

Appendix A: Student Survey Results

Appendix B: SY 2009-2010 Math I Assessment Data

Learner Analysis

Entry Behaviors

Upon entering the Math I Course, students should have successfully completed and mastered all performance standards provided by the state of Georgia within Math 8. Specific performance standards dealing with the lessons covered in Interpretation of Functions can be viewed in Appendix D.

Prior Knowledge of the Topic Area

The students who were selected to participate in our small group evaluation were those students who registered with Georgia Virtual School for the summer 2010 term. These students are in need for credit for the course because it is required by the state of Georgia. These students could be first time Georgia Virtual School students or former Georgia Virtual School students who have failed the Math I course or they could be students who are former Georgia Virtual School students or first time Georgia Virtual School students who are trying to graduate early. We are unaware of their situation because it is not something that Georgia Virtual School asks of their students.

Motivation

These students were motivated to participate because they needed course credit for Math I in order to meet the state of Georgia requirements and advanced to Math II.

Education and Ability Levels

All students who participated in this study were Math I students who had met the performance standards for Math 8 provided by the state of Georgia and because of their mastery of these skills should be at the level to attain the performance standards by the state of Georgia set for Math I.

General Learning Preference

Georgia Virtual School courses are developed with all learning preference, visual, kinesthetic, and oral learners in mind.

Context Analysis

Instruction will take place in the online classroom of Georgia Virtual School located at gavirtualschool.org. Lessons from this course will prepare students to master the performance standards set forth by the state of Georgia for the Math I Course. Georgia Virtual School courses are self-paced with all assignments due on a weekly basis by Friday at 5p.m. according to the suggested pacing guide.

Course and Unit Design

The course for this study is based on the needs identified in the needs assessment. The goal for this instruction is that after receiving corrected content, enhanced content through media and external resources, and self-assessment activities, the students will be able to demonstrate and interpret the characteristics of functions using graphs, tables, and simple algebraic techniques as well as use the language of mathematical argument and justification. This Function Families course provides students the opportunity to master Georgia Performance Standards for the Math I curriculum.

The three units that will make up this course are Interpretations of Functions, Mathematical Argument and Proof, and Graphs and Transformations. After completing Interpretations of functions the student should be able to demonstrate how to interpret functions through domain and range, rates of change, intercepts, maximum and minimum, increase and decrease, end behavior, and compare rates of change. After completing Mathematical Argument and Proof, the student should be able to demonstrate how to use the language of mathematical argument and justification through conjecture, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, counterexamples, indirect proof as appropriate, and understand and use the relationships among a statement and its converse, inverse, and contrapositive. Finally, after completing Graphs and Transformation the student should be able to generate graphs of transformations of basic functions including vertical shifts, stretches, and shrinks, as well as reflections across the x- and y-axes.

Appendix C: Macro Instructional ICM

Lesson Design

Team T2 chose to focus on the Intercepts lesson because it had the lowest assessment scores for Interpretation of Functions unit. After completing this lesson, students will be able to state, list, and identify points as x- and y-intercepts and state whether a point is an x-intercept, y-intercept, or neither by completing the self-assessment activity and ten question assignment.

First, we will engage our students through Essential Questions to inspire further learning. Next, students will read some brief introductory material about intercepts. After the introduction, they will watch a five-minute Jing video created by team T2 to further explain intercepts and walk through examples. More resource material will be offered from and dealing with x- and y-intercepts. This material in the virtual class is available to students at all times to provide varied instruction.

After the students have read the lecture, viewed the video, and explored any additional resources, the students are invited to complete five self-assessed practice problems. These self-assessed practice problems have been entered directly into the learning environment by our team.

If the students are confident in their knowledge of the content material, they will proceed to a ten-question assignment. However, if the student does not feel he can successfully complete the assignment, he may revisit any of the material presented.

Appendix D: Micro Instructional ICM

Appendix E: Course, Unit, and Lesson Design Outline

Appendix F: Instructional Strategy Planning Sheet

Formative Evaluation Plan:

Because this is a shortened semester, the requirement for the project formative evaluation was limited to a small-group evaluation. Our small group evaluation will consist of students enrolled in the GAVS Math I course for the Summer 2010 term.

Since the improvements we made in this course will be implemented into our Georgia Virtual School (GAVS), we are required by GAVS to complete an external review as well as expert review. Content specialists will complete both these reviews.

Appendix G: Formative Evaluation Planning Worksheet

Appendix H: GAVS Accessibility Review

Appendix I: GAVS Copyright Review

Appendix J: GAVS Content Review

Formative Evaluation:

The small-group instruction was performed with five Math I students enrolled in the Summer 2010 course with GAVS. These students had successfully completed their Math 8 course requirements. Students completed this lesson at their own pace. If they completed the lecture, video, external resource activities, self-assessment and assignment, we anticipate the minimal time requirement to be 60 minutes.

Students in this small group completed an assignment, took a quiz, and a test containing information on the intercepts lesson within Interpretation of Functions.

The assignment consisted of 10 questions with a time limit of 45 minutes. The quiz consisted of 15 questions with a time limit of 45 minutes. Finally, the test consisted of 20 questions with a time limit of 60 minutes. Each assessment received grade that was recorded as a percent. The results were averaged by assessment type as well as a unit average.

The unit average was calculated using Assignment Average 15%, Quiz Average 20%, and the Test Average was 35%. (This is a total of 70% of the students’ grade. The resulting unit average was adjusted accordingly.)

Looking at the original data from the SY 2009-10, the intercepts assignment average was a 71.3%. The Quiz average was a 63.4%. The test average was a 68.8%. The overall unit average was a 56.0%.

Using the data collected from our small group of Summer 2010, the intercepts assignment average was a77.5%. The Quiz average was a 72.5%. The test average was an 83.7%. The overall unit average was a 74.8%.

The results of our small group evaluation were impressive. The individual lesson average increased by 6.2%. The quiz and test average increases were more notable at 9.1% and 14.9% respectively. The overall unit average went up 18.8%.

While we know that the added instructional material contributed to the improvement in these scores, we are aware that these results based on five students (although, we only included data of four students because the fifth student did not complete the course orientation and was not participating) are not an adequate sample. We will continue to monitor the achievement of students in subsequent terms.

Appendix K: Summer 2010 Assessment Data

References

Duncan, Arne. "Using Technology to Transform Schools." United States Department of Education News. 03 Mar 2010: n.p. SIRS Government Reporter. Web. 28 Jun 2010.

Georgia Performance Standards High School Mathematics Research and Resource Manual, Spring 2007. Retrieved June 25, 2010, from

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Appendices

Appendix A

Student Survey Results – Georgia Virtual School SY 2009-2010

Student Survey Results
Fall 09 / Spring 10 / Summer 10
Number of students who completed the survey / 2238 / 2312
How did you learn about Georgia Virtual School?
Fall 09 / Spring 10 / Summer 10
From a counselor or teacher at my school / 78% / 80%
Georgia Virtual School Website / 6% / 6%
Georgia Virtual School Employee / 1% / 1%
News Story / 1% / 1%
Other / 14% / 12%
What is your experience with online courses?
Fall 09 / Spring 10 / Summer 10
This is my first online course / 72% / 56%
I have taken 1 course previously with GA Virtual School / 11% / 24%
I have taken 2 or more online courses previously with GA Virtual School / 10% / 15%
I have taken online courses from another online program / 6% / 5%
Why did you decide to take this course online? (choose all that apply)
Fall 09 / Spring 10 / Summer 10
I wanted to get ahead for early graduation / 7% / 7%
I wanted to make room for an elective course / 5% / 6%
I wanted to try online learning / 17% / 16%
I needed to retake a course that I was unsuccessful in before / 4% / 8%
There was a scheduling conflict in my regular school schedule / 19% / 20%
This course is not offered at my school / 29% / 26%
I just moved to Georgia and this course was not required by my previous school system / 1% / 2%
I am home schooled / 7% / 8%
Other / 11% / 8%
Which of the following best describes you?
Fall 09 / Spring 10 / Summer 10
I am taking this class as part of my regular school day. / 75% / 70%
I am taking this class in addition to my regular school day. / 15% / 19%
I am home schooled. / 10% / 11%
How would you describe your online learning experience compared to your learning experience in a traditional classroom setting?
Fall 09 / Spring 10 / Summer 10
My online learning was more than in a traditional classroom / 20% / 21%
My online learning was comparable to my learning in a traditional classroom / 38% / 38%
My online learning was less than in a traditional classroom / 34% / 32%
I am home schooled / 8% / 9%
Which of the following best describes you?
Fall 09 / Spring 10 / Summer 10
My technology skills have improved as a result of taking an online class / 52% / 49%
My technology skills have not changed as a result of taking an online class. / 48% / 51%
What type of diploma are you pursuing?
Fall 09 / Spring 10 / Summer 10