How does one analyze real quantitative data from the case-study?
When given new data that encompasses how long the students were in the program, one knows this is important to add to your cross tabulations…
Example of new data added about attendance:
- 35 students were in program less than 60 days
- 20 increased math grade by half grade or more
- 4 decreased math grade by half a grade or more
- 11 neither increased nor decreased their grades
- 30 students less than 90 days
- 19 increased math grade by half grade or more
- 5 decreased math grade by half a grade or more
- 6 neither increased nor decreased their grades
- 31 students more than 90 days
- 21 increased math grade by half grade or more
- 2 decreased math grade by half a grade or more
- 8 neither increased nor decreased their grades
Start by combining old data with new data in your cross-tabulation.
Make This Table to Help You Analyze the Data:
Table 5— Grades by Number of Days Attended
Please indicate the # of regular attendees who: | 30 - 59 Days | 60 - 89 Days | 90 Days or More |
Increased their math grade by half a grade or more | 20 | 19 | 21 |
Decreased their math grade by half a grade or more | 4 | 5 | 2 |
Neither increased nor decreased their math grade | 11 | 6 | 8 |
Totals | 35 | 30 | 31 |
Please indicate the # of regular attendees who: | 30 - 59 Days | 60 - 89 Days | 90 Days or More |
Increased their grade by half a reading grade or more | 22 | 16 | 16 |
Decreased their grade by half a reading grade or more | 3 | 9 | 0 |
Neither increased nor decreased their reading grade | 7 | 4 | 12 |
Totals | 32 | 29 | 28 |
Now new data is given that includes the student scores by level (1, 2, 3 and 4) in Math and Reading/Language Arts
Make This Table for the New Data:
Table 6— Number of Attendees Who Scored at Different Levels
STATE ASSESSMENT - CURRENT YEAR
Number of regular attendees who scored in the following levels on the state proficiency test administered during the reporting period. | Math | Reading/ Language Arts |
Level 4 | 18 | 1 |
Level 3 | 56 | 62 |
Level 2 | 21 | 33 |
Level 1 | 1 | 0 |
Totals | 96 | 96 |
Tables are one good way to organize the data, count the data and perform analysis.
Now comment on the data like this:
One of the most important parts of the grant is to assess the success by collating state collected data with the program’s roster in order to understand if student achievement increased while in the program. In the table above, the program shows incredible first year success. Caution must be given to the reader that these are not causal data…in other words the increase in student achievement data is not directly caused by attending the after-school program, but is a reflection of students attending school and attending the after-school program.
Now That the Tables are Made, Make a Chart or a Graph to Help the Analysis from a Visual Perspective
These data were collected from the first year out of a five-year study and so these data represent a baseline of achievement. They point to success, but only time will tell, and they are intriguing data. In order to understand the table above, two charts are presented below to highlight the number of students who increased their math grade and the number who increased their ELA grade.
In both cases, the charts are a strong indication that student motivation did improve.
Findings
Next, craft a summary from the analysis above, into one-sentence statements of findings:
Over 60% of students increased their math and ELA grades by more than one half a grade.
Conclusions
When ready to conclude, spell out what the analysis found, in paragraph format:
Most notably, from the quantitative data, there is a little over 60% of students increased their math and ELA grades by more than one half a grade. This compares favorably to the approximately 30-38% of students who increased their grade statewide in other centers. However, the program lags behind the other state centers in terms of behavior, homework completion and class participation.