Content Area: Social Studies
Grade Level: 6
Outcome 1 Outcome 2
	Homework (goal = 4)	Attendence (goal = 95%)	Locate places and describe the human and physical characteristic of those place using geographic tools (goal = 7.0)	Analyze interrelationships among physical and human characteristics that shape the identify of places and the development of civilizations (goal = 7.0)	Analyze how and why humans modify their natural environment (goal = 7.0)	Describe the characteristics that are used to organize people into cultures (goal = 7.0)	Explain how cultural diffusion influenced, such as trade, conflict, and migration (goal = 7.0)	Analyze the practices and beliefs of world religions and philosophies (goals = 7.0)
Whole Class	3.2	87.7	7.3	5.7	5	6.1	5.4	5
LEP students	79.5	2	6.6	4.4	4.4	4.7	4.2	3.6
Non-LEP students	90.3	3.6	7.5	6.1	5.2	6.6	5.8	5.4
1. I think that my class was unsuccessful as a whole, although there were students who did meet the goals. In fact, the class average was only at or above the minimum level required for the goal for the first indicator. There are a number of possible reasons for this problem. There are a number of students with limited English proficiency in the class, who I studied in depth as a subgroup. These students in general performed worse than the students who were fluent in English. This is probably because social studies involves a lot of reading, and if a student does not know English, it is very hard to absorb the information. Also, there are many special needs students in the class, who have physical and learning disabilities that are obstacles to their learning. Finally, the large number of students who receive free and reduced meals have a harder time performing than students who do not have to worry about poverty. These are important issues that need to be addressed in the classroom, and specialized instruction should be developed for them. All of this negativity should not take away from students who performed well on the tasks, including some students from disadvantaged subgroups.
2. Homework is important to each indicator. In general, the students who had high levels of homework completion did the best on the indicators. For example, student #9 got a perfect 5 on his homework and received a beyond satisfactory goal for each indicator. There are a number of reasons why homework is related to achievement on the indicators. For one, homework is a way for students to practice what they learned in class at home. If the only do work in class, they will forget the key concepts. They need to have additional practice outside of the classroom. Also, homework is a way to continue learning beyond their classroom exercises. They might do a research project which allows them to have a deeper understanding of the material. Finally, the parents can get involved with homework, which is extremely beneficial to the students. The LEP students as a whole recieved lower score for homework than the rest of the class. This is probably because of poor communication with parents. If the parents are not aware of the expectations for the class, they cannot enforce the expectations on their children.
3. Attendance is also important to the students’ success on each indicator. Those students whose attendance approached 100% did much better on the indicators than students who rarely attended class. The reasons for this are obvious. If a student is in class, they are listening to the teacher conduct direct instruction and participating in interactive activities to enrich their understanding. Also, students who have good attendance are able to interact with their peers more efficiently and learn from each other. Students definitely benefit from group work and if a student is not in call, he or she can not get a number of different perspectives from the group members. LEP students also received lower marks in attendance. The reasons for this are unclear, but may range from poor communication with parents to frustration due to the language barrier.