Analyzing student data in a spreadsheet

I'm not sure how I managed to avoid spreadsheets for so many years, but alas the time has come for me to learn how to use them. This exercise is an example of how to use spreadsheets to collect student data such as test scores, then average scores and follow trends. It took longer than I'd hoped, but I guess that's what happens to novices. I included the data chart of 12 fictional students, then extrapolated two charts to illustrate the data. I chose the line graph in order to show the trend of improvement from test 6 to test 10 among classmates, but thought the bar graph better showed the achievements of individual students.

Looking at the graphs, it appears that the general trend of the students who had scored below the class average was one of improvement. One student, Katherine, did much better on test 7 than the other tests, so I wonder if the material was what made a difference, or perhaps the delivery of the exam, or maybe she was just having a good day compared with other test days. Another student, Queen, did worse on test 10, whereas the rest of the class improved from test 9 to test 10. Also, Queen and Walter still are performing quite a bit lower than the rest of the low-scoring kids. This indicates that these two students may need a little more one-on-one assistance. By noting differences such as these, I can consider what subject matter in which each student needs additional assistance, or maybe consider if that individual test was given in a way that spoke to that student or didn't, and modify my lessons or types of tests accordingly.

This definitely was an exercise in patience to get the display just right in the blog, but I learned a bit about tinkering with html coding, and getting it to look as nice as it should made it worth it.