Excel 1

For this assignment, I had to go to the NCES site and view state comparisons. In the boxes I had to select  4th grade, reading for 2011, and gender. I exported the information into a Microsoft Excel worksheet to proceed. I downloaded the Data Analysis Tool Pack add on for excel to calculate the scores. I had difficulty getting the Data Analysis Tool Pack to become active at first, it showed as being inactive. After several trials, I finally got it to become active. Technology is so tricky at times if you don't do the exact steps it needs. Then, I commuted the descriptive statistics for the total score column on a different worksheet. The next step was to sort the total scores in ascending order from smallest to largest, and create a scatter graph to plot the states. My scatter graph shows were my home state of WV is located within the other states. Compared to other jurisdictions, WV is blew average for reading scores in 2011. WV's total score is 214.3860242 marketing it as number 10 out of 53 jurisdictions. That means that were 43 other jurisdictions with higher reading scores in 2011 then WV, and nine lower. 


I used Jing to capture my scatter plot image and posted it below. 

In my opinion this assignment co-insides with Teaching Standard Function 4C. In using calculations and data, educators can examine the outcomes of their students works. Then adjustments can be made to improve their teaching practices and enhance their students' learning. Through this assignment, I was able to identify WV's reading scores for the year of 2011 compared to other jurisdictions. It was interesting to view how low WV was compared to other areas in the world. This makes me aware of the fact that as a future educator, I will have to implement reading sills and practices to help improve my student's reading abilities.