The objectives address the standard, which are covered in the pre-assessment.  The format of the pre-assessment is in the same format as the proficiency quizzes.  The proficiency quizzes are printed on the front and back on a half sheet of 8" x 11" printer paper.  This reduces the amount of paper required to print the quizzes because there are several proficiency quizzes for each standard covered in the Geometry course.  Students are familiar with the format of the proficiency quizzes and their knowledge of it will be transferred when looking at a similar half sheet for the pre-assessment.  

Each question on the pre-assessment addresses the standard.  Question one letter a through c asks the student to find the area of each figure by writing the formula and showing all work. Also, the student is asked to label the answer with the correct units.  Question one requires the student to identify the figure and apply the correct area formula to calculate the area.  For letter a the student is given that the figure is a rectangle, the height measurement, and the base measurement.  The student will need to plug in the height and base measurements into the area formula of a rectangle to calculate its area.  Question one letter b is similar to question one letter a, in which the figure name is given along with its base and height measurements.  The student will need to recall the area formula for the parallelogram, which is the same as the rectangle to calculate the area.  Then in question one letter c the student is given a rhombus with the measurement of its two diagonals.  Students will recall and apply the area formula of a rhombus and plug in the given values to solve for its area.  All the figures in question one are quadrilaterals that have similar properties and that is why they are grouped together.  Question one assesses the students ability to recall the area formulas for the figures and plug in the values to calculate the area.

The level of difficulty of the questions increase as the student moves from question one to question two and so forth. Question two relates to a basic figure that students are familiar with.  The student is given a word problem which describes a rectangle.  The student is given the area and the width.  The student is required to calculate the length, and is given space to draw the figure and show work to calculate the missing dimension.  The question's difficulty is slightly higher than question one. Instead of being given the dimensions and plugging them in the area formula the student is given the area and one dimension to calculate another missing dimension.  The standard H.1G.5a requires the student to determine missing dimensions of quadrilaterals. This leads to question three on the back with a more difficult figure. Question three is a word problem that asks the student to determine the missing diagonal of a kite.  The figure is provided since it is a more difficult shape.  The area and one diagonal is given as well.  The student will need to use the area formula of a kite to calculate the missing diagonal.  The image is clearly labeled.  This question is similar to question two where it asks the student to determine a missing dimension of the quadrilateral, but its difficulty is increased. It is more difficult because the area formula of a kite requires the student to recall more knowledge of its properties to apply what the student knows about kites.

Question four is the most difficult question on the pre-assessment.  It is a composite figure, which includes a trapezoid and triangle or a trapezoid and two triangles depending on how students see the figure. Standard H.1G.5a includes determining the area of composite figures.  The composite figure includes determining the area of a triangle because it is a figure that is simpler to calculate than a trapezoid.  The composite figure requires the student to calculate the area of two or more figures and adding the areas together for the total area of the composite figure.  Trapezoids requires the student to identify the two bases of a trapezoid and the height as compared to the triangle, which requires the student to identify the base and height.  The composite figure is a summation of the areas of the trapezoid and triangle.  Students could solve this problem two ways.  They could have found the area of the two right triangles and the trapezoid and add the three areas together.  Another way a student could calculate the total area is to find the area of the bottom trapezoid and the top right triangle.  Question four assesses the students ability to break down the composite figure and connect the appropriate area formulas to the appropriate shapes.

This difficulty leveling of questions is similar to the proficiency quizzes.  On the proficiency quizzes the front of the quiz assesses the students ability to meet basic content of the standard.  If students are able to apply basic content and some standard content they receive a score that is above the proficiency level.  The more difficult questions are on the back of the proficiency quizzes, which usually most students struggle with.  

The students in the Geometry class took the pre-assessment on Monday, October 31.  My cooperating teacher used it as a warm-up activity and administered the pre-assessment to the students.  There are twenty-eight students in the class, and ten students received at least one or two questions correct.  Only one student received three correct on the pre-assessment.  The rest of the class did not get any questions correct.  According to the results of the pre-assessment students were able to come up with the correct value, but most students were not able to label the value with the correct units.  Some students showed work, and other students did not show any work.  Majority of the pre-assessments had the back side blank or wrong.  Most students attempted the first couple of questions, but overall only a few were able to get the correct answer.  If I assessed the pre-assessment as the proficiency quiz then there would be only one student who showed work, labeled the correct units, and had the correct answer for a problem. Some students calculated the perimeter of the figures rather than the area.  I did not expect many students to understand how to calculate the area of most of the figures because they have not learned it yet.  I wanted to learn what they know about certain figures, any misconceptions or misunderstandings, and what they do not know.  The pre-assessment gave me a clear picture that the class struggled with determining the area of kites, rhombi, composite figures, showing work, and labeling the correct area and dimension units.