Low Test Scores

Yesterday I gave a test over a very short unit on maps to my 8th graders. The 8th grade science standard has only one indicator and is for the most part an introduction to topographic and lithograph maps. When working on my long term plans for the 8th grade I was excited that I would be able to teach the map unit, since I am currently taking SC Maps as one of my Science content classes. As I began to grade the tests I began to feel discouraged by the student's scores. They were for the most part not very good. I really thought that the students would do very well on this test and I did not expect anything but A's.
After I finished grading the test I discussed the low scores with other teachers. The math teacher said she had the same results from the 8th graders but that it was typical. I told her that it was not typical for their science tests. As I began to reflect on why the grades were so low, for what I thought was the easiest test I had given this semester, I came up with the following ideas:
1. The 8th graders were so excited about leaving for a five day trip to Washington, D.C. the day after the test, that they did not properly prepare.
2. The test was given on a Monday and students typically don’t test well after a weekend.
3. The test format was different.
4. The students have “spring fever” and are ready for summer vacation.
5. The topic was covered in a week and maybe it warranted more time.
6. I did not use proper formative assessments to gage the students understanding of material.
7. I made out the test after teaching the lesson plans. (Instead of before teaching)
I believe all of the above ideas may have played a part in why some students performed so poorly on the test. The content is part of a new SC standard and this made planning a little difficult and my cooperating teacher and I agreed that a week should be enough time to cover the material. Perhaps with a different type of formative assessment I could have addressed the lack of understanding earlier in the week. My main formative assessment was done by interacting with the student’s lab groups as they worked though various hands on map activities. I believe that I should have incorporated more formal written assessments to gauge the individual student’s understanding.
I believe another factor that played a role, was the need for me to do the testing of the unit before the students left for their DC trip. Since, the students were leaving for a week and I would be done student teaching by the time they returned I needed to test them before they left. In addition, the maps I wanted to utilize as part of the test were borrowed from the University Center and needed to be returned.
In the end this experience has shown me the importance of long term planning and the need to be flexible. I do feel like that if the circumstance had been different that I would have extended the time spent on the topic. One “after the fact” solution I came up with was to count the grade as a quiz grade instead of a test grade, exacting less of a percentage. After discussing this with my cooperating teacher my reasoning for this she said she would plug the scores into the computer to see how they would affect their overall grade and then decided how to count it.