The demographics of the class are important because my African American and Hispanic students consistently produced lower test scores than my Asian and Caucasian students. As has been widely researched and as Erin Hamel asserts, "US schools privilege European, American, middle class, Christian, English-only literacy practices" (429).  This could be a contributing factor to the discrepancy in scores and emphasizes why multimodal assessments can serve as equalizers in the high school English classroom.    All except two of these students are sophomores. One is classified as a freshman, due to a lack of credits, and one is classified as a junior. 

As shown in the graphic below, 62.2% of my students have a lexile level under 1080, which means they do not read on a tenth-grade reading level. This information is important because this could also be a factor in why they struggle on the county-mandated multiple-choice test and why they did not perform well on their End-Of-Course Test in ninth grade.

With this information in mind, I was interested in seeing the results of the assessments,  and also students' opinions about each assessment's role in helping them to display their learning. The theme of Unit 1, is Africa, so our anchor text for the unit is Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie Ngozi.  Because of the parameters of their multimodal project, I felt it necessary to have students practice using their multimodal skills in a way similar to how they would use them on the project. As a result, I had students create a Remix Journal, which is based on Theresa Redmond's article entitled "Sparking Learning through Remix Journaling: Authenticating Participatory Ways of Knowing". This assignment required students to create a remix journal entry for each group of pages they were assigned on a Google Slides presentation.  Students were required to include the pages that were covered, a quote, a verbal or written explanation, and an image, video, gif, or meme. Students were told to ensure that each slide was meaningful and helped to convey their thoughts and reaction to the day's reading. Each time we read the novel, students created a journal entry based on the pages we read that day. Halfway through the novel, students submitted their remix journal to ensure they were consistently working on it. They submitted the second half of their remix journal after we finished reading the novel. While students chose to mostly use images and text, they were still able to practice making meaning with text and images simultaneously.

Once the unit ended, we reviewed for the Unit One Exam. I provided students with a study guide and students took the Unit One Exam in one class period. It consisted of seven multiple-choice, standard-specific, questions on cold reads and one constructed response question. The multiple-choice portion of the assessment self-graded, and I graded the constructed responses using the district-provided rubric. The second assessment was a standards-based multimodal project over Purple Hibiscus called the Purple Hibiscus Culture Project. The project required students to analyze the elements of culture that I provided in Purple Hibiscus and in their own life. They had the option of conveying this information however they saw fit, outside of solely using text. I encouraged them to be creative and think outside of the box.  The multimodal assessment was graded using a rubric I created. 

Both assessments addressed the skills related to the anchor standards for the unit. I collected data on each student’s mastery of the anchor standards using their performance on the assessments. After the data was collected, I provided my perspective on each student’s mastery of the standards and skills. I compared the results and reflected on the differences and similarities present. I also identified the disparities in the results and how each type of assessment was beneficial and detrimental to students. Students did a self-reflection after both assessments were graded. This self-reflection asked students about their perception of both assessments. It asked them what they thought was negative and positive about the assessments, if they felt one was more beneficial than the other, if they prefer one over the other, and how they feel about their results.  I also provided them with the opportunity to explain their answers.  This information was also be compiled and analyzed to provide the student’s perspectives on the two assessments.  All research was done locally in my classroom with only my students.