The Use of Tables and Graphs in Assessment

It seems we are always reviewing assessment data to drive our instruction.  Teachers are always looking for trends, patterns, and relationships in our students' performances and their relationship to our instruction. 

Tables and graphs visually represent our data and help us discover these patterns and relationships (Joyce et al., 2008).  Instead of looking at a data collection sheet or a list of quantitative scores, these figures provide teachers visual summaries where patterns of behavior, results of new teaching strategies, or the success of a new intervention can be easily seen (University of Kansas, n.d.).

This image summarizes the End-of-Year Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) for my 1st Grade intervention students.  It provides a breakdown of each subtest with percentages of students at each achievement level. This table quickly informs me about the number of students at each achievement level.  It provides specific information for each subtest, allowing me to see my students' strengths and weaknesses.  

Table 1

End of Year DIBELS Summary


This year my intervention classes focused heavily on phonological awareness since the inability to hear individual speech sounds has been identified as one of the major causes of reading difficulties (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2023). This image shows that my students' phonological awareness was a strength, which leads me to infer that my focus on these skills was successful. 

I can also clearly see that my students show weaknesses in letter sounds and decoding.  Moving forward, this table shows me that my students will need to continue working on these skills during intervention groups in their 2nd Grade year.


C. Joyce, A. Neill, V. Watson, & J. Fisher (2008). Tables and graphs. Assessments Resource Banks. https://arbs.nzcer.org.nz/tables-and-graphs#:~:text=They%20are%20used%20to%20organise,report%20findings%20from%20their%20research.

University of Kansas (n.d.). Graphing.  https://specialconnections.ku.edu/assessment/data_based_decision_making/teacher_tools/graphing

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