How a High School Math Team Turned Common Assessments into Instructional Impact with Wayground

Crystal Weber and Jill Stallings lead the Algebraic Data and Measurement (ADM) team at Henderson County High School, teaching integrated math concepts to sophomores. With 22.5% of their school's accountability rating tied directly to student performance on state assessments, they needed assessment tools that truly prepared students for high-stakes tests and insights that would power PLCs and data-driven decision-making across classrooms.

Challenges

• Teachers spent hours manually recreating assessments from scratch 
• Students encountered unfamiliar question formats for the first time on state assessments, creating technical barriers that masked their content knowledge
• Manual data analysis for PLCs consumed valuable instructional planning time and missed data breakdowns needed to drive instructional decisions

Solutions

• Standards-Based Aggregated Reporting with color-coded insights
• AI-Driven Assessment Creation with instant imports of teachers’ rigorous questions 
• Advanced Question Types (graphing, categorization, math response) aligned with the state assessment 
• Built-in Accommodations improved accessibility and familiarized students with supports they’ll see on the state assessment

Results

• Transformed weekly PLCs with instant, actionable data instead of manual spreadsheet building
• Reduced assessment creation time: hours → 10 minutes using import features and AI question generation as needed
• Proactively identified technical vs. content gaps before high-stakes testing, where students knew concepts but couldn't input answers correctly

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Challenges

Crystal and Jill's district sets the bar high for data-driven instruction: "I don't know that there is a district out there that does data as much as we do. We meet weekly to discuss the data and how it impacts learning."

But their assessment tools couldn't match their strong data practices. While state assessments featured complex graphing, categorization, and math response questions, classroom assessments were limited to basic formats.

"We were so limited in the types of questions we can ask," Crystal explains. "We really can only ask multi-select, multiple choice, or basic fill-in-the-blank. We don't want the first time they see a question asked that way to be on the state assessment."

The data preparation also posed a challenge. Crystal's team manually built spreadsheets before each PLC meeting, opening multiple tabs and juggling various data sources to review student performance: time that could have been spent on data-driven decision making and instructional planning.

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Solutions

"What drew us to Quizizz was definitely the varying question types," Crystal recalls. The platform offered 15+ question formats that mirror state assessments: graphing, math response, categorization, and dropdown menus.

The breakthrough came through collaborative customization. Working with the Quizizz team, Crystal requested specific reporting features for their data-driven PLCs: color-coded performance indicators, item analysis, and breakdowns by classes and subgroups.

"We offered feedback on exactly what information we needed from reports," Crystal explained. "From our first assessment to our second, we saw those changes implemented. It was incredible."

Their new workflow eliminated manual data prep entirely. Excel exports linked directly to PLC agendas. No more "opening a million tabs" to access different data sources.

Assessment creation also became radically efficient. Jill imported and transformed existing assessments using AI-driven question generation: "I took our assessment from last year, used the import feature, and had it ready in 10 minutes."

The platform's flexibility allowed creative innovations. "In the past, answering question after question after question would become monotonous for the students. Now we can take 7 separate discriminant questions and turn it into one with the sort feature."

Additionally, the Quizizz platform prioritizes accessibility and empowers students to practice their testing accommodations. According to Crystal, “It’s awesome because I just have to set up accommodations one time, and it’s good for the whole year. One less thing to worry about!” 

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Results

Solved the Technical Barrier Problem

Analyzing square root responses revealed students knew the math but couldn't input answers correctly: putting coefficients in exponents instead of in front of radicals.

"They know it, but they didn't know how to type it in properly," Crystal explains. "We solved one of the issues that might keep them from getting questions right on the state test." 

“Students are better prepared for the state assessment, both in questioning types and accommodations received.”

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Transformed Data Analysis

Weekly PLCs now center on color-coded, standards-based reports with instant insights across classes and subgroups. Teachers quickly identify whether struggles reflect content gaps or technical fixes.

"We can look at: is this a total lack of understanding, or is it a quick fix? Something we can address in bell work, or something we need to reteach?"

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Sparked District-Wide Interest

Their success caught district attention, leading to presentations and meetings with the District Math Coordinator about K-12 implementation.

"I don't know that you could get 2 teachers who are more sold on a product than us," Crystal says. "We feel this huge weight on our shoulders, and then we find Quizizz and all the things it can do that align with that. Thank you for being so willing to listen to the voice of teachers."