Excel T Test

For this assignment I performed a T Test on data we collected from NCES in our last assignment using Microsoft Excel. I still used the 4th grade reading criteria provided on NCES, but this time I focused on the male/female aspect of the measurement to see if gender made a difference in reading scores.  After performing the T Test and finding the P Value to be greater than .05 as shown below, I concluded that gender does not impact 4th grade reading performance and therefore I "failed to reject the null hypothesis." Even though there is a distinct difference between the scores of males and females, there are many factors to be considered within the comparison, not just gender.

To view the entire file instead of the image above, click here. 

When would I use it? To be honest, I think this test is very confusing and I can't see myself using it in my classroom. I have trouble understanding it at a graduate level, let alone trying to implement it into an activity for middle school or high school students. Perhaps my feelings will change if I come across it again and learn about it more in depth, but this is the first time I've come across it and even after Googling multiple websites I have trouble comprehending the concept.

I can see the test being useful in a math or science class, or for teachers and administration, but I can't really think of when I would ever have my students use it in an English classroom (unless they would want to incorporate it into a research paper to compare two types of data).