Discussion question, 150 words minimum, at least 1 reference citations, APA style

Suppose that you have collected data throughout a semester from a large elementary school regarding the number of days per week each math teacher spends in a collaborative teaching community. The average ranges from 0 to 7 days per week. You have also obtained the pre-test and post-test scores in math administered in those same classrooms in the beginning and end of the semester, and you have calculated a score that shows learning during the semester by subtracting the pre-test score from the post-test score for each student.

You are interested in examining any potential differences in student learning (i.e., post-test minus pre-test) that may be due to the number of days of teacher participation in a collaborative community. What are the independent and dependent variables? How can you best handle the data so that you can perform group comparisons to examine the potential effect of the IV on the DV?  Why is this technique the best for handling the data?