Planning effective instruction for a classroom full of learners demands that the educator
know what works and more importantly what works better for the group of people residing in the
educator's classroom today. This action research study tested the efficacy of using the full
compliment of assessments included in the curriculum adoption at the researchers school and
that of guided note taking. Each strategy was implemented in its own separate unit of a pre-
algebra class.
The researchers used student growth, which was determined by the difference observed
between a student's pre-test percentage score and their final unit test percentage score, as the
metric by which to evaluate each strategies efficacy. Measurable growth was observed with
both strategies. The All Assessments strategy showed greater and more consistent growth
among learners than that which was observed during the Notes strategy. These findings
indicate that more research is needed on the effectiveness of using assessments for learning
and a need for further study to evaluate the efficacy of guided note taking. Findings in this study
should be considered as illuminating but not conclusive as the sample used is not generalizable. INRODUCTION
Today's classroom is a diverse place where students from a myriad of
backgrounds and abilities are brought together with the expressed purpose of
developing knowledge and skills that will assist students in growing as individuals while
preparing them for the next level in their academic lives. The classroom where this study
took place embodies these conditions and strives towards these intentions. To effectively
realize success as measured by today's formal assessments this researcher recognizes the
need to find, specialize and implement a system of instructional strategies which will
help assure that each of these groups of learners are engaged, challenged and trained to
use their skills and knowledge to any challenge life throws at them.
The students comprising the sample in this study class are energetic, curious and
reside in a supportive and peaceful mountain community. In pre-algebra the half are
performing at grade level with about 25% below and about 25% or so above. Are there
ways challenge each learner and teach them in a way that best meets their needs while
doing so for all learners? Are there instructional strategies that could be implemented
that would yield better results for more students? Can this be accomplished within the
confines of the time currently used to plan? A safe assumption is that there is likely to be
many permutations of strategies that can be implemented in this classroom that will
yield a different result as represented by student performance on chapter tests. The
purpose of this action research study will be to evaluate the specific effectiveness of several strategies as used by this researcher in this classroom. The study sample of
students are distributed by their performance on Math as, Advanced 24%, Proficient
29%, Basic 41%, Below Basic 6%, Far Below Basic 0%. It has been observed by the
researchers that this group of students are generally encouraged to keep up with their
academic work. The group is comprised of fifteen students, most of whom have been in
the same class together for the duration of their school years. Finding the right
strategies for today's students is important, but so is developing strategies that can be
used as a base program from which to specialize for the next year's students who will
come with unique instructional requirements.
Purpose of Study
This action research study sought to locate and evaluate instructional strategies for use
in teaching pre-algebra to a specific group of seventh grade students. The purpose for doing so
was to improve the effectiveness of instruction as determined by measurable student growth
observed during a series of instructional units.
Objectives
What strategies can I use in my self-contained classroom during math that will allow me to meet
the needs of my advanced, grade level and low performing students? Can an improvement in
student scores on summative assessments be accomplished without significantly increasing
planning time? Which strategy or combinations of strategies when used result in an
improvement in the consistency and quantity of growth each student experiences as measured
by comparing a unit's pre-assessment and the unit's summative assessment?
Definition of Terms
In this study we will be using the term "self-contained" which is define as a group of
students who are taught all core academic subjects, physical education and art by the same
teacher. When referring to the subject we will at time use the term "diverse population" when
doing so we are referring to the distribution of math scores and formative assessments
administered by this groups regular school teacher, and we as researchers.
LITERATURE REVIEW
A person's ability to reflect on his/her work is important for the process of learning to be
successful. McMillan and Hearn explain, "Evaluating what they learned, what they still need to
work on, and how they can get there can all support deeper understanding rather than
superficial knowledge" (2018). Reflection can take many forms including, students grading their
own assessments which are then used to guide them in their learning. To be effective reflection
must include opportunity to improve performance and new opportunities to demonstrate learning
and skill development. Formative assessment can provide valuable information students need.
As stated by Campos and O'Hern, "feedback from... assessments can be used to help students
with goal setting. This allows the students to take responsibility for their learning and become
more independent learners" (Campos, 2019). Developing students into self-motivated learners
likely requires shifting the reins of their learning into student hands. Access to control over their
learning appears to motivate personal responsibility and a genuine desire to improve. Providing
feedback through frequent assessment can influence learning and achievement. Evertson and
Neal discuss the use of assessment, "ongoing formative assessment [is] a means for
determining what [has] been learned and what else [is] needed... Although often neglected in
U.S. classrooms, there is considerable evidence that formative assessment is an essential
component of classroom work that facilitates learning and can substantially raise student
achievement" (2017). Students Ojeda 6 who receive regular and specific feedback in the form of
formative assessment should score higher than when formative assessment is largely absent.
Intrinsic motivation is key to success. The road to intrinsic motivation requires thoughtful
planning and experimentation as Oginsky recalls, "even through research supports and I
believe, that non-controlling, positive feedback leads to a positive classroom environment, and thus to an increase in intrinsic motivation, increasing positive non-controlling feedback to
students did not increase intrinsic motivation in this classroom study" (2017). The group who are
being taught must be carefully considered when determining what type of feedback will aid them
in developing their own internal motivation for learning. The objective of assessment must be
consistent with the nature of it's implementation, "the goals for developing diagnostic item
models for formative assessment are quite different from... [research] goals... First, we are less
concerned with generating instances with psychometric parameters that can be predicted very
accurately, and more concerned with generating instances that consistently measure patterns of
understanding with accuracy sufficient to focus instruction" (Graf, 2019). Formative assessment
that guides instruction must be constructed and evaluated so as to provide the information that
will aid in planning effective instruction in addition to supporting feedback for students. When
construction assessment which will determine the efficacy of certain strategies it is necessary to
determine the appropriateness of the assessment choice. "Often the instruction in the
classroom is not geared toward the same objectives as those measured on the assessment, or
the assessment may, in fact, fail to provide information about student's strengths and
weaknesses as real targets for further instruction" (McDivitt, 2018). What is assessed is what
should be instructed or the results cannot be trusted as being the results of instruction, rather
the product of other means.
METHODOLOGY
Each strategy selected for evaluation in this study was implemented in this researchers’
classroom for two weeks in the following manner. Each new strategy was isolated from
influence by the other strategies during evaluation to the degree practical in this real classroom
environment. Students were instructed using in the researcher's normal teaching style that
included working problems as a group until it was clear to the researcher that the majority of
students were able to continue independently. At this point instruction continued on a case-by-
case basis as the need presented itself. This was determined through teacher observation or
through the direct request of students. Efforts were taken to maintain a consistency of
instruction during each strategy evaluation. Before beginning instruction on the unit's lessons a
pretest was administered. During the course of the unit, quizzes were administered. The
number of quizzes was determined by the strategy being evaluated. Each quiz was given the
afternoon the day reteaching for the lesson being quizzed had been completed. A midchapter
quiz was given after the sixth- or seventh-unit lesson had been corrected and retaught. This was
followed by more lesson quizzes administered. The unit was completed with a final chapter test
consisting of questions from the whole unit. During testing students were directed to move into
"test mode" where they moved their desks so they had a one-foot gap between their desk and
their nearest neighbor. This was done to minimize distractions that might impact assessment
results. Students were not allowed to talk to each other during quizzes and tests. They were
allowed to ask the researcher for clarification on questions. Each quiz and test were corrected in
class by the students and then reviewed by the researcher. This was done to provide students
with immediate feedback on their work.
Strategy 1: All Assessments with Second Chance
All unit assessments included with the textbook adoption were used. After each assessment
was given and corrected, either a quiz or test, students were offered the chance to correct the
problems they missed, while displaying their work, for additional credit. In the case of quizzes,
students were offered the chance to earn back all credit by working the problems out again and
resubmitting their corrected quiz. On tests students were offered the chance to correct their
missed problems for half the credit missed. The researchers’ intention was to determine if
student performance could be influenced by a greater frequency of assessments, coupled with
immediate feedback and the opportunity to correct assessments for additional credit. Only raw
uncorrected scores were used in this study. The improved scores were used only for calculating
student grades.
Strategy 2: All Assessments, Summarizing and Note Taking
During instruction students were asked to divide a page down the middle. In the left margin
students were directed to take notes that included lesson examples and vocabulary. In the right
margin students were directed to expand on notes with their Ojeda 12 own examples and
explanations. A pre-test assessment was given the first day before instruction. Midway through
the unit a mid-chapter test was given. At the end of the Unit a chapter test was administered.
Data Collection and Recording Data used to evaluate the instruction strategies was collected
through formative assessment, observation and summative assessment. Each strategy received
a one-unit time frame, which generally worked out to a two-week period. The first day of each
unit a complete chapter test was be administered. The score of these assessments was
converted to a percentage mean for the whole class and compared on an individual basis with
mid-chapter assessment scores and the chapter summative assessment scores. Unit formative
assessments consisted of several lesson quizzes given the day after formal instruction on the
quiz content had been completed and only after a session of homework correction and reteaching. Copies of all assessments were kept to allow for comparison among content areas
as determined by the lesson designation printed in each section of each assessment. These
were used to determine any changes in performance as related to each lesson area. Study Results
To compare the two strategies, it was necessary to find a way to measure the efficacy of each
strategy for the class as a whole. The researchers chose to compare growth in scores from the
pretest to the final test (Figure 1 and 2). A mean of this set of differences was calculated for
each strategy as was the standard deviation for each. The justification for comparing the two
strategies in this manner was that this measure quantified the growth students made during
each strategy and provided a clear picture of how consistently this growth was seen over the
population (as shown by the standard deviation).
Figure 1 All Assessments Pre-Test and Final Test Raw Percentage Scores Figure 2 Notes Pre-Test and Final Test Raw Percentage Scores
The subjects showed a mean growth of 55 percentage points in the All-Assessments unit of the
study. Individual scores fell within a standard deviation of 14.21 percentage points of the mean.
The highest growth in percentage points observed was observed in subject 7015 at 79
percentage points of growth. The lowest observed growth was observed in subject 7003 at 37
points of growth (Figure 3).
Figure 3 All Assessment % Points Growth from Pre-Test to Final Test
During the Notes unit subjects showed a mean growth of 31 percentage points. In this unit
scores fell within a standard deviation of 22.86 points from the mean value. The highest growth
was observed with subject 7006, who showed a 67-percentage point growth from their pretest
score. The lowest growth observed during this unit was that of subject 7005, who showed a -5-
percentage points loss from their pre-test score to the final score (Figure 4). Figure 4 Notes % Points Growth from Pre-Test to Final Test
Differences were observed with the two strategy unit mean growth measures (Figure 5). A
difference of 24 percentage points separate the two strategy growth means. Data distribution,
as determined by the standard deviation, showed a 9 percentage point difference in the growth
range. The All Assessments strategy elicited greater and more consistent growth from this
population of students. Conversely the Notes strategy showed less growth and less consistency
in the growth students experienced during that unit.
Figure 5 All Assessments and Notes Growth Comparison
Conclusions It is difficult to determine what to include when planning instruction. There are endless variables
to consider that may or may not have a significant impact on the engagement and subsequent
retention of learning expressed by students. This research study was motivated by a desire to
compose a means of comparing the efficacy of different strategies. Prior to this study, using all
the included assessments that come with a given curriculum adoption had not seemed, to the
researcher, to be of obvious benefit. However, the results of this study are convincing enough
for this researcher to consider more carefully the role assessment can play in aiding student
learning. The results of the note-taking unit came as a surprise. It was assumed that the notes
unit would show at least as good a growth as the unit using all assessments. After all, the
strategy of guiding students to expand on their notes both during and after instruction is
frequently and widely encouraged. During the All-Assessments unit, students were not asked to
do anything with their notes beyond recording what was necessary for them to get started on
their assignments. If these findings illuminate anything it is that it is highly beneficial for the
educator to have a measure for determining and to reflect on what kind of growth is occurring
during each instructional units. It is also important to consider carefully what is being included in
lessons and whether or not each of those things is worth the planning and instructional time.
Student motivation may have played a significant role in why the All-Assessment strategy
showed greater success. The ever-present pressure of a coming formal assessment coupled
with the immediate feedback offered by each student's correcting of his or her own paper and
immediately being given time to correct their errors for additional credit may be a motivating
force. In many ways having frequent assessment is like the immediate feedback individuals
receive when they play a video game. If a mistake is made the player knows right away and
begins looking for ways to complete the task successfully. Subjects in this study were observed
to be highly motivated to correct their mistakes for additional credit, which in turn provided
needed review for content they were weak on.
Concerns, Limitations and Future Research This study was conducted with a very small sample of students and should not be considered
generalizable. As is the nature of action research, in many ways the study was designed and
redesigned while the units were being instructed. Where it casts light it exposes even more
shadows. Comprehensive and comparable pre-tests were not available so final chapter tests
were given in their place. Growth was assessed based on the differences between the pre-test
score and the final unit test score. In the case of the all-assessments unit it is the researcher's
belief that the pre-test given was of greater difficulty than the final test for that unit. Which if true
could mean that the benefits of that strategy were greater than the data indicated. For this study
to be statistically testable it would need to be replicated, a control established where neither
strategy was in use and a larger data set compiled to compare each strategies performance as
averaged over several units time. This study should be considered as a preliminary work,
wherein it is this researcher's belief a need for additional study is indicated by the findings.
