Franzen Action Research on Checks for Understanding

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    Running head: ACTION RESEARCH ON CHECKS FOR UNDERSTANDING 1

    Action Research onChecks for Understanding Increasing Students Knowledge of Vocabulary,

    Reading Comprehension, and Self-Perception of Learning

    Jesse W. Franzen

    Presented to

    Professor David Erickson

    In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

    C & I 595 Professional Project

    Phyllis J. Washington College of Education and Human Sciences

    The University of Montana at Missoula

    July 30, 2010

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    Running head: ACTION RESEARCH ON CHECKS FOR UNDERSTANDING

    Abstract

    This action research study seeks to discover if increased checks for understanding, a universal

    intervention in the Response to Intervention [RTI] model, increases students knowledge of

    vocabulary, reading comprehension, and self-perception of learning. Research was conducted in

    an urban middle school in a rural state with four sections of one English teachers regular 8th

    grade classes. The researcher applied checks for understanding in two classes, periods three and

    seven (treatment group), but none with the other two classes, periods one and four (no-treatment

    group), during a poetry unit. A pre/post test survey was administered to measure student self-

    perception of poetic terms and poetry in general. Results showed an overall improvement for all

    groups in regards to self-perception of knowledge with a smaller increase for the treatment

    group. Reading comprehension was measured using a multiple-choice and short-answer test,

    which signified an important difference, 12%, between the groups. Vocabulary was dually

    measured using a multiple-choice and a vocabulary application test. The multiple-choice

    responses, measuring memorization, signified an important difference between the groups, 24%.

    The vocabulary application, measuring critical thinking, signified no important difference, 2%,

    between the treatment and no-treatment groups. The universal RTI intervention of checking for

    understanding does yield increased results in the area of reading comprehension and vocabulary

    memorization and does not decrease student performance, thus making it a beneficial

    intervention tool.

    Keywords: Checks for understanding, response to intervention [RTI], engagement, direct

    instruction, vocabulary, reading comprehension, self-perception of learning.

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    Introduction and Need for Study

    Problem Statement

    In current education, teachers are asked to do more with the same or less amount of time

    with increased societal pressures and constraints. The impose for teachers is to help students

    learn quickly, learn more, and help those not at grade level rapidly advance. Assisting in this

    charge, a myriad of organizational responses all claim positive results. One answer currently and

    increasingly being adopted is Response to Intervention [RTI], which consists of systemic school

    changes in instruction and assessment to create effective prevention. A pivotal RTI instruction

    component is intervention, which has three levels: Universal, secondary, and tertiary

    (National Center on Response to Intervention [NCRTI], n.d., About the NCRTI section, 2),

    where at each level strategies become more individual and intense. A major component of

    universal intervention is increasing checks for understanding in oral language, questioning,

    writing, projects, performances, and tests. With more frequent checks for understanding,

    proposed benefits include that students will be more engaged in school, more willing to do class

    work, learn more during direct instruction, and be better critical thinkers. What this study seeks

    to discover is if increased checks for understanding increases students knowledge of

    vocabulary, reading comprehension, and self-perception of learning.

    Introduction

    Many schools across the nation, including rural areas, are adopting Response to

    Intervention [RTI] as their guiding model for student achievement, mine included. This year, my

    school began the initial process of adopting an RTI model. The principles of RTI seem logically

    sound, for example, educators systematically monitoring students academic and behavior

    progress to make data-based instructional decisions in order to increase student achievement is

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    a noble goal for all schools (National Center on Response to Intervention [NCRTI], n.d.,

    Definition of RTI section, 1). There are four essential components of RTI: A school-wide,

    multi-level system of intervention, which includes: Screening, progress monitoring, and data-

    based decision making for instruction (NCRTI, n.d., About Us section, 1). RTI is an all-

    encompassing school system, which takes resources and staff approbation to be effective.

    Education is always looking for the best teaching practices, which can then be improved

    upon, but the ultimate goal is to educate children to be life-long learners with the measure being

    standardized testing and progress monitoring as part of RTI. Many years ago, before RTI,

    Madeline Hunter delineated elements of effective instruction and as Barlow (2003) states: Her

    contribution was not the invention of an instructional practice. She observed effective teachers to

    see what practices they had in common and deduced a general model for instruction (p. 68). If

    one desires to be a good teacher, one models her own practices to that of the effective teacher.

    Thus generalized: Good teaching is just good teaching and if one is looking for improvement

    from a good teacher and her strategies, it will be incremental, unless the environment around her

    focuses on how students learn. One specific quality important to this study was that, as Hunter

    deduced: The teacher needs to determine whether the students understand what they are

    supposed to have learned before moving on (as cited in Barlow, 2003, p. 68). This effective

    practice has now become core to behavior prevention systems; RTI labels these interventions.

    After many meetings, trainings, and observations in my district, I decided to test the RTI

    universal intervention methods of checking for understanding against my current methods to

    discover if there was a significant increase in student comprehension and perception of learning.

    Being coupled with a best practice among educators, part of Madline Hunters model for

    effective instruction, and part of RTI, it would seem logical that checking for understanding

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    would be well accepted by educators. And taken on its own merit, it is accepted. For

    administration and educators, RTI methods have a wow factor that seems to create a buzz and

    becomes readily acceptable for building a RTI model. Although Fisher, Frey, and Lapp (2009)

    showed an increase in student performance (Process 6, 3-4), there is no data showing which

    component of RTIscreening, intervention, or progress monitoringcontributes to the

    increase.

    The intervention methods here being study are intensely and directly teacher driven being

    done continually during every period, the whole period (Hintze, 2007, slide 5), which is in

    contrast to other well researched methods like constructivism and project-based learning, which

    is intensely student driven where the teacher takes the role of facilitator. There is a middle

    ground, where a teacher can be both teach some subjects and skills in a direct manner and have

    students construct their own knowledge through project-based learning. This study focuses on

    enhancements of direct instruction techniquesapplying checks for understanding as a universal

    interventionhow those enhancements add to student learning, and does not represent either

    direct instruction or constructivism as a better method of instruction. As my building is adopting

    an RTI systemic change, the staff needs to be persuaded that this is what is best for student

    learning and is deserving of the change and time commitment. If local data were presented on the

    positive benefits of universal intervention techniques, more staff would have better information

    on how to adopt the RTI model into their own teaching.

    Literature Review

    Importance of the Question

    This study focuses on one teacher and four of his 8th grade English sections. The goal of

    the English subject is for students to become better readers, writers, listeners, speakers, and

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    thinkers. The charge of the teacher is to ultimately know what the enduring understandings of a

    lesson should be and what knowledge, skills, and strategies are needed toprogress to that level

    (Fisher & Frey, 2007, p. 137). To achieve this end, there are many different means. The current

    and widely adopted teaching philosophy among educators is constructivism, which places the

    student in control of her learning and the teacher as facilitator. Although, a constructivist teacher

    may use some checks for understanding, the philosophy is in contrast with the behaviorist

    method, which has the same educational goal, but instead puts the teacher in control of student

    learning, where she directly instructs all of the students, utilizing many more checks for

    understanding and expending more time on these tasks than a constructivist. Many of the

    checking for understanding methods fit neatly with much of the direct instruction methodology,

    which is the nature of intervention. Yet, effective checks for understanding do not come naturally

    and are a learned skill for any teacher. Any learned skill takes time and practice and any

    teachers time is already heavily taxed. Therefore, in order to learn a new skill, it must be

    effective for student learning and thus, worthy of teacher scholarship. Although Response to

    Intervention has been well-documented to increase student achievement, individual components,

    like interventions, have not been broadly studied to show their effectiveness within the system.

    This study looks at the effects of the universal intervention, checking for understanding, in the

    areas of vocabulary, reading comprehension, and self-perception of learning in a poetry unit.

    Current Status of Response to Intervention

    Response to Intervention [RTI] has a proven record of improving students scores on

    standardized tests and formative assessments. Once the four-tiered system is in place

    (intervention, screening, progress monitoring, and data-based instructional decisions) and given

    enough time, there is student achievement. Fisher, Frey, and Lapp (2009) assisted implementing

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    a systemic RTI transition for one school, Western, over the course of two years and their

    observation and interview data had shown a significant trend in the use of content literacy

    interventions (Process 6, 2). From that treatment, Western had moved from a 12% literacy

    rate, unchanged for five years, to a rate of 56% in three years with an increased graduation rate

    from 67% to 73% (Fisher et al., 2009, Process 6, 3-4). Guthals (2009) study of school-wide

    positive behavior systems [PBS], an RTI intervention system, found a consistent pattern of low

    administrative stress levels associated with higher rates of PBS components present (Abstract,

    4) and there is a known correlation of higher student achievement when administrative stress

    levels are low. What is not as well known is what specific intervention treatments, like checking

    for understanding, are actually working to improve student learning in the RTI model.

    Relationship Between the Literature and the Problem Statement

    Checking for understanding during student learning/instruction has become a central

    tenant in the intervention strand of Response to Intervention and is the focus of this study.

    Students, even if they wish, are not always self-regulated learners and may not be aware of

    what they do or do not understand (Fisher& Frey, 2007, p. 1). When this occurs, which is in

    every class in every school, they need an intervention to help them succeed in learning; besides

    checking for understanding, other interventions are: increasing task structure, increasing task

    relevance and practice, increasing engaging academic responses, mini-lessons on specific skills,

    and decreasing group size (McCook, n.d., slides 51-54). These are all substantial interventions

    individually. Not as well studied is the systematic approach to formative assessment, checking

    for understanding. Fisher and Frey (2007) state that checking for understanding completes the

    circle of assessment, planning, and instruction by providing teachers and students with evidence

    of learning (p. 14). The methods of checking for understanding are many and nebulous, but it

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    does require teachers to move beyond asking questions and giving tests to determine whether

    learning has occurred (Fisher & Frey, 2007, p. 135), but specific direct instruction treatment

    methods utilized within the classroom have not been studied for effectiveness.

    Method

    Participants

    Participants in this study are 8th grade, 13-15 year old male and female students in a

    public middle school. The school qualifies as Title I, having a free and reduced lunch rate at

    nearly 50% and a total school population, grades 6-8, of 620 students with 53 educators on staff.

    The communitys largest employers are government or government related positions, so poverty

    fluctuation is relatively flat. There were four total groups (four periods of mainstream English

    classes) used in this study, two each were used as treatment and no-treatment groups. Each

    period was held daily, five days per week, for a length of 53 minutes each, except period three,

    which had an extra four minutes for announcements, which had no effect on the results. There

    were a total of 22 instruction days over the course of a month and a half, from the middle of

    March to the end of April, during which there was also a six-school-day break. The teacher of

    all sections remained the same (See Table 1).

    Period Number of

    Students

    Time of Day Male Female

    Treatment 3 30 9:56-10:53 AM 16 14

    7 25 1:53-2:45 PM 14 11

    No-Treatment 1 15 8:05-8:58 AM 10 5

    4 30 10:57-11:49 AM 16 14

    Table 1. Treatment/No-Treatment Group Size, Time of Day, and Gender

    Research Design

    The teacher/researcher applied checks for understanding as outlined in detail in Fisher

    and Frey (2007) and measured the amount of specified checks applied in both treatment and no-

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    treatment groups. The treatments were divided into four categories: Oral language, questioning,

    writing, and tests. The specified treatments in Oral Language are Retellings (p. 26), Think Pair

    Share (p. 30), and Whip Around (p. 34); in Questioning, they are Thumbs Up/Down (p. 49); in

    Writing, they are Read Pair Share (p. 64), Summary (p. 66), RAFT (p. 67), and Graphic

    Organizers (pp. 87-89); in Tests, they are Multiple Choice, Short Answer, and Performance (p.

    98). These treatments were applied in an 8th grade English, poetry unit. Specific understanding

    revolved around sevenpoetic terms and reading comprehension of the poem, The Rime of the

    Ancient Mariner (Coleridge, 2004, p. 5).

    Data Collection

    Operational definition of all variables.

    Independent variable.

    The difference between the number of checks for understanding given to the treatment

    group compared to the no-treatment group is the independent variable. A chart of checks for

    understanding was created for each group, for each day, and was measured by the administrator.

    Dependant variables.

    Student perception.

    Participants were given a pre and post-test, measuring their attitude toward reading

    poetry and how well they felt they understood the seven poetic terms. These were measured by

    15 multiple response questions.

    Vocabulary.

    Participants were given a pre- and post-test, seven multiple-choice questions, on the

    seven given terms.

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    Vocabulary application.

    Participants were given a post-test with two poetry passages, one they have read, and the

    other they have not. The students were given a bank of the seven terms without definitions and

    then marked each passage with the codes matching the terms. Each term was worth two points

    for each of the given poems, for a total of 28 points with two points as free-bees. This was a

    performance test, measuring how well each student could apply the knowledge of the terms

    learned.

    Reading comprehension.

    Students read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Coleridge, 2004, p. 5) in class and

    were tested on key plot and character points within the story. The reading comprehension test

    consisted of 11 multiple-choice questions and four short answer questions. Each question was

    worth one point, except for the moral-of-the-story question being worth five points.

    Reliability and validity of instruments.

    The validity of instrumentation was well protected from external forces. Multiple

    treatments, if there were any, were buffered because of the number of subjects and the length of

    the experiment. The internal validity of the instruments is quite high. There was no threat of

    maturation within the group, the pretest had a negligible effect, there was no unnecessary

    instrumentation fatigue, and there was no regression within the participants. The only potential

    threat would be the isolated selection of participants. For this particular experiment, where

    results are shared locally, it is the best selection, but if results are carried into academia, they

    would be limited in their generalizability.

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    Results of the Data

    Independent variable.

    The number of checks for understanding given to the treatment group compared to the

    no-treatment group was 86% greater overall (see Figure 2). By analyzing each type of check for

    understanding and comparing the set as a whole, the weakest applications were minute in

    number and should have little to no effect on the end-results. Because the number of checks for

    understanding were notably higher, the results signify an important difference.

    Period 1 4 3 7

    TOTAL TOTAL

    # GREATER

    THAN NO

    TREATMENT

    % GREATER

    THAN NO

    TREATMENT

    Oral Language 0 1 1 19 9 28 27 96.43%

    Retellings (p 26) 0 0 0 8 5 13 13 100.00%

    Think Pair Share (p 30) 0 1 1 11 4 15 14 93.33%

    Questioning 0 0 0 53 44 97 97 100.00%

    Thumbs Up/Down (p 49) 0 0 0 53 44 97 97 100.00%

    Writing 5 7 12 18 13 31 19 61.29%

    Read Pair Share (p 64) 1 1 2 1 3 4 2 50.00%

    Summary (p 66) 0 1 1 3 1 4 3 75.00%

    RAFT (p 67) 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 100.00%

    Graphic Organizers (p 87&89 4 5 9 13 8 21 12 57.14%

    Tests 5 6 11 5 5 10 -1 -10.00%Multiple Choice 3 3 6 3 3 6 0 0.00%

    Short Answer 1 2 3 1 1 2 -1 -50.00%

    Performance 1 1 2 1 1 2 0 0.00%

    TOTALS 10 14 24 95 71 166 142 85.54%

    NO

    TREAMENT TREATMENT

    Figure 1. Total Checks for Understanding Applied to Treatment and No-Treatment Groups by

    Count and Percentage

    Dependant variables.

    Student perception.

    The data collected from the 15 question pre-test survey establishes that the treatment and

    no-treatment groups are not correlated (p = .71), which is expected. The same survey delivered

    after the treatment, resulted in a similar correlation (p = .79), which was unexpected. The

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    significance between applying checks for understanding and students self-perception of poetic

    terms and perception to poetry in general cannot be verified.

    Comparing treatment to no-treatment groups based on the percent of change from pre-test

    to post-test, the no-treatment group, in general, view themselves as better at identifying the seven

    poetic terms and improved their personal view toward poetry, which is opposite of the

    expectation. Either way, by using checks for understanding or not, by the end of the treatment

    period, most students had a more positive view about reading poetry and their understanding of

    poetic terms as well. One interesting change is that while the participants who replied Disagree

    Strongly to I like poetry, their perception became more positive, but the participants who

    replied Agree Strongly or Agree decreased, and so, the middle became larger. The same is

    true for the I understand poetry question. (See Figure 3)

    Disagree

    Strongly Disagree

    Dont

    agree or

    disagree Agree

    Agree

    Strongly

    1 I like poetry. -11.80% 10.10% 7.20% -1.40% -4.00%

    2 I understand poetry. 0.00% -0.90% 5.00% 4.60% -8.90%

    3 I read poems for fun, not necessari ly for a grade. -5.70% 6.30% 0.20% 0.40% -1.10%

    4 Poetry mirrors peoples emotions. -3.60% -2.70% -1.10% 3.90% 3.60%

    5 Poetry mirrors how people think or reason. -5.60% 2.90% -1.20% 1.80% 2.20%6 Poetic terms are useful. -6.70% -3.60% 6.80% 6.60% -3.10%

    7 I understand and can find assonance in a poem. -10.00% -5.10% -10.40% 22.00% 3.50%

    8 I understand and can find consonance in a poem. -6.80% -10.10% -21.90% 35.40% 3.40%

    9 I understand and can find alliteration in a poem. -3.80% -12.20% -6.30% 22.20% 0.20%

    10 I understand and can find rhyme scheme in a poem. -3.90% 0.90% 2.10% -9.30% 10.10%

    11 I understand and can find internal rhyme in a poem. -6.10% 0.90% -13.70% 11.00% 7.90%

    12 I understand, can find, and name the meter of a poem. -5.50% -7.10% -1.00% 9.20% 4.30%

    13 I understand and can find onomatopoeia in a poem. -8.90% -0.60% -13.50% 11.80% 11.20%

    14 Poetry has no importance for people. 1.50% 11.70% -4.70% -6.50% -1.80%

    15 I would like to read more poetry. -6.60% 4.60% -7.10% 11.10% -2.10%

    Figure 2. Percent Change of Student Perception from Pre/Post Survey Results. Highlighted

    areas indicate a negative change, where un-highlighted areas are positive increases.

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    Vocabulary.

    Participants answered seven multiple-choice questions, one for each of the seven poetic

    terms studied. The pre-test returned a treatment to no-treatment result of 2%. The post-test

    revealed a 24% difference with a high coefficient (p = -.08). (See Figure 4)

    Mean % Mean %

    TREATMENT 3.64 52% 4.85 69%

    NO TREATMEN 3.48 50% 3.15 45%

    Pre -test Post- te st

    Figure 3. Results of Multiple-Choice Vocabulary Pre/Post Test by Mean and Percentage

    With confidence, the application of checks for understanding does yield a positive effect on

    memorized poetic vocabulary knowledge.

    Vocabulary application.

    Participants individually identified poetic terms within two given poems. The percent

    difference between the treatment and no-treatment groups was 6% with a coefficient rate well

    outside the level of acceptance (p = -.33). Applying checks for understand does not yield a

    greater positive influence in vocabulary application (See Figure 5).

    Reading comprehension.

    After participants read the poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Coleridge, 2004,

    p. 5), they applied their understanding to a multiple-choice and short answer reading

    comprehension test. The difference between the percent of total scores of treatment and no-

    treatment groups was 12% with a high coefficient (p = -.08) (See Figure 5).

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    Test Treatment

    (%)

    No-treatment

    (%)

    % Difference

    (%)

    Vocabulary Mean 73 67 6

    Reading Comp

    Mean

    78 67 12

    Figure 4. Vocabulary Application and Reading Comprehension Results as Percentage of Correct

    Answers

    With confidence, the application of checks for understanding does yield a positive effect on

    reading comprehension.

    Limitations.

    This study was conducted in English courses at a middle school, so generalizing to other

    middle school aged students with a similar demographics in studies of reading or vocabulary

    would be applicable. Rural demographics will perhaps limit generalizability. In the area of this

    study, the population is mostly Caucasians of middle and lower socio-economic status. Culture

    of the western United States tends to differ from the eastern and southern states on family values,

    religious beliefs, and political views. Our subgroup populations on standardized testing are

    special education and poverty, while nearing the qualifying percentage of American Indians. All

    of these factors have potential to affect the generalizability of results from the sample to the

    population.

    Communication

    This information was compiled into a simple but deeply informative website, using

    GoogleSites,http://sites.google.com/site/checksforunderstanding/, to concisely transmit the

    information to my buildings staff. First, this information was shared with our buildings reading

    coach and principal, and together we decided how to proceed communicating with the rest of the

    staff. We decided I present only highlighted findings where the staff are then directed to the

    website for the full details. This allows people at their own desire to go deep into the information

    http://sites.google.com/site/checksforunderstanding/http://sites.google.com/site/checksforunderstanding/http://sites.google.com/site/checksforunderstanding/http://sites.google.com/site/checksforunderstanding/
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    if interested or just skim if they have little desire. Via the website, the information will always

    be available to the world whenever the need arises.

    Implications and Reaction

    Participants in the treatment group responded 12% better in reading comprehension and

    24% better on the memorized vocabulary knowledge because of the application of checks for

    understanding. Although not correlated to the treatment, the students perceive themselves not

    understanding and not enjoying poetry as well compared to those in the no-treatment group, but

    at the same time, they increased both their understanding and enjoyment of poetry from the

    beginning of the treatment period. It should be remembered as Thomas (2009) states: The oft-

    forgotten real purpose of assessment is to maintain a dialogue around quality that nurtures

    student development (The Teachers Cycle, 11). Student perception of knowledge is an

    important component of learning because it affects confidence, which can effect performance

    and student development.

    The treatment group out-performed the no-treatment group on vocabulary on the

    multiple-choice test, measuring memorization. Yet, the results do not correspond to vocabulary

    application, measuring critical thinking, where both groups performed equally. Treatment

    participants knew the poetic definitions, but struggled equally with the no-treatment participants

    when it came to finding and labeling those same terms in a poem. It may be that applying checks

    for understanding will increase standardized test scores in the area of vocabulary, but when it

    comes to real-life application of vocabulary knowledge, there is no increase in student

    knowledge using checks for understanding. Because testing should reflect understanding,

    teachers should look for another intervention method for students to increase their knowledge of

    vocabulary application.

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    Applying checks for understanding, like teacher led discussions with increased student

    responses, does result in increased understanding of reading comprehension of poetry by 12.

    Because reading comprehension is cross-curricular, where students are reading for understanding

    in nearly every subject, it would be beneficial for all teachers who have students reading for

    knowledge to use checks for understanding to help improve student comprehension.

    Although, the results of applying checks for understanding were not as dramatic as

    anticipated, there are positive results. Because the checks for understanding allow the students to

    repeat and practice the given skill in multiple formats, students become better memorized in

    terminology and reading comprehension. For the expense of retraining and changing teaching

    technique, it does pay in student learning. The bottom line is that it does not decrease student

    understanding, it can only help. Self-perception may be the exception. Even though self-

    perception was not correlated with checks for understanding, something did make the treatment

    groups self-perception lower than the no-treatment group. I suggest there be future testing done

    on why when one increases direct instruction techniques, standardized test scores increase, while

    student perception and morale decreases. I want students to learn more and more quickly, but

    more importantly, I want students to enjoy learning, because curiosity and research are life-long

    skills.

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