Presentations 11 19-14-final

Using SQ3R and DRTA to Improve Comprehension of Expository Text

By Dawn Kahler

Motivation for Study

• Persistently Low Achieving School• School-wide focus on summarization• Consultants taught staff many best practices in

reading• Science department focus on SQ3R• Rick Woods- would discuss happenings in my

classroom with me. Talked about how DRTA with SQ3R may increase summarization scores

Question

• If students were taught to use DRTA in connection with SQ3R, would they demonstrate higher levels of expository text comprehension?

Literature

• Burz, H., & Wood, R. Using DRTA and SQ3R in the Classroom. Kalamazoo: Wood Educational Services LLC.

• Collins, J. J. (2007). Improving Student Performance Through Writing and Thinking Across the Curriculum. Collins Education Associates.

• WETA. (2013). Directed Reading Thinking Activity. Retrieved 11 2013, from Adolescent Literacy.org: http://www.adlit.org/strategies/23356/

Study Design

• 8th grade class- 4th hour at Milwood Magnet School. 8th Grade class at Linden Grove. Both KPS schools. Then 7th grade class in Decatur Public schools.

• Initial reading piece with summary. Scored together until consistent.

• Shared via email, practice readings. • Took a pre-, mid-, and post assessment.

Study Design- My Contribution

• Discussions with Rick Woods• Teaching SQ3R• Original text for pre-, mid-, and post-.• 24 students• Provided Scoring Rubric• Data input into Excel.• Analysis and Interpretation portion for my

own classroom.

Results

• Main Idea: 11 Students showed growth, 10 maintained, and 3 lost growth.

• Supporting Idea: 12 students showed growth and 12 maintained. No students lost growth.

• T score for main idea = .07. Shows that teaching SQ3R and DRTA did make a difference and there was not another reason for student scores to

• This was also proven by the T score for supporting detail of .0007.

Pre- and Post- Main Idea Scores

Pre- and Post- Supporting Detail Scores

Results

• Individually each class showed a change in student achievement.

• When combined the data showed an overall student growth in both the main idea and supporting details section of the study.

• T test show being much lower than the threshold of 0.05 for both cases supporting the validity of our data.

• Also, Cohen’s Coefficient shows that implicitly teaching and modeling DRTA and SQ3R as a method of reading and comprehending expository text had a high effect on student's ability to correctly identify the main idea as well as a medium effect on their ability to pull out relevant and important supporting details.

Overall Group Results

Mean

Standard Dev. P value Cohen's d effect size

MI SD MI SD MI SD MI SD

Study 1 (Bryant-Kuiphoff)(n = 18)

3.38 2.00 0.75 1.00 0.00001 0.25 1.54 0.39

Study 2(Ernstes)(n = 16)

2.44 1.88 0.70 0.70 0.006 0.015 0.87 0.74

Study 3(Kahler)(n = 24)

2.42 1.75 0.86 0.66 0.07 0.00007 0.50 0.81

Composite Study(Study 1,2 & 3)(n = 58)

2.72 1.86 0.91 0.80 1.94 x 10-6 0.00026 0.89 0.61

Implications and Conclusions

• Students can maintain their reading results or improve through the use of DRTA with SQ3R.

• Quick impact on reading comprehension scores.• Help with high stakes testing and student future

success.• Share with peers to make a bigger school impact.• Continue to use and have shared results with peers.

Social Studies teacher has adapted DRTA strategy with his Cornell notes. Feels that it is successful.

Using SQ3R and DRTA to Improve Student Comprehension of

Expository TextJoshua Ernstes

Decatur Public Schools

Motivation – Big PictureIdentified as a priority school at

Milwood Magnet School for Science and Technology.

MEAP Scores of expository text low.

School Improvement Plan dictated something needed to be implemented.

Motivation – Digging Deeper as a Department

Student difficulty with our textbook and other expository text like articles that we would use as part of the magnet curriculum.

MEAP scores: Narrative vs. Expository.

ELA = highly narrative text based.

Students lacking instruction in the approach and break down of expository text.

Results in lower scores in this area on the MEAP.

Department looking for a consistent and effective way to help students tackle expository text.

Motivation – A New SchoolWelcome to Decatur Public Schools.

Newly identified as a Priority School.

Addressing similar issues as Milwood in terms of low MEAP scores – especially in the same areas of expository text.

Similarities & Differences to MilwoodLow MEAP scoresStudent difficulties with expository textHigh free/reduced lunch population

Rural vs. Urban SettingSchool sizeStudent Demographics

Research Question“If students were taught to use DRTA in

connection with SQ3R, would they demonstrate higher levels of expository text comprehension?”

Better Approach to expository text for students?

Effective strategy to fill in the gaps left from the ELA narrative focus?

Overall better student learning and scores?

Approaching the QuestionHelen Burz and Rick Wood – KPS consultants

Milwood Building ConsultantsBuilding PD/training

Internet SourcesWebsites such as Adlit.org.Youtube.com

MiTEPAction Research Course – how to design our

research

Experimental Design – Big Picture

All followed a similar protocol we designed as a group.

Conducted in 3 different middle schoolsLinden Grove Middle School (KPS)Milwood Magnet School for Science and

Technology (KPS)Decatur Middle School (DPS)

Focused on 7th and 8th Grade Science Students

58 Students in total.

How did we assess growth?

Modeled after the summarization strategies assessment at Milwood developed by Carlotta Frazier.

Assessment parts…Expository text at grade level given to students to

read.Use a 10% summary (Type III Collins Writing) for

students to summarize Main Idea and Supporting Details

Grade on a Rubric (Appendix of Paper)

How did we assess growth?

Compared the pre and post assessment scores in two main areas.Main Idea – students identification of the main idea

of the article.Supporting details – students ability to correctly

identify supporting details and summarize in their OWN words.

Analysis of DataTracked pre and post scores using Microsoft ExcelCompared for change in both areas

Experimental Design – Personal Contribution

Participated in all the pre-planning and design with Dawn and Yonee.

16 Students in my Middle School (7th) class.

Wanted to stay consistent with other teachers who were teaching Middle School.

Explicitly taught and modeled DRTA and SQ3R to my students over the next 10 weeks.

Coupled it with Cornell Notes (another SIP initiative).

Experimental Design – Personal Contribution

Developed the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet system used for data analysis.

Took the data from all three classes and developed the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet system used for data analysis.

Ran the calculations for each individual class as well as a larger whole group with them combined.

Produced an overall analysis of the effectiveness of the strategy that we used for our report.

ResultsMean Standard Dev. P value Cohen's d effect size

MI SD MI SD MI SD MI SD

Study 1 (Bryant-Kuiphoff)(n = 18)

3.38 2.00 0.75 1.00 0.00001 0.25 1.54 0.39

Study 2(Ernstes)(n = 16)

2.44 1.88 0.70 0.70 0.006 0.015 0.87 0.74

Study 3(Kahler)(n = 24)

2.42 1.75 0.86 0.66 0.07 0.00007 0.50 0.81

Composite Study(Study 1,2 & 3)(n = 58)

2.72 1.86 0.91 0.80 1.94 x 10-6

0.00026 0.89 0.61

ResultsIn all cases (both individual

classrooms and overall group)Validity was shown by the t-score.The effective size (Cohen’s d)

was at least a medium to high score.

DRTA and SQ3R does work!

Implications and Conclusions

DRTA and SQ3R is an effective strategy for students to approach expository text.

Was part of Decatur Middle School’s SIP.

This project gave validity to the principal that showed the staff its effectiveness.

Middle School being a Reward School.

Have become a SQ3R leader in my buildings.

Done some mini-teachings at PLC meetings and department meetings.

Expanding into our High School Priority Plan.

Implications and Conclusions - Personal Thoughts

Gives consistent approach for students to approach expository text.

Reduces student anxiety.

Gives teachers a valuable teaching tool. “I am not an English teacher.”

Consistency is key.

Continuing to see it work even after this project was concluded.

+

MiTEP: An Evaluation of Growth, Leadership & Development

Yonee E. Bryant-Kuiphoff - MS CandidateApplied Science Education, Michigan Technological University

+Motivation

Focus on improving the reading comprehension scores of my students, thereby raising their MEAP score to avoid being labeled a PLA school.

This study was important to me, as I teach in a high poverty district where my students struggle with writing and reading comprehension strategies and our MEAP scores show a large achievement gap between minority and non-minority students.

If the data supports my hypothesis, this could be an instructional strategy in our teachers’ toolbox in our building to help our students close that gap and be more successful in reading and comprehending text in any subject area.

+Research Question

“If students are taught to use DRTA (Directed Reading Thinking Activity) in connection to SQ3R (Scan, Question, Read, Recite, Review), would they demonstrate higher levels of expository text comprehension?” (identifying the Main Idea and 2 – 3 supporting details)

+Literature Read Collins, J.J. (2007) Improving Student Performance Through

Writing and Thinking Across the Curriculum. Collins Education Associates.

Cuningham, D. (2011) Improving Teaching With Collaborative Action Research, Alexandria, ASCD.

Powell, C. (2013 7 12) Study Links Heavy Cellphone Use With Poor Fitness Levels. Retrieved 10 15 2013, from Ohio.com: http://www/ohio.com/news/study-links-heavy-cellphone-use-with-poor-fitness-levels. 1.412739

Society for Science and the Public. (2000) Retrieved 11 2013, from Science News for Kids: https://student.societyforscience.org/sciencenews-students

WETA (2013). Directed Reading Thinking Activity. Retrieved 11 2013. from Adolescent Literacy.org: http://www.adlit.org/strategies/23356.

+Other Resources

My Research Partners – Joshua Ernstes and Dawn Kahler.

+Design of the Study

It was decided to use the same summarization strategies that were currently being utilized at Milwood Magnet. Dawn and Joshua had received training on these strategies. SQ3R seemed familiar to me the more we discussed it. However DRTA was new to me, so there were a lot of discussions and emails as I planned to implement this part of the strategy.

I used eighteen - 8th graders from my 5th hour class to gather data for my study. Many of these students were also in Strategic Reading (reading level of 2nd – 5th grade), with steady school attendance patterns. Due to time constraints, students with irregular attendance were recused from this study.

+Design cont’d

The consultants worked with Josh and Dawn to successfully and identically grade student summarizations, and then we worked and practiced together until we were united in our scoring. We were also given a common rubric to use for evaluating student work.

I used our test article, and then used the strategies with my students approximately once a week for the next 10 weeks as we looked at several articles that we selected as a group, using clues within the articles to identify the main idea and 2 – 3 supporting details.

I collected data on my students’ ability to correctly identify the main idea and 2 -3 supporting statements for each article we selected, as well as practiced with them using materials within my curriculum, i.e. textbook reading, 10% summary (type III writing).

+Results

My t score (0.00001 M.I. and 0.25 S.D.) rejected a null hypothesis and did support a teaching impact.

Cohen’s score (1.54 M.I. & .039 S.D.) indicate that teaching DRTA & SQ3R did have an effect on Main Idea and to a lesser effect, on Supporting Details.

By introducing clues for my students to be able to glean information about the articles (title, opening paragraph, pictures, etc.), my students grew in confidence in their ability to identify the main idea in expository text.

However, students with low reading abilities still exhibited some apathy towards more difficult expository text.

+Implications & Conclusions

Using DRTA and SQ3R did have an impact on my students ability to identify the Main Idea and Supporting Details.

In working with our building Strategic Reading Teacher and breaking down my data further, SQ3R is ranged to be effective with students around the 4th – 5th grade reading level, so my students that were at the 2nd and 3rd grade level struggled more with the 5th and 6th grade Lexiled articles, as well as being able to identify the Main Idea and Supporting Details. Although the data supports these students showed growth in identifying the Main Idea, but not able to reliably identify Supporting Details consistently.

This information was shared with our Literacy Committee and this strategy has been incorporated into our “toolbox” of strategies that our staff at Linden Grove is using. Right now, we are using a “Read Around The Text” format that incorporates using the same clues from SQ3R to identify what the article is about.