Background Information: Our district has a new reading software this year, iStation. The program seems to be very well laid out and entertaining to the kids, although it is very time consuming and takes away from classroom instruction time by a real teacher. Teachers around the campus are a little worried trusting their Tier 2 and Tier 3 students to a computer software yet are following their requirements by district office. We all wonder if the program will translate to student achievement on TAKS. This lead me to do my action research project on if this iStation program is effective in increasing student reading ability and whether that ability translates to students' achievement on TAKS.
Goal: The goal is of this action research project is to determine the effectiveness of iStation on increasing student reading ability. The planned outcome of this research is to determine if the program is worth the time we spend on it, if it is truly increasing student reading ability and understanding and whether this translates to increased achievement on reading assessments.
Activities: All students in grades Kindergarten through 5th grade will complete a reading assessment in the iStation program the first week of every month. How the student does on this assessment will determine their Tier level. Tier 1 students are not required to spend any time on the program the rest of the month. Tier 2 students are required to complete thirty minutes twice a week on the program completing the reading intervention. Tier 3 students are required to complete forty-five minutes, three times a week on the program completing the reading intervention. Each month I will look at the data (of each of the 50 students in my sample) presented by the iStation. After receiving TAKS scores at the end of the year, I will compare the results of the TAKS test and compare them to the data given by iStation to determine the accurateness of iStation data as well as the effectiveness of the program.
Resources:
· iStation program
· Access to iStation data for each student
· TAKS Test results for each student
Timeline:
Sept 13-17 – Students complete initial reading assessment in iStation
Sept 20- Oct 1 – Students follow their individual intervention plan in the program
Oct 1-5 – All students complete 2nd reading assessment in iStation
Oct 5-29 – Students follow their individual intervention plan in the program
Nov 1-5 – All students complete 3rd reading assessment in iStation
Nov 8 - Print and analyze data and reports for my sample students
Nov 8 – Dec 3 - Students follow their individual intervention plan in the program
Dec 6-10 – All Students complete 4th reading assessment in iStation
Dec 13-17 - Students follow their individual intervention plan in the program
Jan 3-7 – All students complete 5th reading assessment in iStation
Jan 10 - Print and analyze data and reports for my sample students
Jan 10-28 - Students follow their individual intervention plan in the program
Jan 31- Feb 4 – All students complete 6th reading assessment in iStation
Feb 7 - Print and analyze data and reports for my sample students
Feb 7-25 - Students follow their individual intervention plan in the program
Feb 28 – Mar 4 – All students complete 7th reading assessment in iStation
Mar 7 - Print and analyze data and reports for my sample students
Mar 7 – Apr 1 - Students follow their individual intervention plan in the program
Apr 5 – 5th Grade Reading TAKS
Apr 6 – May 17 – 5th Grade At Risk students continue reading intervention plan in program
Apr 5 – Apr 25 – 3rd and 4th grade continue reading intervention plan in program
Apr 26-27 – 3rd and 4th grade Reading TAKS
May 18 – 5th Grade Reading TAKS Retest
June 1 – Evaluate TAKS data, Print and analyze data and reports for my sample students, Compare TAKS data and iStation data
Persons responsible for implementation:
· Classroom teachers responsible for administering monthly iStation assessment
· Classroom teachers responsible for having students complete their required intervention on the program each week
· Students responsible for completing their intervention program to the best of their ability each week
· Principal/TEA responsible for supplying TAKS results data
· iStation program responsible for supplying iStation data
· I am responsible for selecting the students in my sample
· I am responsible for printing, analyzing, and comparing all data
· I am responsible for determining results of the research and concluding to proposed change
Process for monitoring the achievement of goals: At the end of this study, at the end of this current school year, I will be able to evaluate the achievement of my goals based on the results of the 50 sample students TAKS data as well as the overall TAKS achievement of our school. Data from the iStation program showing student growth and achievement will be helpful as well although I feel the data is skewed unless there is something concrete to compare it with, which will be the TAKS test scores. Students passing rate and commended rate will be noted as well as their passing rate and commended rate from the previous year. What level the student is reading on will also be noted in determining the overall effectiveness of the iStation program. I will be able to determine whether the iStation program increased student reading achievement and whether it should be recommended for use again next year, therefore whether it was “worth our time” or not.
Assessment instrument(s) to evaluate the effectiveness of the action research study: The effectiveness of this action research study will be visible based on the iStation review given at the end of the study. If the program did in deed increase student reading achievement and was shown to have worked based on TAKS data then a positive recommendation will be given. Adversely, if not enough growth was shown and TAKS data shows that then a negative review will be given. Of course either review will be presented with all the data collected during my action research study. Overall, effectiveness of this action research study will be clear if I am able to come to a conclusion and give a data backed positive or negative review that hopefully the district will use in their decision for what to do for the 2011-2012 school year.
Kimberlea I am impressed with the organization and structure of your project. I would be very nervous, as a teacher, if I had to wait until the end of the year to decide if this program is helping or hurting. Are there any extra interventions for those Tier 3 kids who never move to Tier 2 or Tier 1? Does the program itself have some sort of elevated interventions built into it? Does iStation adapt for ELL/ESL and other IEP modifications? Will that effect your data in any way?
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see how this goes. I wonder if teacher hesitation and anxiety will effect student buy in and performance?
I agree with Kerry, your plan is very well organized. I think the monthly assessments are a good idea, but like Kerry I wonder if there are other overall assessments in addition to TAKS data. Do these students participate in a TAKS benchmark? That might give you some data to look at before the end of the year. I am not familiar with this program, so I don't know what other abilities it has.
ReplyDeleteI think assessment of these types of programs is invaluable. Your research should be of great benefit to your school district as they assess the effectiveness of this tool. I look forward to seeing your results.
I like your plan. At my campus we are in the process of setting up iStation for our Tier 3 students. The Resource staff has the same concerns your staff does. I feel even though they are Tier 2 and Tier 3 students, giving these students the benchmark will give you a baseline to work with, even though some of these students will be accommodated. Plus it would be interesting to know how they par with the other students through out the year.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of iStation, but like you mentioned in the background information, I would be slightly concerned about the time the Tier 2 & 3 students would spend on the computer. Have you factored in the possibility that some teachers might revert back to prior practices if the students are not meeting their goals during each assessment?
ReplyDeleteGreat point on time taken away from classroom instruction. I do not know about iStation, but is there any way you can use that for your classroom instruction? Many times when I am using technology I am also giving classroom instruction while they are using it. Your plan is very well thought out and thorough. I have noticed many do not have a great timeline. Your timeline is the best I have seen so far.
ReplyDeleteKimberlea,
ReplyDeleteYour research plan is specific and easy to follow. In addition to the assessment components you included, I suggest that you also gather some video clips and/or digital photos to help tell your story at the conclusion of your research.
Good luck moving forward with your project.
Dr. Mason