Teaching Assessment Initiative Proposal Form
Curry School of Education Preservice Students Tutor 2nd and 3rd grade Struggling
Readers
Proposal submitted by:
Laura Smolkin, Curry School of Education
Ellie Wilson, Curry School of Education
Jane Hanson, Curry School of Education
Malcolm Jarrell, Principal, Venable Elementary School
Leslie Scalley, Third Grade Teacher, Venable Elementary School
Danny Lee, Third Grade Teacher, Venable Elementary School
Mabel Houchens, Instructional Assistant, Venable Elementary School
Teaching Assessment Initiative Proposal Form
Curry School of Education Preservice Students Tutor 2nd and 3rd grade Struggling
Readers
1. Problem statement/ Purpose of research
Recent research conducted by the International Reading Association has noted that field
experiences are a critical part of solid preservice preparation for the teaching of reading.
The purpose of this particular research is to consider the effectiveness of the field
experience not in terms of the preservice student but, instead, to consider the impact of
preservice tutoring on the elementary school tutee. The study will measure the effect of
elementary preservice students' tutoring on 2nd and 3rd grade struggling elementary school
pupil's achievement during a semester-long experience that focuses on four of the five
key components of reading instruction: phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension
(NICHD, 1999). The preservice students are enrolled in EDIS 388, a field practicum,
which is taken in the Spring of their third year. EDIS 388 provides an introduction to
reading strategies for preservice students; the
concepts introduced in this course are expanded upon in EDIS 522, Reading
Fundamentals, and the Language Block, EDIS 530 A and B.
2. Related Research
The tutoring experience
There is an increasing number of studies that examine the tutoring experience in terms
of its impact on the preservice students' attitudes toward struggling readers (e.g.,
Duffy & Atkinson, 2001; Nierstheimer, 2002; Worthy & Patterson, 2001). There are far
fewer studies that discuss elementary children's gains from these tutoring sessions;
those that do (e.g., Hendrick, 1999; Leslie & Allen, 1999) say little about preservice
students' participation in the assessment process.
Research with volunteer tutors (e.g., Fitzgerald, 2001) indicates that tutors given
minimal training but supplied with carefully crafted lesson plans and materials can
effect significant reading growth for their tutees. What has not yet been explored is
whether preservice teachers, working with strategies representing four key
components of reading instruction and varied approaches to assessment, can link their
tutee's instruction to assessment results in such a way that children's achievement is
greater than matched peers who do not participate in the tutoring experience.
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Operationalizing Key Components of Reading Instruction
The National Reading Panel Report (NICHD, 1999) examined the results of a selected
body of reading research, and concluded that instruction in five key areas (phonemic
awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension) would improve children's
reading abilities.
Phonics. While spelling abilities differ somewhat from decoding abilities, research
suggests that both skills draw from the same "store of phonological knowledge"
(Cunningham & Cunningham, 1992). Accordingly, preservice students in the tutoring
experience will be using the Developmental Spelling Assessment (DSA, Ganske, 2000)
both to determine children's spelling level and to create appropriate instruction based on
spelling features.
Fluency. To improve the fluency of the tutee's oral reading, tutors will follow the
guidelines indicated in the National Reading Panel Report. These include: modeling of
fluent reading followed by tutee's rereading of the same text; having pupils engage in
timed repeated reading with material at their independent level; having pupils practice
oral rereading through audiotaping and self-assessment.
Vocabulary. Recent research (e.g., Brabham & Lynch-Brown, 2002) has suggested that
children's vocabulary and comprehension are positively affected by a reading style
known as interactive read alouds. In these readings, teachers discuss text material during
the read aloud experience.
Comprehension. The National Reading Panel report noted that direct explanation
(Roehler & Duffy, 1984) was particularly effective in comprehension instruction. Direct
explanation in all major comprehension strategies is now available in Duffy's (2003)
Explaining reading. Of particular importance in comprehension are monitoring and
questioning.
3. Questions
Given that our purpose is to determine the ways in which our elementary preservice
students’ diagnostic teaching processes will affect their elementary tutees’ word
knowledge, reading and achievement, our research question is:
In what ways can preservice elementary students affect the reading and decoding
skills of elementary pupils in a semester-long tutoring placement?
Our sub-questions are:
What pre-post diagnostic processes will show growth over the course of ten
weeks of instruction?
What benefits will we see in the children’s work throughout the semester based
on the ongoing evaluation process used by Curry students?
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4. Procedures for collecting information
Data Collection: Prior to their tutoring experience, preservice students in EDIS 388
will be introduced to the following types of assessment: 1) Ganske's DSA to
determine level of spelling/decoding ability; 2) timed repeated readings to determine
gains in reading fluency; 3) vocabulary tests; and 4) concept mapping to determine
children's knowledge of a particular subject. Following the introduction of these
assessments, students will learn how to provide developmentally appropriate word
study, how to foster fluent readings, how to read aloud in an interactive fashion to
support vocabulary growth, how to use direct explanation to foster comprehension,
and how to use summarization skills to cement student learning.
Preservice students will administer the DSA, measure student fluency, pre-test
vocabulary, and ask pupils to complete a concept map on the topic of animal habitats.
They will keep copies of results in a portfolio, to which they will add other examples
of student work. The portfolios will be developed over the semester and will form the
basis for the final assessment of the semester’s work.
Upon completion of their testing, students will meet with their partner groups (4 UVa
students per group) to plan instruction for a single tutee. The EDIS 388 class will
tutor fifteen third grade children in all, helping to prepare them for the Virginia
Standards of Learning testing. Tutoring sessions will last 50 minutes, and will be
held 4 days per week. On all days, students will engage in 15 minutes of word study
games and activities following the suggestions in Ganske (2000); on all days, they
will also read aloud to their tutors for approximately 10 minutes, either receiving
feedback on their fluency from the tutor or assessing themselves. The remaining 25
minutes of each session will be spent on comprehension-enhancement. Two days per
week the tutors will read aloud from texts related to science SOLS. One day per
week, tutors will work with tutees on comprehension monitoring and question asking.
Each Thursday, tutees will create summaries of the new science ideas and terms
learned during the week.
Proposed Timeline Spring Semester, 2004 (Tentative)
Week 1: The preservice students meet to learn about the National Reading Panel
Report and the four key components of effective reading instruction in which they
will be engaging. They will be taught to administer the Ganske DSA.
Weeks 2 and 3:
The tutors (preservice students) and tutees meet, become acquainted, the tutors read
to pupils, and the tutors administer the Ganske DSA. In the Curry School classroom,
the tutors discuss the administration, results, and implications for instruction. They
also learn about fluency, both in terms of improved time and improved prosody.
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Week 4: The tutors begin instruction at their tutee's word study level, and collect their
first timed reading. Tutors introduce their tutees to the idea of fluency, and show
pupils how to assess their own fluency by listening to taped reading session.
Preservice students work as a class to construct a vocabulary test for the habitat unit.
Week 5: Tutors continue with word study, fluency, and reading aloud. They
administer the vocabulary test and add that information to their tutees' portfolios.
Preservice students learn about direct instruction for monitoring, questioning, and
summarizing.
Week 6-11: Tutors provide reading instruction in science to their tutees at Venable
under the supervision of the EDIS 388 instructor. Preservice students assess progress
to date and plan on-going instruction..
Week 12: Tutors administer post assessments including DSA, measures of student
fluency, vocabulary, and concept maps.
Week 13: Tutors have final meeting with tutees, completing portfolios of work done
during the semester and gathering final thoughts on the tutoring experience from the
perspective of the pupils.
Week 14: Tutors analyze data gathered and complete a case study focusing on the
Work completed during the semester
5. Analysis
This study is designed to collect evidence of the impact of preservice students’ work
in a tutoring placement in reading. Analysis of data gathered by preservice students
throughout the semester will document the ways in which preservice students were
able to affect their elementary tutees’ word knowledge, reading and achievement. We
will analyze the pre- and post diagnostic measures to determine what kinds of growth
occurred over the semester.
We anticipate that the information resulting from this analysis will provide us with a
picture of the effects of the preservice students’ tutoring with the elementary school
children. We also hope to administer pre- and post- tests to a comparable group of
pupils who were not enrolled in this tutoring program in an additional attempt to
assess the impact of the tutorials, but at this time we have not fully worked out all the
details.
6. Expected end products
Preservice students will be expected to keep on-going records to document all preassessment, post-assessment information, kinds of strategies used, and weekly
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summaries of work completed to be used as evidence for a final case study. This case
study will become part of the Curry students’ portfolio that is developed over the time
they are enrolled in the elementary teacher education program.
We intend to share the analysis of the final projects with the Venable Elementary
School faculty and with the Curry School Elementary Education faculty.
We intend to use the results of this semester’s work in the on-going design of the
reading and language arts course sequence taken by elementary preservice students.
7. Personnel
Laura Smolkin, Curry School
Jane Hanson. Curry School
Ellie Wilson, Curry School
Malcolm Jarrell, Principal, Venable School
Leslie Scalley, Third Grade Teacher, Venable School
Danny Lee, Third Grade Teacher, Venable School
Mabel Houchens, Instructional Assistant, Venable School
7. Resources
1. Graduate Instructor to serve as liaison/ supervisor for preservice
students’ data collection, analysis, and tutoring placements
$3000.00
2. Additional support for instructional Coordinator at Venable to oversee
preservice students’ work with pupils
$1000.00
Total:
$4000.00
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References
Brabham, E. G., & Lynch-Brown, C. (2002). Effects of teachers’ reading-aloud styles on
vocabulary acquisition and comprehension of students in the early elementary
grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 465-473.
Cunningham P. & Cunningham J. (1992). Making words: Enhancing the invented
spelling-decoding connection. The Reading Teacher, 46 (2), 106-116.
Duffy, A. M., & Atkinson, T. S. (2001). Learning to teach struggling (and nonstruggling) elementary school readers: An analysis of preservice teachers'
knowledge’s. Reading Research & Instruction, 41, 83-102.
Duffy, G. G. (2003). Explaining reading: A resource for teaching concepts, skills, and
strategies. New York: Guilford.
Fitzgerald, J. (2001). Can minimally trained college student volunteers help young at-risk
children to read better? Reading Research Quarterly, 36, 28-46
Ganske, K. (2000). Word journeys: Assessment-guided phonics, spelling, and vocabulary
instruction. New York: Guilford.
Hedrick, W. B. (1999). Pre-service teachers tutoring 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders one-on-one
within the school setting. Reading Research & Instruction, 38(3), 211-219.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (1999). Report of the
National Reading Panel: Teaching children to read: Summary. Washington, DC:
Author.
Nierstheimer, S. L. (2002) Engaging David in the reading process. Reading & Writing
Quarterly, 18, 365-368.
Roehler, L.R., & Duffy, G.G. (1984). Direct explanation of comprehension processes. In
G.G. Duffy, L.R. Roehler, and J. Mason (eds.), Comprehension instruction:
perspectives and suggestions (pp. 265-280). New York: Longman.
Worthy, J., & Patterson, E. (2001). "I can't wait to see Carlos!": Preservice teachers,
situated learning, and personal relationships with students. Journal of Literacy
Research, 33, 303-344.
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