Leveraged Learning: Reaching the Adolescent Reader

1
Leveraged Learning Reaching the Adolescent
Reader Kimberly McDowell, Wichita State
University Elaine Bernstorf, Wichita State
University Robyn Ziolkowski, The Ohio State
University Jan Norman, Young Audiences Sandy
Sobolew-ShubinWestEd
Methods
Results
Results Contd
Introduction

• Research
• Reading forms the foundation for all other
  academic areas. This is even more true in middle
  school and high school as learning to read has
  shifted to reading to learn.
• Data from the 2007 National Assessment
• of Educational Progress (NAEP) in reading
• report that 69 percent of 8th grade
• students fall below the proficient level in
• their ability to comprehend the meaning
• of text at their grade level.
• School districts and teachers are working to find
  interventions or curriculum that target the
  unique needs of struggling adolescent readers.
• Young Audiences (YA) have crafted five Units of
  Arts for Learning (A4L) Lessons for use by
  classroom teachers. These lessons are intended to
  heap students build literacy skills aligned with
  state standards.
• The Units are designed with the How People Learn
  framework (HPL) as the guiding foundation. Four
  basic components are included
• Overview and focus
• Instruction and Guided practice
• Instruction and Cycles of Independent practice,
  Reflection, and Revision
• Perform and Inform.

Participants 869 students in grades 6-8 from USD
259 participated. USD 259 is a large, urban
school district located in Wichita, KS. It serves
a population characterized as 66.9 economically
disadvantaged (KSDE, 2008). Students attended
one of three schools, identified by the district
as having the lowest reading scores on state and
district assessments. However, these three
schools report that between 85 and 92.3 of the
students in attendance are classified as
economically disadvantaged. Eighteen teachers
participated in A4L training and implementation
of the Units. Measures Student literacy gains
were measured by unit-specific,
researcher-generated literacy measures. In
addition to overall literacy scale scores, the
assessments were comprised of two subscales (1)
a Unit-Specific subscale, and (2) a Cross-Unit
subscale. Questions on the Unit-specific subscale
were designed to address the structural elements
of a story (story grammar). Items on the
Cross-Unit subscale were designed to assess DEEP
Skills (Decision Enhanced by Empathy and
Perspective) (e.g., character traits, internal
motivations). See example. Student also completed
an attitude survey designed to measure their
attitude towards typical reading class and
participation in A4L lessons. Procedures Students
participated in two A4L units (one in the fall
and one in spring). Three Units were used. Unit
1 Upside-Down Fairytales focused on perspective
and utilized the art form of tableau. Unit 2
Graphic Story Adventures focused on visualization
and utilized the art form of graphic novels. Unit
3 Everyday Heroes focused on synthesis and
utilized the art form of collage. Unit
instruction was 6 weeks in duration. Each lesson
was approximately 45 minutes in length. Matched
pre and post literacy assessments were scored and
analyzed for 684 of those students. Missing data
is attributed to absences. Teachers received
three hours of professional development in the
use of A4L Lessons. All classrooms were observed
for student engagement and fidelity in
delivery.
Question 1 Do students demonstrate gains in
knowledge of the key literacy content?
Question 2 Do A4L Lessons
engage and interest students? Interest in A4L
lessons was greater than in reading class t
(1353) 4.0, plt.027.

Question 3 Does A4L demonstrate social
validity?
Discussion
Overall, 6th and 7th grade students made reliable
gains from pretest to posttest on the
Unit-Specific subscale and Overall Scale of the
Unit 1 A4L assessments. Overall, 7th and 8th
grade students made reliable gains from pretest
to posttest on the Unit-specific and Overall
Scale of the Unit 2 A4L assessments. Overall,
6th and 8th grade students made reliable gains
from pretest to posttest on the Unit-specific
subscale and the Overall Scale of the Unit 3 A4L
assessments. Student attitude surveys revealed
that students reported greater interest and
engagement in A4L lessons than in regular reading
lessons. Over 75 of students reported liking A4L
as much or more than regular reading class, while
89 reported learning as much or more in A4L than
in regular reading class. The majority of
teachers reported that A4L Lessons had a positive
impact on student learning (88), helped them
address state standards (69), and that the
students enjoyed the A4L lessons more than
regular reading lesson (72). Limitations There
was no random assignment or control group with
this study. Although there is a large sample
size, this limits generalizability. Future
directions Disaggregate the data based on
reading level, ELL, exceptionalities, etc.