The Effects of a Writing Intervention on Fifth-Grade Student Achievement
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Authors
Barnes, Jenny Carter
Issue Date
2013-05-07
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Jenny Barnes , Education , Elementary Schools--Georgia , Writing in School Everyday (WISE) , Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRTC) , Students--Fifth Grade , National Commission on Writing in America's Schools and Colleges (NAEP) , Education--Studies
Alternative Title
Abstract
This purpose of this research was to examine a specific writing intervention and its effect on fifth-grade student achievement as measured by the Georgia Grade 5 Writing Assessment. All participants were fifth-grade students and teachers. The writing intervention examined was the researcher-developed Writing In School Every day (WISE) Writing program. This program is a writing intervention inclusive of pedagogy supporting the process approach to writing instruction, and research regarding professional learning and teacher collaboration. This research addressed two questions: Was there a statistically significant difference between writing achievement scores of fifth-grade students who were taught by teachers implementing the WISE writing program on a daily basis and the writing achievement scores of fifth-grade students whose teachers did not implement the WISE writing program? Was there a statistically significant difference between writing achievement scores of fifth-grade students who were taught by teachers participating in ongoing professional development while implementing the WISE writing program on a daily basis and the writing achievement scores of fifth-grade students whose teachers did not participate in ongoing professional development while implementing the WISE writing program on a daily basis? The participating schools are located in a school district in southeast Georgia. Two schools served as the experimental group and one school served as the control group. The experimental group received identical writing programs. School A received ongoing professional learning and School B did not. School C did not implement the WISE writing program. Focus groups were conducted at each of the elementary schools to gather data related to program implementation. A quasi-experimental design was used in this study. Each group’s Georgia Grade 5 Writing Assessment scores were used for comparison among participants. An analysis of covariance using English Language Arts scores on the Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) was conducted to allow for differences among participants. Findings indicated no significant difference among groups when comparing scale scores, however categorical data comparisons revealed trends of increases among experimental groups. Data from focus groups revealed that teacher efficacy and student learning increased as a result of program implementation.
Description
A Dissertation submitted by Jenny Carter Barnes to the Graduate School Valdosta State University in partial fulfillment of requirments for the degree of Doctor of Education in Leadership