Haylie McCracken

Fall 2015

Action Research
Introduction:
During my action research project, I focused on one student. The student
was an eighth grade male. The student currently attends California Area
School District.. The student has an IEP in place. At California Middle
School, the students are tracked according to their academic abilities, with
group 1 being the lowest achieving students and group 4 being the highest
achieving students. The student is currently placed in-group 1. The student
was observed during his 8th grade English course. The concept in which my
action research project was focused on was reading comprehension
strategies.
Project Question:
What strategies can be use to increase students reading comprehension
skills?
Review of the Literature:
The best practice I identified is activating students prior knowledge. I also
identified the use of a highlighter while reading as a best practice.
I chose these strategies because I felt that it is important for the reader to
have some type of connection to the reading. It is important to understand
the reading before even reading it. The student is a visual learner, therefore I
believe the use of a highlighter will benefit the student.
Plan of Action:
The baseline data that I used to determine the focus student was a test on
answering a question based upon a given text. The student received a 60%
on the exam. The questions on the exam required the student to give a
written response to the question. There were no multiple-choice questions
on the exam. After discussing the students results with my co-operating
teacher and the special education teacher, we determined that the student
was lacking comprehension skills. As a group, the three of us determined
the student would be the focus of my action research project.

Baseline 9/18/2015
Cashing In
Level: 4th Grade
Assessment 1:
10/29/15
Drilling for Alaskas
Oil
Level: 4th Grade
Assessment 2: 11/5/15
Inventions That
Changed our World
Level: 4th Grade
Assessment 3: Post
Test
11/19/15
Engineering and
Natural Gas
Level: 4th Grade

Multiple Choice
(number correct/total)

Short Answer
(number of correct/total)

% Correct

3/5

0/2

43%

4/5

1/2

57%

5/5

2/2

100%

7/7

3/3

100%

The quantitative data that I collected and used was a pretest. I gave the
student the baseline test on 9/18/2015. The test was a comprehensionfocused reading. After discussing the students Lexile Level with the special
education teacher, I gave the student a reading passage that was on the 4th
grade level. The student was given the passage and seven questions that
came along with the passage. At this time, no interventions were put into
place. The student was given the baseline assessment in the special
education teachers office. Therefore, allowing the student to have a quiet
area to work. The student missed two out of the five multiple-choice
questions and two out of the two short answer questions. I used the data as
the basis for future intervention strategies. Also, during the baseline
assessment I observed if the student used any strategies to assist with
comprehension, such as highlighting, underlining, etc. The student did not
use any comprehension strategies during the baseline. After the baseline
assessment was given to the student, I began implementing the intervention.
I chose to implement the

Analyzing the Data:

Baseline: The student was given a reading passage from ReadWorks.com.
The passage was on a 4th grade reading level. I determined the reading level
according to the students lexile level. While choosing the passage, I was
able to chose what type of questions I wanted to focus on, and based upon
my data I focused on comprehension skills both multiple choice and short
answer. I did not assist the student with the passage. I instructed the student
to read the passage and answer the questions. I also permitted the student to
use any resources that he wanted to use, such as a highlighter, scratch paper,
etc. The student had as much time as he needed to complete the reading.
During this time, I observed the students behavior. I focused on three areas;
did the student answer the questions correctly? Did the student use any
resources? If so, what types of resources? How long did it take the student to
complete the assessment?
Observed Behavior
# of correct answers

3/7

Resources

No resources were used

Length of time

7 minutes

The student missed one multiple-choice question. The student missed both
of the short answer questions. The student did not use any resources to
assist him with comprehension. The student rushed through the reading and
questions, taking only 7 minutes to complete the assessment. Based upon
my baseline data, I concluded that the intervention be based upon teaching
the student how to use comprehension strategies while reading a text.
Implementing the Intervention:
After researching comprehension strategies, I began the first intervention.
The student was taken to a quiet area in the building. I asked the student
what strategies he uses while reading. The student told me he just reads and
answers the questions. I informed the student I was going to show him
strategies to help with his comprehension skills. It is important for the
student to have choice, therefore I showed the student three informational
readings (ReadWorks.com) and he was able to choose which one he wanted
to read. According to research, it is important to activate the students prior
knowledge. I asked the student to read the title of the story and to tell me

any information he may already know about the topic. Next, I gave the
student a highlighter. I told him to read the questions to aloud to me and to
highlight any important words within the questions. The words included
words he may not know and/or words he wants to pay attention to while
reading. We reviewed any words he was confused on. After reading the
questions, I had the student break apart the passage into smaller portions. I
modeled how to break apart the passage into smaller sections. I instructed
the student to read each section aloud to me. I modeled how to pause after
each section and how to highlight any words or phrases in the section that
may help answer one of the questions previously read. I then told the
student to read the entire passage to him, while highlighting any words or
phrases he may have missed. He proceeded to answer the questions. The
student read each question aloud to me, as well as the answers. I asked the
student to tell me what he thinks the question is asking. The student scored
5/7 (57%) on the assessment. I asked the student how he felt about the
strategy after the intervention was implemented. He told me it took a long
time, however he felt it was beneficial. I used the interview as qualitative
data to continue to drive my instruction.
Assessment 2: 11/5/15
I implemented the same strategies as I did during my first intervention and
assessment. The student seemed a bit more comfortable with the strategies
being used. I modeled highlighting the questions for the student as a
reminder of how to appropriately highlight. The reading was on 4th grade
level, and he was able to choose a passage out of three choices. The student
scored 7/7 (100%) on the assessment at the end of the intervention. He had
two short answer questions that were both answered adequately, which was
the main focus of the intervention. He struggled to answer the short answer
questions, however the strategies seemed to be assisting him at this point.
Assessment 3: 11/19/15
Once again, the student had the choice to pick his own passage based upon
three choices given to him. The reading was on 4th grade level. I chose to
remain the readings on grade level four, in order to see the consistency of the
intervention. However the passage asked 10 questions, rather than 7
questions. This was the last intervention and assessment given to the
student. The student chose to complete the assessment independently

without any assistance. I focused on three areas; did the student answer the
questions correctly? Did the student use any resources? If so, what types of
resources? How long did it take the student to complete the assessment? The
results were used as my qualitative data.
Observed Behavior
# of correct answers

10/10, 100%

Resources

Highlighter, note taking strategies

Length of time

20 minutes

According to the data, the student showed growth in all areas. He was able
to answer three out of the three short answer questions correctly. He
answered all seven of the multiple correctly without any assistance. The
student adequatley used a highlighter while reading the passage. He was
able to explain what the question was asking, as well as use his prior
knowledge to assist him with understanding the text. The length time
increased, which shows he was taking his time to read and answer the
questions appropriately. I spoke with the student after the intervention. He
told me the strategies helped with his comprehension. He said that he feels
more comfortable when reading and answering questions.
Recommendations & Implications:
This study has taught me the importance of the connection between the reader
and the text. By allowing the student to choose his readings, he was able to
have some idea or interest on the topic and therefore was able to active his prior
knowledge while reading the text. I also learned that multiple-choice questions
are not always the most effective way to assess a students understanding of the
text. At the beginning of the project, the student rushed through the multiplechoice questions, figuring he had a chance of answering the question
correctly. Once he got to the short answer questions, his answers were often
irrelevant to the text and question being asked. It is important to know what the
question is asking the reader. Most of the time, the student was confused as to
what exactly the question was asking him, therefore he would just guess. By
allowing the student to highlight important words/phrases, he was able to
understand what the question was asking him to answer. During the last
assessment, the student was able to implement the strategies independently,
while scoring a 100% on the assessment. Based on the result of the project, the

study showed that the students reading comprehension score increased by 37%
(47%-100%).
References:
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=fb358b16-ca54-47da-bedf2161a3cf8acb%40sessionmgr111&vid=4&hid=108
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=10&sid=fb358b16-ca54-47dabedf-2161a3cf8acb%40sessionmgr111&hid=108
www.ReadWorks.com