South Harrison High School

With only 35% of students tested reading proficiency, South Harrison High School could benefit from instructional intervention in the area of Reading.

In my experience, I have found that students often struggle with assignments because they fail to completely read or comprehend instructions. A possible strategy for this would be to monitor comprehension by testing it before, during and after assignments.

Three pieces of evidence that the strategy works.
•Teacher-prepared notes show students what is important and how ideas relate, and offer a model for how students should take notes themselves (Marzano et al., 2001).


•Notes should be in both linguistic and nonlinguistic forms, including idea webs, sketches, informal outlines, and combinations of words and schematics; and, the more notes, the better (Nye, Crooks, Powlie, & Tripp, 1984).


•When students review and revise their own notes, the notes become more meaningful and useful (Anderson & Armbruster, 1986; Denner, 1986; Einstein, Morris, & Smith, 1985).

Action Research

1. What is the title of the project?
Looking in the Mirror: Helping Adolescent Talk More Reflectively During Portfolio Presentations

2. What is the problem?
Tim Frederick explains in his introduction:
"The reality for many of my students is that there is a deep divide between themselves and their learning, which has grown over several years and is the effect of years of unsuccessful attempts at learning. They are simply not interested in learning or looking at themselves as learners."

3. Describe the instructional intervention.
Frederick implemented a portfolio assessment project to have students focus more on learning that "blindly completing assignments." "Portfolios give the responsibility of assessment to the assessed[...] Portfolios can empower the powerless; they invite voices to speak in places which usually value obedient silence"

4. What kind of strategy is the instructional intervention?
The strategy used was "Reinforcing Effort".
"Students growing up amid challenges can develop an attitude that "failure is just around the corner," no matter what. Research makes clear the connection between effort and achievement—believing you can often makes it so. This research shares recommendations and techniques that encompass student recognition, beliefs, and attitudes about learning."

5. What evidence is presented that the strategy will work?
Not all students know the connection between effort and achievement.

Student achievement can increase when teachers show the relationship between an increase in effort to an increase in success.

Rewards for accomplishment can improve achievement when the rewards are directly linked to successful attainment of an understood performance standard.

A critical decision for teachers is how to provide recognition. Abstract or symbolic recognition has more impact than tangible things, such as gum, movie tickets, or prizes.

6. How will data be collected to determine if the strategy will work?

7. How was the data analyzed?

8. What were the results?