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Running Head: INCREASING WRITING SCORES 1

Texas State UniversityCollege of Education

Education and Community Leadership Program

EDCL 6352

School as the Center of Inquiry

Increasing Scores and Confidence in Writingfor 7th Grade Students.

by

Christy Zamarron

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of theRequirements for the Master's Degree in Educational Leadership

December 12, 2015

JACKSON M.S. ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 2

Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..4

Preliminary Data…………………………………………………………………………………..5

School Demographics……………………………………………………………………..5

State Accountability Data…………………………………………………………………6

School Climate…………………………………………………………………………….8

Focus Area………………………………………………………………………………………...8

Literature Review…………………………………………………………………………………9

History and Laws for Gifted and Advanced Students…………………………………...10

History of Schooling for Gifted and Advanced Students………………………..10

Current Law and Policies………………………………………………………...11

Writing Instruction Models………………………………………………………………11

Variables Affecting Gifted and Advanced Student Achievement……………………….14

Teacher Preparation & Development…………………………………………….14

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….15

Target Data…………………………………………………………………………………….....16

Problem Statement……………………………………………………………………………….19

Action Plan……………………………………………………………………………………….20

Evaluation………………………………………………………………………………………..22

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….23

References………………………………………………………………………………………..25

Appendix A.......…………………………………………………………………………….……28

Appendix B………………………………………………………………………………………29


Appendix C……………………………………………………………………………………....31

Appendix D………………………………………………………………………………………33

Appendix E………………………………………………………………………………………34


Introduction

San Antonio is one of the largest, and steadily growing, cities in the state of Texas. With

San Antonio’s multi-cultural influence, low cost of living, and high number of job opportunities

in a variety of fields, it has become a popular city for residents of Texas. According to a 2013

census, the population in San Antonio reached 1,409,019 people. The city’s population had

increased 6.1% since the 2010 census. The ethnic distribution in San Antonio includes 76.6%

White (26.6% Non-Hispanic White), 6.9% Black, 3.4% Two or More Races, 2.4% Asian, 0.1%

Pacific Islander. In addition, 63.2% of the population of San Antonio was of Hispanic or Latino

origin, of any race. Of the population in San Antonio, 45.4 % speak a language other than

English at home, the majority being Spanish, due to the high number of Hispanic families that

make up the ever-growing population of San Antonio. 80.7% of San Antonio’s population have

obtained a High School Diploma, while 24.6% have obtained a Bachelor’s Degree, or higher.

(U.S. Census, 2013)

San Antonio has many school districts to serve its ever-growing student body. North East

Independent School District (ISD) was established in 1950, and now boasts 16 high schools, 19

middle schools, and 46 elementary schools. North East ISD is second in size to Northside ISD

among San Antonio school districts, and employs 9,141 staff, to serve its 68,206 students. (North

East ISD, 2015)

Jackson Middle School is a Title I campus serving 6th through 8th grade students in

North East Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas. Opened in 1970 to serve a

burgeoning San Antonio, Jackson Middle School is located in a triangle of land between

Highway 410, Jackson Keller Road, and Vance Jackson Road, and has served an ever changing

and diversifying demographic of students and teachers, in the past forty-five years of service. I


am a recent hire of Jackson Middle School, as a 7th grade English teacher, beginning my first

year of service in August. Prior to this, I was a 6th-12th grade English Teacher for the Learning

Support Centers at 9 campuses across Austin ISD for three years, and a 6th grade English teacher

at Harmony Science Academy North Austin for one year.

Preliminary Data

School Demographics

According to the Texas Academic Performance Report from 2013-2014, Jackson Middle

School has a population of 960 students. The ethnic distribution of this population (shown in

Table 1) includes 77.9% Hispanic students, 14.6% Caucasian students, 4.4% African American

students, 1.8% Asian students, 1.3% Two or more races, 0.1% American Indian, and 0% Pacific

Islander students in the student body (TAPR 2013-2014, p. 10).

Table 1.

Further, the student body can be classified in terms of socioeconomic status, ability and

gender. With 69% of the student body population being considered economically disadvantaged,

the school has a population that is majority Hispanic and economically disadvantaged. The

school has 11.5 % of their population classified as English Language Learners.


Jackson Middle School employs 100 staff, 73 of which are teachers. The ethnic

distribution of teachers does not reflect that of the students. The teachers at Jackson Middle

School are predominantly white, (Table 2). With 1.4% being African American, 26.4% being

Hispanic, 69.4% being White, 1.4% being Asian, and the final 1.4% being Two or More Races

(TAPR, 2013-2014, p. 12). The majority of teachers (29.8%) at Jackson Middle School have

between 6-10 years’ experience, while 29.2% have between 1-5 years’ experience, 23.4% have

had 11-20 years of experience, 12.3% have over 20 years of experience, and 5.3% of the

teaching staff at Jackson Middle School are beginning teachers with 0 years of experience

(TAPR 2013-2014, p. 12).

Table 2.

State Accountability Data

Looking once again at the Texas Academic Performance Report (2012-2013) we see that

the school Met Standard, and again in 2013-2014. But after reviewing the disaggregated data, I

have to ask, are all students succeeding at the same rate? Jackson’s 7th grade class held 315 of

the total population of students in the year 2013-2014. Looking at the STAAR writing scores for


the campus, we see that the school has made a huge leap from 2013, in which 34% of the Special

Education students met standard, to 2014, in which 80% of the Special Education students met

the standards for the STAAR writing scores. Over the past year, the administration has made a

push to intervene and promote the success of their Special Education population, which sits at an

alarmingly high 15% of the student population (whereas many schools in North East ISD sit

around 7%). Through the hiring of Special Education teachers, aids, and other support staff, as

well as developing AIM classes, in which students in Special Education can work with their

Special Education teachers and core content teachers, to improve upon TEKS in which they are

weak.

In 2013, the campus had 63% of the 7th grade students who took the STAAR Writing

Exam, pass the exam. In 2014, the campus raised a fair amount, to 67% of the students who took

the STAAR Writing Exam, meet standard. In the Campus Improvement Plan, the campus

focuses on continuing the growth of the Special Education students, as well as increase the

scores for the ELL population, as well as the Economically Disadvantaged population. But, the

campus also highlights the need for increasing the scores of the students in Pre-AP classes. The

Pre-AP students are consistently meeting the standard for all their STAAR exams, but are

struggling to make appropriate gains, and a percentage of the students in Pre-AP are getting

lower on their individual pass rates. Often overlooked, and expected to continually achieve, the

students in Pre-AP appear to have hit a ceiling in their pass rates, and their percentage growths

on the STAAR exams. Many of the stakeholders in the school are left with questions about how

the campus is reaching this specific group of students. Are these students having a deeper level

of understanding taught in their classes? What are teachers doing to ensure the engagement and

expansion of our top performers in class?


As a teacher at the Jackson Middle School, I know that the school can be proud of their

school meeting the standard for STAAR Exams; however, the school must evaluate and examine

what they are doing to address the needs of all students, including the students who are in Pre-AP

classes.

School Climate

Jackson Middle School touts a “Tradition of Excellence” and holds a mission of “We

challenge and encourage each student to achieve and demonstrate academic excellence, technical

skills, and responsible citizenship.” Is the campus truly challenging and encouraging each

student to achieve? Even those who are disadvantaged? How can we, as stakeholders of the

campus, improve the outreach for all students on campus? Though the numbers have risen for

special education students passing the STAAR Writing Exam, the 6% increase, does not close

the achievement gap between these students and other students on campus. The achievement

gap, is almost half of the passing rate of other students.

Focus Area

Jackson Middle School has performed well on state standardized accountability tests, and have

met standard for the past several years. The campus, including administration and teachers alike,

has done work to raise test scores and close the achievement gap between special student groups

and regular education and Pre-AP students in 7th grade, taking the STAAR Writing Exam. The

campus has devised and developed a Campus Improvement Plan, which focuses on student

involvement in areas of attendance, and participation in school activities.

The Campus Improvement Plan also focuses on raising the teaching of writing across

subjects, and points out the focus of improving the test scores of our Pre-AP students. However,

a small, but significant population of Jackson Middle School is still not achieving at the same


levels as most students groups, which is a concern for the overall numbers of the campus in

regards to testing, achievement data, and a concern for the often disenfranchised and overlooked

demographic of special education students. The campus is underperforming in writing when

compared with the district and the state. If the campus made increasing writing scores for 7th

grade, Pre-AP students, a focus, the increase in STAAR Writing Exam scores would drastically

improve the overall scores, possibly pushing the school to be at the same percentage passing rate,

if not higher than the district and state.

Literature Review

The literature surrounding Special Education shows a rapid growth in the population of

students who receive services through Special Education. The diverse needs of students

receiving these services ranges from students labeled as Learning Disabled (LD), which can span

from Emotionally Disturbed (ED), speech or language impairments, autism, hearing or vision

impairments, traumatic brain damage, etc. (Texas Education Code [TEC] Sec. 29.003). The oft

forgotten, and underserved category of the umbrella of Special Education, includes the gifted and

talented students, who require differentiation to their lesson plans and assessments, in much the

same way other Special Education students do. Gifted and Talented, Pre-AP, and advanced

learners can be served in a multitude of ways, including participating in general classroom

environments, placement in Pre-AP classes, placement in GT classes.

Due to the variety of students who are serviced in GT and Pre-AP courses, it is a

seemingly insurmountable task to engage all students in rigorous coursework which deepens

their understanding and develops their skill set in the classroom. This literature review focuses

on the following themes related to Special Education students and their success in writing, (a)

history and laws for Special Education students, specifically gifted and advanced students (b)


models of writing instruction, and (c) variables that affect Special Education student

achievement.

History and Laws for Gifted and Advanced Students

History of schooling for gifted and advanced students. Prior to 1975, there was little in

terms of law and policy to protect students/adolescents with disabilities. 1975 saw the

development of the original Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the

Education for All Handicapped Act (EHA) which were both spearheaded by John F. Kennedy,

who created the President’s Panel on Mental Retardation. The EHA established a right to public

education for all children regardless of disability. While IDEA requires schools to provide

individualized or special education for children with qualifying disabilities. Under the IDEA,

states who accept public funds for education must provide special education to qualifying

children with disabilities.

In contrast with laws which protect Special Education students, students who are served

through gifted education are not regulated by the federal government. These students are

regulated state to state, which means, throughout the United States, the services are not funded

consistently, and their services they are able to receive are also not consistent. According to

literature by Jolly (2009),

“Since its inception in the 1920s, the field of gifted education has remained in a constant

ebb and flow. Public understanding and support, as well as, federal aid has mirrored this

pattern, waxing and waning in response to national interests and concern from private

institutions and foundations.” (p. 37)

Jolly (2009) also describes the onslaught of the drive to bring data to the forefront of

gifted education. Stating, “The early twentieth century produced advancements in both education


and psychology that brought empirical and scientific credibility to the field of gifted education,”

(p 37).

Current law and policies. The Individuals with Disabilities Act, (IDEA) was signed into

law on December 3, 2004, by President George W. Bush. IDEA was an expansion and edit of the

IDEA from 1975. According to IDEA, a student will be taught in the least restrictive

environment, ideally with peers, and taught by highly qualified teachers (IDEA Sec., 2004).

IDEA was created in accordance with No Child Left Behind, in the push for student success,

state standardization, and the goal of employing only highly qualified teachers in the classroom.

Since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind, the educational system in the

United States has focused severely on closing the achievement gap. Many questions have been

raised since NCLB began, and one of them is whether we should be spending money and

resources towards gifted programing for our large population of gifted students. Jolly (2009)

states, “However, as equity becomes the predilection, gifted students’ needs are seen as an elitist

luxury and are replaced with the priorities of students within other subpopulations.” (p. 38) In the

United States of America, there are 3 million students classified as Gifted, and many more being

served in Pre-AP classes.

Writing Instruction Models

The ability of teachers to implement best-practice, research driven, writing instruction in

the classroom, to students classified as Special Education effects. Gillespie & Graham (2014)

found that yes, writing interventions, in general, are effective. Specifically, Strategy Instruction,

Dictation, Process Writing, and Goal Setting, were effective writing interventions to improve the

writing quality of students. “Treatments designed to enhance a specific writing process were only

effective when time was devoted to teaching the writing skill or process.” (p. 469)


Flipped classrooms appeared to be a successful form of writing instruction. By using

videos created by students, engagement in multiple areas of curriculum. Engin (2014) states

“Peer teaching gives students the responsibility for scaffolding their classmates’ learning.

Scaffolding as a metaphor to describe the assistance a teacher or more knowledgeable peer can

give in a learning context,” (p 13). Further, she states, “a flipped classroom is part of a blended

learning model in which students have some control…and are involved in active learning…it is a

mindset as to what the teacher and students’ roles are, and how best to support student learning,”

(p 14).

Another writing instruction model is described and studied by Cihak, D. F. & Castle, K.

(2011). The pair found that students without disabilities made significant writing improvements

from pretest to posttest, after teacher implementation of the writing instruction program Step Up

to Writing. “For both students with disabilities and students without disabilities, the greatest

developments between pretest and posttest compositions were paragraph structure.” (p. 111).

Moreover, Cihak and Castle (2011) Essays were described as organized and having well

developed themes. Compositions included an introductory sentence, and central ideas within the

essays were expanded using coherently detailed sentences. Transition and concluding sentences

also were exhibited. Moreover, sentence structure and syntactic variety improved. “Overall,

students wrote expository essays that were qualitatively better, which were generally free from

mechanical errors and language misusage.”

Jacobs, P. & Fu, D. (2014) describe the struggle of students learning the writing process,

“Many students face greater challenges when learning how to write. Writing is a complex

process that requires the integration of many cognitive and social processes and comprehensive

language skills. Students...struggle with generating topics, planning and organizing, editing,


revising, monitoring the writing process, and transcribing words.” (p. 101) By working on

writing daily along with their peers in a writer’s community, two students, Julia and Tyrone

made progress as writers in many significant aspects of the writing process: planning, focus and

organization, adding details, learning to revise, conventions, writing from their hearts and

personal experience, and working with their peers. The research found that a test-driven

approach (teaching to the test) “tends to limit students’ ability as learners. Also, in contrast,

instruction that values students’ technological expertise energizes students’ learning, helps them

to reach their potential, and ensures their school success.” (p. 100). The students’ writing

behaviors, processes, and products in their different settings contrasted and showed that teachers

should be, and easily could be, transforming writing by drawing on students’ home literacies to

ignite their ‘passion and creativity.’ The article also advocates for a change in classroom

methods by placing value on students’ personal interests and preparing them to be literate

citizens of the 21st century.

Ornelles, C., & Black, R. S. (2012) describe the method of Invitational Learning, where

the research followed two different classrooms, where one used Invitational Learning practices,

and another did not. One change from baseline to the intervention phase was that prior to

training, the teacher stopped students were engaging in off-topic conversations. Off topic

conversations and unfocused students, often frequent advanced learner populations, due to the

speed at which advanced learners glean information, when compared to regular education

students. During intervention she redirected students’ comments to encourage conversation. The

results leaned towards showing that the way teachers invited students to participate in learning,

and redirected off-task behavior, could change the way students responded in the classroom. The

response would be then turned into a writing response. Writing responses started small and grew


in length and began to focus on real topics. These writing responses grew student endurance for

writing, and taught students the correlation between speaking and writing.

Variables Affecting Gifted and Advanced Student Achievement

Teacher preparation & development. The time allotted for preparation, reflection, and

development, and ability to implement best-practice and research based practice, is necessary for

providing academic growth and success of students. Much of the research around writing

instruction of gifted and advanced students is focused on the need for appropriate amounts of

time and scaffolding for the diverse student body in the classroom. Graham, S., Capizzi, A.,

Harris, K. R., Hebert, M., & Morphy, P. (2014), presented a nationwide survey of teachers, and

found the majority of respondents to the survey believed they had inadequate preparation for

teaching writing. Although teachers generally agreed that writing was collective, ELA teachers

placed the greatest emphasis on writing instruction. The survey also found that middle school

students “spend little time writing or being taught how to write,” (p. 1012) and while most

teachers used varieties of evidence-based writing practices, the practices were applied

infrequently. There was also a lack of teachers using assessment data to shape how they taught.

Graham, S, et al, also found that “Five out of every six middle school teachers further

indicated that external exams shaped their writing curriculum and instruction,” (p. 1017). The

survey also found that writing and writing instruction was much more common in the language

arts than in other subject areas. The survey data and subsequent research paper lacked in

expansion, and teacher opinion, as to what could solve these problems. The focus was on how

there is a void of writing instruction, but no suggestions as to how to fill the void

Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (2013), looked at the common core standards, and researched

four recommendations for the common core state standards, as well as looked at ways to increase


general education teachers’ knowledge about writing development. The first of the four

recommendations included creating a writing environment in which all students can thrive.

Employ evidence-based writing practices in general education classes (where many advanced

writers are taught). Use evidence-based writing practices effective with advanced students. The

authors claim further that, “Many more students can reach standards than schools have

imagined” (p. 28). This article echoed other articles that suggest “many teachers indicate that

they are not well prepared to teach writing,” (p. 30).

Conclusion

The research and literature around gifted and advanced students and writing, is sparse,

and typically focused on the success or failure of writing programs, in order to promote their

own product. There is more research in the elementary school, and high-school range in terms of

writing. The most research is found in the elementary grades and focuses on developmental

writing, and basic writing skills of students. High school writing research focuses on state

standardized testing scores, which is helpful to my focus of raising writing scores for special

education students. There is little research focused on middle school students. There is also a fair

amount of research on the ineffectiveness of Gifted and Talented courses, and Pre-AP courses

for advanced students, noting the negative aspects of being in these courses.

Jackson Middle School is not unlike the data surrounding gifted and advanced students,

who often are expected to achieve on standardized testing, and are often overlooked when

compared their peers in General Education and Special Education in terms of preparation for

standardized testing. There is a considerable lack of growth for gifted students. These students

are achieving passing scores on state standardized exams, but are not meeting the required

percentage of growth required by NCLB. For this action research project, it would be beneficial


to examine perspectives of teachers; GT and Pre-AP and general education teachers across

subjects, as well as administrators on campus about their abilities and experience on working

with their advanced learner population. It may also be beneficial to gain information from the

parents or guardians of students who are in Pre-AP and GT courses as to their experiences with

their student. My goal is to produce data which supports the teachers, administrators, students,

and parents or guardians at Jackson Middle School to increase writing scores for students in Pre-

AP and GT courses.

Target Data

Based on the literature review which focused on the development of advanced students,

their writing and writing scores, there are data to be collected from Jackson middle School to

best focus the action research topic of increasing the STAAR Writing Exam scores for 7th grade

students enrolled in Pre-AP and GT courses. In terms of a more targeted approach to raise these

scores for the 7th grade students who will be taking the STAAR Writing Exam it is necessary to

pull data for our current students, from scores such as Benchmark Exams and previous STAAR

Writing scores from 4th grade. Another data source to pull information from would be the

teachers who are interacting with our 7th grade Pre-AP and GT students. Surveying of and

participating in focus groups with teachers who interact directly with these advanced students

would provide an insight into what their needs are, their expectations for these students are, and

what ways we could best improve teacher ability to effectively teach writing.

Benchmark testing is a formal means of retrieve student data on a campus. Due to most

campuses already cycling through benchmark testing, the means of collecting the data is already

set into procedural and effective steps. The school orders benchmark tests, and schedules

benchmark testing throughout the year to gather data on student progress from prior years, and to


project where the student will be at the end of the school year for STAAR testing. The first

Benchmark Exam was given at Jackson Middle School beginning October 27 and throughout the

following week in order to accommodate for our 8th grade, 7th grade, and 6th grades students who

take different Benchmark Exams according to the STAAR Exams they will be partaking in

towards the end of the school year. Our test answer documents are scored and entered into our

student progress system, Compass, which holds all of the student data including STAAR Exam

scores, Benchmark Exams, Interventions, etc.

At Jackson Middle School, 7th Grade students took part in the Writing Benchmark Exam,

as well as the Mathematics and Reading Benchmark Exams. The pass rate for the 7th Grade

Writing Exam was at 54.5%, and did not include the writing portion of the Exam. Of the 7th

grade student body, 64% passed the Writing Benchmark Exam, with only a small portion of the

student body achieving a commended score on the Benchmark Exam, which meant missing only

three questions, or less. When reviewing the percentage of student pass rates, all of the students

who achieved a commended score were in a Pre-AP or GT courses for English and/or Reading.

The district created a Heat Ticket Map which represented the scores of the students on the

Benchmark Exam, and disaggregated the data into TEKS, for with which teachers will focus

their instruction as they plan lessons throughout the remainder of the semester.

In order to collect more data, surveys were taken of English, Language Arts, and Reading

teachers (Appendix B). The survey focused on collecting information about teacher’s pre-

conceived notions regarding Pre-AP student success, as well as information regarding teacher

comfort level in teaching Pre-AP or advanced students, and garnered information regarding

whether teachers were modifying lessons in order to meet the diverse and deep needs that our

advanced students have.


In order to gain a better understanding of the teachers who interact with our student body,

the first two questions broached the teaching history of the teacher, as well as the course and

grade level the teacher taught. There was a variety of answers ranging from a 3rd year teacher, to a

veteran 18th year teacher working directly with the Pre-AP student body at Jackson Middle

School. The next several questions honed in on the topic of Pre-AP students, asking teachers

whether they believed that Pre-AP students are successful at mastering TEKS and the STAAR

Writing Exam.

Following these general readings on teachers pre-conceived ideas on students, questions

directly pertained to teacher ability and comfort level with Pre-AP students. Questions included,

“I can effectively engage my Pre-AP/GT Students in rigorous lessons,” “I have enough training

in the education process of Pre-AP or advanced students,” “I have adequate time to meet with

my students individually to work on writing instruction,” and “Pre-AP students are given equal

amount of attention and time as other populations (Special Education, Economically

Disadvantaged, ELL, etc.) at my campus,” asked teachers to rate their opinions on a scale of 1 to

5 (one being strongly disagree, and 5 being strongly agree). The final question asked in an open

ended format, for teachers to share any other thoughts they had regarding Pre-AP student success

on the STAAR Writing Exam. The survey was created using Google Forms, and shared with the

entire ELAR team at Jackson Middle School, which includes 19 teachers, as well as the

administrative team, which includes one principal, and two assistant principals. Teachers who

responded to the survey, (enter final number here), all shared in the open ended question

regarding Pre-AP student success on STAAR Writing Exams. Many of the answers were varied

from, “My Pre-AP students need little help in answering STAAR questions, and my time in more

focused on students in my Inclusion Courses, and my Regular Courses,” to “I have struggled in


vain to find ways to truly reach the deep and intelligent levels at which my Pre-AP and GT

students need to be reached. With little support I alone teach the 7th and 8th Grade GT courses, and

have multiple times requested assistance from the district ELAR lead, and received little

feedback.” Many of the teachers echoed the opinion that these students are left behind while

focus of the Title I campus is often geared to raising the lowest performing or achieving students.

The department head and instructional coach for the ELAR team focused more on data

showing that while Pre-AP and GT students are consistently passing the STAAR, students are

struggling to meet their annual growth, which can easily lower the entire school’s score, and pass

rate.

Through a focus group (Appendix C) with my Action Research Committee on campus, I

opened the floor for teachers to share their concerns regarding our Pre-AP lesson planning and

development on campus. Most responses were similar to what was found in the surveys.

Teachers have requested training before for our advanced students, and how to effectively and

efficiently modify and accommodate our scope and sequence provided by the district, as well as

our lesson plan format, to meet the needs of our advanced student population. These requests

have often been met with a quick and apologetic ‘no.’ Due to our campus being a Title I campus,

there are many rules and regulations pertaining to the types of training we can provide to our

teachers, which would be funded under the Title I grant money.

Problem Statement

To: Increase the STAAR Exam writing scores for students enrolled in Gifted and

Talented and Pre-Advanced Placement courses by providing the following measures:


Professional development for staff focused on writing instruction. (San Antonio Writing

Project Professional Development, offered over the course of the 2015-2016 school year

on 6 Saturdays)

Campus initiative for content and instructional vocabulary used in the classroom.

Completion and submission of two writing samples per nine weeks in students’ English

classes. With a focus on studying the STAAR Writing Rubrics to guide writing.

Creation and use of new lesson plan format which devotes section to Pre-AP and GT

modifications.

In a way that: Considers the types of preparation that students are receiving, and how

teachers are routinely accommodating for these students.

So that: Students develop a true sense of the process of writing, the importance of creating a

culture of revisions, as well as a voice when writing. True advanced and Pre-AP writing

instruction should focus on promoting student engagement in writing, and outcome of increased

writing skill.

Action Plan

During the spring 2016 semester, the following Action Research Plan will be enacted at

Jackson Middle School. Throughout the semester, several initiatives will be put in place

alongside professional development of staff, in order to improve the writing scores of 7th Grade

Pre-AP and GT students. The professional development that In the end of the second nine weeks,

teachers will begin using a new lesson plan format (Appendix D) which specifically calls for

focus on the modifications and accommodations that will be given to Pre-AP and GT students

within the classroom. Lesson plans will now include STAAR sentence stems that will be used

throughout lessons in order to best prepare students for the verbs used on the exam. These lesson


plans will be due on Monday morning at 9:00 AM, and will be checked by the Academic Dean

to ensure that they are completely and properly filled out. Throughout the week, the ELAR

department head/Instructional Coach will ensure that the ELAR team is fulfilling the lesson

planning formats, as well as teaching in accordance with the lesson plans by completing walk-

throughs of in class lessons. Along with the Department Head and Instructional Coach

participating in walk-throughs, teachers within the department will complete observations of

fellow ELAR teachers during lessons to gain knowledge and awareness of other writing

instruction methods as well as provide feedback to each other.

In the spring semester, the school will promote use of content and instructional vocabulary in

the classroom. This will be accomplished in multiple ways, including the building of a bulletin

board in the front of the school which includes content and instructional vocabulary that each

core course uses. The words were selected by the department heads of the ELAR, Science,

Mathematics, and Social Studies, and compiled into a list which includes a column for each

content, and a row for instructional vocabulary (Appendix E) During the weekly announcements

which are pre-recorded, uploaded onto the school YouTube page, and played in first period

classes daily, a student will share one of the instructional or content vocabulary words as a

promotion to use the word throughout the week within the classroom. During the first staff

meeting of the semester, the bulletin board and announcements will be introduced to the

teachers.

Beginning with the new 2016 semester, students will submit two writing samples per nine

weeks until the end of the year. The higher writing sample requirement in English class will push

students to complete writing in a timely manner, while participating in writing centers within the

classroom, and annotating and studying the rubrics used to rate the STAAR Writing samples.


Understanding the STAAR Writing Rubrics will prepare students for the expectations set on

them to perform and achieve a passing score on the writing portion of the STAAR Exam.

Table 3.

Evaluation

In order to determine the effectiveness of the action research plan, and to devise next steps or

adjustments to the plan, there will be data collection at the end of the action plan. In January

another Benchmark Exam will be taken by the 7th Grade students, and then in April the students

will take part in the STAAR Exam for Writing. These will be the bulk of the data collected to

determine the means of growth in the Pre-AP and GT student writing scores. Both test scores

will be compared to the prior years’ writing scores, as well as the October Benchmark Exam

scores to show growth. Not only will pass rates be evaluated, but student commended rates will

be included in the evaluation, as the intended outcome is to raise the scores for Pre-AP and GT

students.


Another data set which will be collected includes end of year surveys from the ELAR teacher

team, as well as 7th grade teachers who have taken part in the action research process, as well as a

secondary focus group with the action research committee. The survey will be completed in

April after the STAAR Exams have been taken, and the focus group will commence at the end of

the year in May.

The surveys and focus group will concentrate on inviting the participants to provide feedback

on the addition of professional development for instruction of advanced students, a lesson plan

template that provides specific requirements for differentiation for advanced students, the use of

instructional and content specific vocabulary throughout the contents, and the collection of two

required writing samples for the 7th grade students. Teachers will be asked to respond about

whether these additions had an effect on student progress in Writing, and opinions as to what

other steps should be taken to improve impact on advanced student learning.

Conclusion

This research project could potentially impact the Jackson Middle School campus in a

multitude of ways. Jackson Middle School has pushed over the past several years to bring the

achievement gap to a close between students. The achievement gap is closing, as evident by the

hike in scores for students receiving Special Education services, and ESL services. The area that

is often overlooked, especially at a Title I campus, is the advanced student population. Often left

expected to pass, these students need to have specific interventions put in place to keep them on

track with required gains and engaging rigorous lessons to develop their minds.

The project could also help add to the shortage of recent research on Pre-AP and GT, or

advanced, students, especially those in middle school. Much of the research of late, specifically

focused on writing instruction, is geared towards increasing writing ability for ELL, ESL, and


Special Education students. There is a gap when it comes to specifically addressing the needs of

Pre-AP and GT students.

As a future educational leader, participating in this project will not only help me focus on

all students, including those in Pre-AP and GT courses, but will also allow me to better support

my staff, and maintain a focus on research driven educational decisions. When I work with

teachers who are pursuing a future in administration, and they are developing and participation in

their own versions of action research, with my experience, I can support their endeavors and

provide them with data needed, supplies needed, and provision while they enact their plan.

Pursuing the consistent drive to have a campus built on research and data driven decision making

and lesson planning, will be a huge outcome of the completion of the action research plan.


References

Baker, S., Lesaux, N., Jayanthi, M., Dimino, J., Proctor, C. P., Morris, J., & ... National Center

for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, (. (ED). (2014). Teaching Academic

Content and Literacy to English Learners in Elementary and Middle School. IES

Practice Guide. NCEE 2014-4012. What Works Clearinghouse.

Bui, S., Craig, S., & Imberman, S. (2012). Poor results for high achievers: new evidence on the

impact of gifted and talented programs. Education Next, (1), 70.

Cihak, D. F., & Castle, K. (2011). Improving expository writing skills with explicit and strategy

instructional methods in inclusive middle school classrooms. International Journal of

Special Education, 26(3), 106-113.

Engin, M. (2014). Extending the flipped classroom model: Developing second language writing

skills through student-created digital videos. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and

Learning, 14(5), 12-26.

Gillespie, A., & Graham, S. (2014). A meta-analysis of writing interventions for students.

Exceptional Children, 80(4), 454-473.

Graham, S., Capizzi, A., Harris, K. R., Hebert, M., & Morphy, P. (2014). Teaching writing to

middle school students: A national survey. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary

Journal, 27(6), 1015-1042.

Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (2013). Common core state standards, writing, and students with

LD: Recommendations. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 28(1), 28-37.

Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 (2004). Retrieved from

http://idea.ed.gov/

Jackson Middle School (2013). Campus improvement plan 2013-2014. Retrieved from


http://www.neisd.net/jackson/index.cfm

Jolly, J. L. (2009). A Resuscitation of Gifted Education. American Educational History Journal,

36(1), 37-52.

Jolly, J. L. (2014). Building Gifted Education: One State at a Time. Gifted Child Today, 37(4),

258-260.

Jones, S. R. (2012). Digital access: "Using blogs to support adolescent writers with learning

disabilities”. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 45(2-), 16-23.

Lawrence, J. F., Galloway, E. P., Yim, S., & Lin, A. (2013). Learning to write in middle school.

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 57(2), 151-161.

Lloyd, J. W., & Lloyd, P. A. (2015). Reinforcing success: What Special Education could learn

from its earlier accomplishments. Remedial & Special Education, 36(2), 77-82.

doi:10.1177/0741932514560025

Ornelles, C., & Black, R. S. (2012). Using invitational learning to address writing competence

for middle school students with disabilities. Journal of Invitational Theory and Practice,

1826-36.

Peterson-Karlan, G. R. (2011). Technology to support writing by students with learning and

academic disabilities: Recent research trends and findings. Assistive Technology

Outcomes and Benefits, 7(1), 39-62.

Texas Education Agency (2013). Texas Academic Performance Report 2012-2013. Retrieved

from http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/cgi/sas/broker

Texas Education Agency (2014). Texas academic performance report 2013-2014. Retrieved from

http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/cgi/sas/broker

http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/cgi/sas/broker


Texas Education Code, Retrieved from

http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/ED/htm/ED.29.htm#29.002

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http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48/4865000.html

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Appendix A

Heat Ticket

Appendix B


Survey

Survey: Pre-AP Student Success on STAAR Writing ExamsSubject and grade level taught:

Number of years’ experience teaching:

o 1-5o 6-10o 11-15o 16-20o 20 +

Pre-AP students are successful in mastering English TEKS1 2 3 4 5

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

Pre-AP students are successful on the STAAR Writing Exam1 2 3 4 5

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

I can effectively engage my Pre-AP students in rigorous lessons.1 2 3 4 5

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

I have enough training in the education process of Pre-AP or advanced students.

1 2 3 4 5

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

I have adequate time to meet with my students individually to work on writing instruction.*writing throughout contents*

1 2 3 4 5

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree


There is adequate time in my schedule to plan and prepare modification and accommodations for my Pre-AP students.

1 2 3 4 5

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

Pre-AP students are given equal amount of attention and time as other populations (Special Education, Economically Disadvantaged, ELL, etc.) at my campus.

1 2 3 4 5

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

I use writing strategies (such as mentor texts, annotation, graphic organizers, peer editing, etc) when teaching my students how to write.

1 2 3 4 5

Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

Please share any other thoughts you have regarding Pre-AP student success on the STAAR Writing Exam:


Appendix C

Focus Group Protocol

Brief Introduction: Thank you so much for taking time to participate in this focus group

on Jackson Middle School, here in San Antonio, Texas. My name is Christy Zamarron, and I am

a 7th grade English, Language Arts, & Reading teacher at Jackson, as well as a student at Texas

State University, studying for my Master’s in Education. I am looking to gain some insight from

teachers about the education and preparation in English Language Arts & Reading for Pre-AP

and GT students at Jackson Middle School. If everyone could introduce yourself and your

relation to the school.

I am going to ask a series of questions that are focused on Pre-AP and GT education at

Jackson Middle School. The conversation will be recorded. Feel free to answer openly, and

discuss with each other responses. The entire focus group will take 45 minutes.

1. How do you feel Jackson Middle School supports and educates student in regards to their

special education paperwork requirements?

2. What does Jackson Middle School do to prepare students for life in and after high school?

3. What special accommodations do teachers use to support advanced learners in the classroom?

4. How could Jackson Middle School improve what they are doing to prepare students for high

school and life after high school?


5. Do you believe that the English department is doing an adequate job at developing students’

writing and reading skills?

a. Do you believe students will be prepared for the STAAR Reading and Writing

Exams?

b. Do you believe that focusing lessons on benchmark data will help enhance the scores

of Pre-AP and GT students?

5. Who is responsible for the education of students?

6. What reading and writing skills could your students improve on?

7. Do you believe that STAAR scores are a representation of your student’s knowledge?

a. What could the school do better in terms of including you in the education of students?

8. What resources do Pre-AP and GT students have that students in regular courses do not have?

9. Anything else you would like to share about the education of Pre-AP or GT students?


Appendix D

Lesson Plan Template

Date Standards Learning Target/Learning Goals (What actions are happening today?)

DayDate

# Days in unit

Content: TEKS

Process:

Language/ELPS: English Language Proficiency Standards

CCRS: Career and College Readiness Standard

What does the data say?: Use data from Campus Heat Ticket

LT/G: Learning Target

Stimulus:

Thinking:

Essential Question:

Plan (Beginning to End of Period/Timeframe) /Strategies:

Assessment / Sample Questions: From STAAR Question Stems

Common Assessment Date:

Evidence of Learning / Check for Understanding:

Homework:

Differentiation ESL:Differentiation 504: Differentiation SpEd:Differentiation Pre-AP/GT:


Appendix E

Content and Instructional Vocabulary

Instructional Vocabulary Cross Content Vocabulary

synthesizeparaphrasepredictanalyze

determineexplaincomparecontrast

provideemphasizeinferclarify

categorizesequenceinterpret

Content Specific VocabularyELAR Math Science Social Studies

influencesummarizegenreauthorcause and effectfigurative lang.concludecharacteristicword choicethemetonetextual evidenceconcludesupportdraftrevisionedittransition

applyextendevaluatepredictproportionalreasonableestimateapproximaterandomprobabilitysubstitutejustifyqualitativequantitativesimilaritycomposite figuresassetsliabilities

recognizediagramvariationorganismbehaviorfunctiongeneticelementchargechemicalreactioncharacteristicpropertiessubstanceenergy

populationcultureheritagegovernmentsupply demandeconomyproblem/solutioncause/effectcompare/contrastgeneralizePEGS (political, economic, geographic, social)

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