Research Proposal on "Block Scheduling JOHNSO62"

Quoted Instructions for "Block Scheduling JOHNSO62" Assignment:

Use correlational research methodologies

Instructions and requirements of proposal:

The research proposal is a hypothetical experiment. (You will not necessarily complete your study during the course of this session).

Threats to internal validity are found in Chapter 9: Internal Validity. Note: There are no subject characteristic threats in this particular design that not accounted for by the design. The twelve threats to validity are listed along with the twelve designs on page 283 in Chapter Thirteen. These are fully explained in Chapter Nine. Internal validity refers to the possibility that some other hypothesis might account for the changes in the treatment or intervention group. *****Stated differently, internal validity means that observed differences on the dependent variable are directly related to the independent variable, and not due to some other unintended variable***** (p. 179).

The research proposal is a detailed plan written in the future tense and using third person pronouns (No *****I***** etc.) It is intended to provide information to anyone monitoring the research and to permit replication of the research. It is also a tool for brainstorming and clarifying the experiment to prevent problems.

The sections of the research proposal are explained in Chapter 24, pp. 595-601. A sample research proposal is also included in Chapter 24. Keep in mind that this is just a sample and the text is single spaced to conserve text space. See APA manual for spacing requirements.

SEE SAMPLE TABLE OF CONTENTS ON NEXT PAGE!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introductory section (No heading)

Title Page (With Running Head and page header)

Table of Contents

Main Body (Intro statement with no header)

I. Problem to be investigated (Level 1 heading)

A. Purpose of the study (including assumptions) Level 3 heading for A-E

B. Justification of the study

C. Research question and null hypothesis

D. Definition of Terms

E. Brief overview of the study

II. Background and review of related literature (Level 1 heading)

A. Theory, if appropriate (Level 3 heading A-C)

B. Studies directly related

C. Studies tangentially related

III. Procedures (Level 1 heading)

A. Description of the research design (Level 3 heading A-F)

B. Description of the sample

C. Description of the instruments used (scoring procedures; reliability; validity)

D. Explanation of the procedures followed (the what, when, where, and how of the study)

E. Discussion of internal validity

F. Discussion of external validity

References

Appendices (Level 1)

A. Consent form (Level 3)

B. Permission to conduct the study (Level 3)

C. Instrument (if available, or an explanation of what the researcher-constructed instrument will include and the scoring method) (Level 3)

Proposal Requirements

Related literature should be from peer-reviewed journals of recognizable merit and scholarship. There are a number of journals that furnish opinions; do not rely on these. Also, beware of using secondary sources. Do not use any material from digests as references; you may use these for general information only. If the material is cited in the paper, it must match the list of references and the articles you include.

Sample Research Proposal

READING STRATEGIES FOR LOW ACHIEVING STUDENTS

The Effects of Coaching Low Achieving Middle Grades Students in Reading Strategies

(Insert Your Name)

University of West Alabama

Dr. Laura Grounsell, Professor

ED-504 ***** Techniques of Educational Research

University of West Alabama

Livingston, Alabama

(Date)

Abstract

This study investigates the problem of whether or not coaching low achieving middle grades students in reading strategies will result in an increase in reading comprehension. The strategies are: text comprehension using frame of reference/background knowledge, predicting, and use of anticipation guides. Answering this research question will directly impact student success in schools. The experimental research design uses quantitative methodology with a randomized pretest/posttest control group. The purposive sample will be taken from the population of sixth grade students enrolled in LMS with a GPA of 2.0 or below.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Problem to be investigated 4

A. Purpose of the study 4

B. Justification of the study 4-5

C. Research question and null hypothesis 5

D. Definition of Terms 5-6

E. Brief overview of the study 6

II. Background and review of related literature 7-10

A. Theory 7

B. Studies directly related 7-10

III. Procedures 10

A. Description of the research design 10

B. Description of the sample 11

C. Description of the instruments used 11-12

D. Explanation of the procedures followed 12-13

E. Discussion of internal validity 13-14

F. Discussion of external validity 14

References 11-12

Appendices 32-33

A. Consent form (not applicable) 0

B. Permission to conduct the study 15

C. Instrument 16-31

An ever-increasing population of struggling middle grades readers is emerging. Without specific strategies in place to counteract this problem, student performance across content areas will continue to deteriorate. The experimental design of this study seeks to determine the effectiveness of three specific reading comprehension strategies, by supporting the hypothesis that coaching low achieving middle grades students in reading strategies will result in an increase in reading comprehension. By combining some of the most successful strategies employed in previous research efforts, this study seeks to develop a comprehensive method of instruction to be used by teachers in all content areas to address struggling readers comprehension levels to bridge the existing disparities among readers.

Problem to be investigated

This study investigates the problem of whether or not coaching low achieving middle grades students in reading strategies will result in an increase in reading comprehension.

Purpose of the Study

The study*****s purpose is to determine if students***** reading comprehension levels are increased as a result of receiving coaching in three specific reading strategies: text comprehension using frame of reference/background knowledge, predicting, and use of anticipation guides. It is assumed if the study is proven effective, teachers could implement the coaching strategies in content area classrooms without the need for separate reading classrooms at the secondary level; thereby closing the increasing gap among proficient readers and low achievers.

Justification of the study

Reading is a fundamental skill central to daily life and comprehension of materials read is essential for the overall functioning of society. Answering the study*****s research question will directly impact student success in schools. Students struggle with minimal reading skills, as evidenced by students***** CRCT scores, which affects their success across all content areas, often resulting in a grade point average of 2.0 or below. Assessing the effectiveness of specific coaching strategies will improve the educational practice of teachers and directly impact the academic success of students.

Research question and null hypothesis

The research question is: Does coaching low achieving middle grades students in reading strategies result in an increase in reading comprehension? The null hypothesis is: Coaching low achieving middle grades students in reading strategies will result in an increase in reading comprehension. The hypothesis suggests a relationship between the dependent variable comprehension level, and the independent variable coaching in reading strategies.

Definition of Terms

Constitutive Definitions, as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary (1985):

*****¢ Low ***** below an average or standard

*****¢ Achievement ***** to accomplish something successfully

*****¢ Middle ***** designating a division between an earlier and a later division

*****¢ Grade ***** a class or the pupils in it

*****¢ Student ***** one who attends a school

*****¢ Reading ***** the act or practice of a reader

*****¢ Strategy ***** a plan of action resulting from the practice of strategy

*****¢ Comprehension ***** to grasp mentally; understand or know

Operational Definitions:

*****¢ Low achievers (achieving) will be defined as students functioning in a reduced capacity and/or *****ability to demonstrate accomplishment of some outcome for which learning experiences were designed,***** (Arizona State University, 2006) with a grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 or below, and will not include students receiving special services.

*****¢ Middle grades students will be defined as students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

*****¢ Reading strategies will be defined as *****techniques used to help students achieve their literacy***** (Tennessee State Board of Education, 2001).

*****¢ Reading comprehension will be defined as *****understanding a text that is read, or the process of *****"constructing meaning*****" from a text***** (The Partnership for Reading, 2001).

Brief Overview of the Study:

The research will support the hypothesis ***** Coaching low achieving middle grades students in reading strategies will result in an increase in reading comprehension. The research will occur over a period of two consecutive nine-week terms of the academic school year at Loganville Middle School (LMS) in Walton County, Georgia. The purposive sample will be taken from the population of sixth grade students enrolled in LMS with a GPA of 2.0 or below. Using two groups of no less than 30 subjects in each, the resulting subjects will be placed in the groups by employing random assignment. The study will be conducted in sixth-grade Language Arts classrooms at LMS. The treatment group and control group will be administered a pretest during the same time at the onset of the first 9 weeks to measure students***** reading comprehension level. Thereafter, the treatment group will receive coaching in the following reading strategies: text comprehension using frame of reference/background knowledge, predicting, and use of anticipation guides. The control group will receive no coaching in the reading strategies. At the completion of the second 9 weeks, the treatment group and the control group will be administered a posttest during the same time to measure students***** reading comprehension level.

Background and Review of Related Literature

Theory

The demands from general education classrooms to read and learn from text are substantial. (Klingner, Vaughn, Arguelles, Hughes, and Leftwich, 2004, 292) Struggling middle grades readers are often viewed as low achievers and as deficient in cognitive competencies including reading comprehension. Guthrie and Davis (2003, 60) sought to explain struggling student*****s lack of motivation in reading and found that these struggling students are externally motivated by teacher expectations and grades, and find little internal motivation to read for their own fulfillment. A formidable problem for today*****s educators then is ensuring students grasp the complex task of comprehending what one has read, and then being able to apply that knowledge in content areas.

Studies directly related

Learning to read is a primary focus in elementary school, whereas students entering the secondary level phase of their academic careers are often faced with the harsh reality of being on their own when it comes to being a struggling reader. Snow*****s (2002, 6) research of reading for understanding revealed that *****Content area teachers presuppose adequate literacy skills among their students and they are typically not well prepared to teach students with below-average literacy skills. At the same time, specific reading comprehension tasks must be mastered in the context of specific subject matter.***** Much research exists on effective literacy strategies including comprehension, as evidenced by The National Reading Panel Report (NICHD, 2000), in which after an extensive review of literature, the panel determined an abundance of research exists supporting that middle grades students are capable of learning the use of strategies, which increases their comprehension. As Kozen, Murray, and Windell (2006, 196) aptly explained in their study using and adapting anticipation guides, struggling readers may need to be taught specific strategies to employ when they encounter reading comprehension difficulties, especially in middle grades where focus is on content and not on addressing reading deficiencies.

*****In the absence of explicit instruction, many middle school struggling readers cannot learn the comprehension strategies needed for their content learning***** (Guthrie and Davis, 2003, 66). Three effective strategies for addressing reading comprehension struggles across content areas for low achieving middle grades students are: text comprehension using frame of reference/background knowledge, predicting, and use of anticipation guides.

The first strategy considered is text comprehension using frame of reference/background knowledge. Taylor, Pearson, Peterson, and Rodriguez (2003, 6) established in their study of the influence of teacher practices in literacy learning, *****when students are engaged in higher-level thinking about text, they are making connections to their prior knowledge, considering thematic elements of the text, interpreting characters***** motives and actions, and so on***** (Taylor, Pearson, Peterson and Rodriguez, 2003, 6). Zygouris-Coe, Wiggins, and Smith (2005, 381 & 383) affirmed that the goal of maximizing student*****s interaction with the text can be achieved by drawing on prior knowledge. Successful readers use existing knowledge to decipher information being presented. The greater the student*****s involvement with the text, the more likely comprehension will take place.

A second strategy for improving reading comprehension is predicting. Predicting is essential, as Greenway (2002) noted in her intervention to improve reading comprehension study because,

The very process of stating the main idea of what you have read and asking questions of clarification, interpretation and prediction are seen both to improve comprehension and to permit students to monitor their own understanding. For example, summarising the main idea of a paragraph of text helps students to not

only connect what they already know to this piece of text, but also to predict what might happen in the next paragraph and how to generalise the ability to summarise the next paragraph to check their prediction. (p. 114)

Shippen, Houchins, Steventon, and Sartor (2005, 176) determined in their study of a comparison of two, direct instruction, reading programs that student*****s inability to draw on predicting skills must be counteracted by employing precise instructional strategies. *****Effective readers make predictions about what they are reading, figure out the meanings of unknown words in context, reread sentences or passages for understanding, and self-monitor their comprehension (Pressley, Roehrig, Bogner, Raphael, & Dolezal, 2002)***** (Shippen, Houchins, Steventon, and Sartor, 2005, 176).

Finally, the third strategy is a pre-reading technique involving the use of anticipation guides that can be used across content settings. An anticipation guide can be effective in promoting decoding skills, enhancing word meaning, and strengthening comprehension. In addition, as students move through statements, they use prediction, controversy, and activation of prior knowledge about the topic as motivational devices to get them involved in the material they will later read.

Once students complete a reading assignment, they may choose to uphold or alter their initial thoughts about the passage. At this stage of the reading process students begin to *****develop or enrich their vocabulary, increase their comprehension of more difficult material, and practice using higher order thinking skills***** (Kozen, Murray, and Windell, 2006, 196). An anticipation guide is one way to accomplish the demands on students at the middle-school level, as *****it is imperative that students read to understand the material and read to learn and remember.***** (Lipson & Wixson, 1997) The anticipation guide is a culmination of all three strategies, as it encompasses the skills of: prediction, acknowledging students***** knowledge about a topic/personal experience, and serves as an excellent resource for students encountering difficulties with content comprehension. (Kozen, Murray, and Windell, 2006, 199)

A review of the literature indicates that in order to meet the increasing demands of the content areas in general education classrooms, specific reading strategies must be employed to serve the struggling middle grades reader. Attention must be paid to the changing environment faced by the student exiting the elementary setting and entering the middle grades setting. In order to succeed in the more challenging environment, struggling readers must receive explicit instruction in effective strategies such as, text comprehension using frame of reference/background knowledge, predicting, and use of anticipation guides. Children will take personal responsibility for their education when they learn to pursue their own inquiries, expand ideas and reflection, and develop individual strategies allowing them to read without assistance. (Jacobsen, Bonds, Medders, Saenz, Stasch, and Sullivan, 2002, 158)

Procedures

Description of the Research Design

The design will use an experimental randomized pretest/posttest control group design to test effectiveness of whether coaching students in specific reading strategies results in an increase in comprehension level. To determine the effectiveness of the design, participants in the control group and the treatment group will receive an identical multiple-choice pretest/posttest of the released edition of the 2001 Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) ***** Reading Content Pretest/Posttest Form #046. Students will record their individual responses on a Scantron sheet.

Description of the Sample

The purposive sample will be taken from the population of sixth grade students enrolled in LMS with a GPA of 2.0 or below. The study*****s intended sample consists of two groups of 30 subjects each of sixth grade students enrolled in Loganville Middle School (LMS) with a grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 or below, and who do not receive special services. The demographics of the sample will include students with an age range of 11 ***** 12 years old, with a gender representation of 50% boys and 50% girls. Ethnicities will be represented as follows: 86% Caucasian and 14% minorities to include equal representation of Hispanic, Asian, and African American, to remain consist with the school*****s demographics. The study will take place in 6th grade Language Arts classrooms at LMS. Twenty-two percent of the sample will represent students who are eligible for free/reduced meals. The control group and the treatment group will each consist of 30 subjects that will be randomly assigned to each group. The sample will be obtained by querying a report printout of 6th grade students enrolled at LMS with a GPA of 2.0 or below. Removing names of the subjects from all data collection forms and assigning a number to each subject will ensure confidentiality.

Description of the Instrument Used

The type of instrument to be used to measure the variables in the study is a subject-completed instrument: written-response. This study will use an existing instrument: the released edition of the 2001 Criterion-Referenced Competency Test ***** Reading Content Pretest/Posttest Form #046. In response to the No Child Left Behind legislation, Georgia combined Reading and Language Arts into one test. This increased the validity of the CRCT assessments for Georgia and provided an increase in the reliability of the CRCT results. Tests with more items garner more reliability than tests with fewer items. (State of Georgia Consolidated State Application Accountability Workbook, 2003, 58) The research plan is set up so that the researcher can use the test-retest method, inasmuch as the pre-test and posttest will be administered in a relatively short timeframe of one another. To ensure reliability and validity of results obtained with these instruments, the researcher will administer the retest in a timely fashion, so no egregious lapse of time occurs to lower reliability and validity of the results. To ensure internal consistency, the split-half procedure will be used to determine the degree in which the instrument measures results consistently. Reliability will be checked over time by using equivalent forms/retests with a time interval in between. Evidence supports the validity of the instrument, in that the CRCT has been developed by experts and approved by the State*****s legislators. Scoring of individual student responses will be tabulated using a Scantron scoring machine to evaluate the responses on the Scantron sheets.

Explanation of the Procedures Followed

Group 1 (non-treatment group) and Group 2 (treatment group) were randomly assigned based on the criteria of the demographics of the study and possessing a GPA of 2.0 or below, and who do not receive special services. Group 1 consists of 30 students, 15 boys and 15 girls. Group 1 will receive regular classroom instruction in Language Arts ***** that is, Group 1 will not receive coaching in specific reading strategies during the two consecutive nine-week terms of the study. Group 2 will not be advised that they are in a treatment group, but will receive direct coaching in specific reading strategies.

Day One ***** Group 2 will be administered the pretest and will record their responses on the Scantron sheets provided to them by their Teacher.

Day Two ***** End of Week Three ***** Group 2 will receive coaching in text comprehension using frame of reference/background knowledge. In addition to coaching, the Teacher will model the skill by reading a passage and relating his/her understanding based on personal frame of reference/background knowledge. Students will then read passages in their literature book and additional materials provided by the Teacher to practice the current skill.

Day One of Week Four ***** End of Week Six ***** Group 2 will receive coaching in predicting. Again, in addition to coaching, the Teacher will model the skill by reading a passage and then predicting what will happen next based on the passage. Students will then read passages in their literature book and/or listen to a story read aloud by the Teacher to practice the skill of predicting.

Day One of Week Seven ***** Thursday of Week Nine ***** Group 2 will receive coaching in a pre-reading technique that involves the use of anticipation guides. Concurrently with coaching, the Teacher will model how to use an anticipation guide. Students will then fill in the blanks and/or answer questions to complete an anticipation guide as they listen to or read a passage provided by the Teacher.

Final Day of Week Nine ***** Group 2 will be administered the posttest and will record their responses on the Scantron sheets provided to them by their Teacher.

Discussion of Internal Validity

A potential threat to the internal validity of this study is data collector bias. The observer has knowledge of teacher expectations affecting quantity and type of observed behaviors of a class. This will be controlled by standardizing all procedures, which will require training of the data collectors and ensuring the data collectors lack the information they would need to distort result evaluation (planned ignorance).

Attitude of the Subjects, or Hawthorne effect, is a potential threat because improvements may occur because the treatment group is under the impression they are receiving special treatment, rather than the treatment itself causing the improvement. This will be controlled by not announcing that the instruction is part of research being conducted.

The final potential threat is the subjects characteristics, or attitude. When working with two or more characteristics of individuals, the possibility exists that other characteristics may be the actual cause of any differences measure. This will be controlled by performing the statistical technique know as partial correlation.

Discussion of External Validity

External validity will be generalized to the accessible population of all 6th grade students enrolled in LMS with a GPA of 2.0 or below, who are not receiving special services and to the target population of low achieving middle grades students in Georgia. The sample may not be representative of all middle school students in the state of Georgia with regard to gender, ethnicity, and or socioeconomic status (as defined by eligibility to receive free/reduced meals) Ecological validity cannot be generalized because LMS is a rural school with a low minority population and is unlikely to be representative of urban and/or suburban school environments and may not generalize to other conditions present across all settings.

APPENDIX A

Loganville Middle School

Dr. Eugene Williams, Principal

152 Clark McCullers Road

Loganville, Georgia 30052

770-466-0713

August 13, 2006

Dr. Tim Lull, Superintendent

Walton County Board Of Education

200 Double Springs Church Road

Monroe, Georgia 30656

Dear Dr. Lull,

The Counseling Department of Loganville Middle School would like to conduct a research study of the effectiveness of coaching specific reading strategies to 6th grade students at LMS with a grade point average of 2.0 or below, who are not receiving special services. The results of this study will improve the educational practice of teachers and directly impact the academic success of students. The study will take place from October 1, 2006 to December 31, 2006. It will be conducted by Mrs. ( ), our School Counselor.

I have reviewed this research study and feel that it is a very worthwhile endeavor for our students and school. Please review the enclosed information in order to make a decision concerning our schools ability to conduct this research. A consent form has not been included because the students will not be aware they are part of a study, and no potential harm exists.

Sincerely,

E. Williams

Principal

APPENDIX B

This study will use an existing instrument: the released edition of the 2001 Criterion-Referenced Competency Test ***** Reading Content Pretest/Posttest Form #046. In response to the No Child Left Behind legislation, Georgia combined Reading and Language Arts into one test. This increased the validity of the CRCT assessments for Georgia and provided an increase in the reliability of the CRCT results. Tests with more items garner more reliability than tests with fewer items. (State of Georgia Consolidated State Application Accountability Workbook, 2003, 58)

References

Arizona State University and the Arizona Board of Regents. (2006, February 2). Retrieved June

17, 2006, from http://artswork.asu.edu/arts/teachers/assessment/glossary.htm

English/Language Arts Curriculum Standards, Approved by the Tennessee State Board Of Education. (2001, August 31). Retrieved June 17, 2006, from www.state.tn.us/education/ci/cistandards2001/la/cilaglossary.htm

Georgia Department of Education. (2002). Georgia Criterion-Referenced Competency Test Released Test Form Reading Content Pretest/Posttest Form 046. 1-19.

Greenway, C. (2002). The process, pitfalls and benefits of implementing a reciprocal teaching intervention to improve the reading comprehension of a group of year 6 pupils. Educational Psychology in Practice, 18(2), 114.

Guthrie, J. T., & Davis, M. H. (2003). Motivating struggling readers in middle school through an engagement model of classroom practice. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 19, 60-66.

Jacobsen, C., Bonds, M., Medders, K., Saenz, C., Stasch, K., & Sullivan, J. (2002). An intersession model for accelerated literacy learning. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 18,

158.

Klingner, J. K., Vaughn, S., Arguelles, M. E., Hughes, M. T., & Leftwich, S. A. (2004). Collaborative strategic reading: Real world lessons from classroom teachers. Remedial and Special Education, 25(5), 292.

Kozen, A. A., Murray, R. K., & Windell, I. (2006). Increasing all students***** chance to achieve: Using and adapting anticipation guides with middle school learners. Intervention in

School and Clinic, 41(4), 196-199.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the

scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Shippen, M. E., Houchins, D. E., Steventon, C., & Sartor, D. (2005). A comparison of two direct instruction reading programs for urban middle school students. Remedial and Special Education, 26(3), 176.

Snow, C. (2002). Reading for understanding: Toward and R & D program in reading comprehension. (p. 6). Santa Monica, CA: RAND.

Taylor, B. M., Pearson, P. D., Peterson, D. S., & Rodriguez, M. C. (2003). Reading growth in

high-poverty classrooms: The influence of teacher practices that encourage cognitive

engagement in literacy learning. The Elementary School Journal, 104(1), 6.

The American Heritage Dictionary. (1985). (2nd College Edition). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

The Partnership for Reading. (2001). Retrieved June 17, 2006, from

www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/adult_reading/glossary/glossary.html

United States Department of Education. (2003). State of Georgia Consolidated State Application Accountability Workbook. 58. Retrieved July 23, 2006, from http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/_documents/support/plan/ayp_app.pdf

Zygouris-Coe, V., Wiggins, M. B., & Smith, L. H. (2005). Engaging students with text: The

3-2-1 strategy. The Reading Teacher, 58(4), 381-383.

*****