Research proposal presentation

1. *High School
Students’
Perceptions on
Readiness for
Standardized Test
Writing
Assessments

2. *Because writing is assessed on standardized
exams, students should feel prepared to approach
writing tasks.
*Some students vocalize that they are ill prepared
for standardized writing assessments after testing.
*Analyzing students’ perceptions on writing
readiness will help teachers improve writing
instruction.

3. *To what degree do high school students feel
prepared to perform well on standardized writing
assessments?
*Analysis of responses might help:
oIncrease students’ self-efficacy
oImprove instruction
oDrive curriculum changes

4. 1. Barnes and Slate- Defines college readiness and
explores differences between college readiness and
academic preparedness.
2. Barnes-Examines political implications of college
readiness and provides critical analysis of readiness
expectations that drive secondary school curriculum.
3. Kless, Soland, and Santiago-Research exploring
college readiness resulted in development of tri-level
college readiness indicator system

5. 4. Applebee and Langer, 2009-Teachers’ and
students’ perceptions of curriculum and
instruction led to determination that English
teachers need to address gaps between high
school and college writing.
5. Chapman, 2006-Students’ perceptions of
literacy learning concluded that more
university/high school partnerships are needed to
increase college-readiness.

6. 6. Jones, 2007-Study of three successful high
school teachers from an urban, culturally diverse
school are studied to identify trends in their
instruction.
7. Radcliffe and Bos, 2013-Experimental study
identifies college and career readiness goals and
strategies that result in improvement of academic
perception and development of stronger
perseverance in high school.

7. *Research will be conducted in the convergent
mixed-methods approach via a survey.
*Quantitative data will be collected non-
experimentally with 7 Likert-type survey questions.
*Qualitative data will be gathered through 3
open-ended written interview questions, which
follows grounded theory design.

8. *Theoretical sampling will be used to select
participants who represent typical and atypical
eleventh grade students in a metropolitan public
school setting.
*The sample size will be 100 students.

9. *A survey will be the measurement
instrument for this research.
*To insure validity and validity of the
measurement instrument, we will
conduct pilot tests on colleagues.

10. I am able to communicate effectively in writing.
1 2 3 4 5
In general, I have a clear idea of what my teachers require for a
writing assignment.
1 2 3 4 5
I can make an outline for an essay, which includes a thesis, key
ideas, and supporting statements.
1 2 3 4 5
I am comfortable with my command of English grammar,
punctuation, and spelling.
1 2 3 4 5
My teachers provide me with detailed feedback on how to
improve my writing skills.
1 2 3 4 5
My teachers provide 3-4 opportunities per week to practice my
writing skills.
1 2 3 4 5
My teachers allow peer review for writing assignments.
1 2 3 4 5

11. * On a grading scale of A-F, A being excellent and F being unsatisfactory, how would
you grade your overall writing skills?
Circle one: A B C D E
* Why did you select the grade you circled above?
________________________________________________________________________
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* What do you believe are the characteristics of effective writing?
________________________________________________________________________
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* If you were given a writing prompt and 60 minutes to draft an essay, would you be
able to draft a response you would consider effective? Why or why not?
________________________________________________________________________
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12. *Quantitative data will be analyzed according to
descriptive design to determine percentage of
student agreement or disagreement with each
survey item.
*Qualitative data will be analyzed to develop a
theory about how instruction could better address
students’ writing development needs.
*This approach will create triangulation of the data.

13. *External validity of the research could be an issue
as students from other schools could have
differing perceptions about their writing abilities.
*Because students will be selected randomly,
students could be enrolled in regular, honors, or
AP English classes and this phenomenon could
influence responses.

14. *Results from the research could help an English
department implement writing interventions to
help improve students writing skills.
*Students’ reflections could help teachers focus
their instruction of writing in areas students
identified as needing improvement.