Action Research conducted during the Spring 2012 semester at Mill Creek High School. Presented to Georgia Gwinnett College students of the College of Education as part of their senior capstone seminar on 30 April 2012.

1. SETTING THE STARTING LINE
Ensuring a common background knowledge
utilizing in-class action research interventions using
individualized differentiation of a core body of
knowledge via student autonomy, online guided
practice and formative assessment.
Catherine Horton Flippen
For Mill Creek High School Action Research projects

2. ABOUT ME:
CATHERINE H FLIPPEN
 Professional Secondary Educator
 Seven years in education
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 Peachtree Ridge High, Mill Creek High
 One year in Virginia: Charlottesville High
 Educational Technology Evangelist
 Follow me on Twitter: @CatFlippen
 Digital Footprint: About.Me/CatFlippen
 Doctoral Student at the University of Florida
 Curriculum and Instruction/Educational Technology

3. THE PROBLEM

4. TARGET GROUP
 Three second-semester Spanish 1 classes
 1st Period: 30 Students
 3rd Period: 31 Students
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 6th Period: 28 Students
 All students new to me as their teacher
 Students by grade level:
 9th : 39
 10th : 28
 11th : 21
 12th : 1

5. A “COMMON” PROBLEM
 Previously, four different Spanish 1 teachers
 After the pre-test, apparent that all students…
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 Had stronger with different topics depending on previous
teacher‟s emphasis
 Might have forgotten some of the more difficult aspects of
Spanish.
 After trying to start new chapter, students varied so
widely that new material could not be properly introduced
and practiced yet.
 Intervention needed to be applied in order to assure
success for ALL students.

6. GOALS

7. GOALS
 Use high quality research-based strategies to “re-
teach” specific topics
 Provide individualized interventions via a variety of
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reinforcement
 Frequent use of formative assessments with
immediate feedback to show both teacher and
student where student struggles so teacher can
continue to apply effective interventions
 Conduct the majority of all above methods using
technological means

8. EXPECTATIONS

9. EXPECTATIONS
 Goal #1: All students show proficiency with average
formative assessment grade 88 or higher on the
following topics from 1st semester:
 -AR verb conjugations
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 -ER/-IR conjugations
 Gender agreement
 „Ser‟ versus „Estar‟ usage
 Uses of me/te/le gusta(n)
 „Tema 1‟ vocabulary usage
 Goal #2: Same pre-test re-administered with average
class grade of 88 or higher to illustrate group mastery

10. IMPLEMENTATION

11. IMPLEMENTATION OVERVIEW
 Two weeks (14 days) of intensive study, reinforcement,
and frequent formative assessments
 3 – 4 formative assessments each week
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 No more than 10-15 minutes each
 All administered online for immediate feedback
 Student able to retake formative assessment within
a 24-hour period
 Post-test administered online on the first day (Day 15)
after the time period.

12. HIGH QUALITY STANDARDS
 Standards and research-based strategies used in the
intervention methodology include:
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 Modeling& Practice
 Differentiation
 Technology
 Assessment with Feedback

13. INTERVENTION #1:
INDIVIDUALIZED GUIDED PRACTICE
 Following lessons featuring presentation and
modeling of the topic, students were given a variety of
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reinforcement activities provided via technology
(internet), including:
 Wordchamp
 Quizlet
 Quia
 Memrise
 Textbook Companion Website
 Students had a choice as to which practices to
complete according to personal preference, providing
differentiation and learner autonomy.

14. INTERVENTION #2:
ASSESSMENT WITH FEEDBACK
 Almost daily formative assessment provided via
technology (internet)
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 Summative assessment with instant feedback as
well via technology (internet)
 With all assessments, students were able to view
itemized immediate feedback after submission to
see in which areas they were correct or incorrect
and, thusly, students discovered in what areas they
needed to practice more.

15. DATA COLLECTION

16. MEASUREMENTS OF SUCCESS
 Reinforcement / Guided Practice Online:
 Differentiation: A variety of practices and reinforcement was
provided with specific instruction for each
 Student autonomy: Students had the ability to select their
preferred method of practice each day, making the practice more
important to the student
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 Practice will be graded upon varying factors including
achievement, time, and submission guidelines
 Formative Assessments:
 Featuring immediate feedback detailing question subject, student
answer and correct answer (if applicable)
 Occurring 8 of the 10 days, available toward the end of each class
and taken at the student‟s discretion
 Summative Pre-test and Post-test:
 60-question assessment modeled after selections from the first
semester final exam given within the first week of second semester
and analyzing by question for each student and topic
 Post-test is the same assessment to be analyzed in a similar
fashion

17. REINFORCEMENT / GUIDED PRACTICE
ACTIVITY COMPLETION
 Monitored daily for completion of requirements
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 Counted as a daily classwork grade
 Assignment (depending on method chosen by student)
posted via Edmodo (socially-oriented Learning
Management System)
 Ex: Quia: Complete 2/3 Ser versus Estar Java activities plus
a Hangman challenge and the Columns conjugations
 Ex: Wordchamp: Completely 3 sets of practice activities,
including ser versus estar conjugations and usages
 Upon completion, submission of completion statement
required for teacher to grade completion

18. REINFORCEMENT / GUIDED PRACTICE
ACTIVITY COMPLETION
1st Practice 8th Activity
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Word Word
Champ Champ
Quizlet Quizlet
Quia Quia
Memrise Memrise
Text Site Text Site

19. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT WITH FEEDBACK
 Via Quia, data
collected and
examined for each
individual student and
question as well as the
whole target group and
the whole assessment
 Student receives
scores instantly and
know where he/she
struggles right away.
 Example data: Quiz on
Ser versus Estar

20. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT WITH FEEDBACK
 Data collected after eight formative assessments
given in the two-week time span:
Target Group Average Quizes 6-8 per Class Period
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 Quiz 1: 66% 95
 Quiz 2: 78% 90
 Quiz 3: 76%
85
 Quiz 4: 81%
 Quiz 5: 86% 80 Quiz 6
Quiz 7
 Quiz 6: 83%
75 Quiz 8
 Quiz 7: 87%
70
 Quiz 8: 89%
 Overall: 80.75%

21. PRE-TEST & POST-TEST
 60 questions that covered previously learned
material from 1st semester of Spanish 1.
 Conducted via Quia (on-line assessment/practice website)
 Data collection for average of entire class and of each
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student as well as per-question for student and per-
question for class
 Data showed:
 Material from Introductory chapter „Para Empezar‟
sufficiently understood by the majority
 Content from „Tema 1” not sufficiently mastered and in
need of review
 Content from Chapters 2 and 3 strong in vocabulary but
very weak mastery in grammatical concepts
 Post-test was the same test as Pre-test.

22. PRE-TEST TO POST-TEST RESULTS

23. Pre-Test to Post-Test Comparison
Post-Test
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Class Average
Pre-Test
65 70 75 80 85 90

24. RESULTS

25. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS
 Goal: All students show proficiency
with average formative assessment
grade 88 or higher
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 Actual: 80.75%
 Conclusion: While the goal was not met, the class
average per formative assessment was shown to
increase positively with each new formative
assessment.

26. POST-TEST
 Goal: Pre-test re-administered with
average class grade of 88% or higher to
illustrate group mastery
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 Actual: 87.71%
 Conclusion: Wow! Pre-Test to Post-Test scores
increased by 13.26% and, with a big of rounding
up, my goal of 88% Post-test average by all 89
students in the target group was just met.

27. EVALUATION – DIRECT CONCLUSIONS
 We can conclude based on the research that the
individualized differentiation via online guided
practice selected by student preference and
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followed by formative assessments with immediate
feedback is a method that is very successful in
reviewing a body of content that has been
previously studied.
 We can indirectly conclude that with repetition over
time, student scores on formative assessments will
increase positively. Reasoning behind this finding
should be researched more.

28. EVALUATION – INDIRECT CONCLUSIONS
 We might indirectly conclude that with repetition
over time, student scores on formative
assessments will increase positively. Reasoning
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behind this finding should be researched more.
 We might also indirectly conclude that average
formative assessment scores increase positively
due to individualized interventions via student
choice of guided practice activity or perhaps due to
the technological aspect of the reinforcement
activities. More research should be preformed to
verify conclusions.

29. FUTURE RESEARCH
 I am very curious at the fact of “student ownership”
when it comes to selecting his or her own method
of practice, seeing as formative assessment grades
increased the more students practiced.
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 Alternatively, perhaps the more students became
comfortable with the technological means of
practice/reinforcement and formative assessment
that combines immediate feedback.
 Additionally, I will be implementing this method of
pre- and post-test as well as two weeks of intensive
review with guided practice, reinforcement and
formative assessments at the start of every second
semester.