Data analysis and strategies for improving performance on the English ECA.

1. ENGLISH ECA TRENDS - DECATUR
 No noticeable performance trends for student
age, gender, or race/ethnicity
 Oldeststudent taking ECA – 33
 Youngest student taking ECA – 16
 An even number of women and men
passed/failed the ECA
 No data on student race/ethnicity

2. ENGLISH ECA TRENDS - DECATUR
 Section 1: Reading Comprehension
 Difference between avg. passing score and avg.
failing score is nearly 30 pts
 Targeted area of improvement, moving forward
 Section 2: Essay Writing
 Difference between avg. passing score and avg.
failing score is only 6 pts

3. ECA ENGLISH TRENDS – DISTRICT WIDE
 Age group 30-35 performed the best (62%)
 No difference between gender, free/reduced
lunch
 No noticeable improvement in performance after
students take an English class
 Achievement gap between White (66%) and
African-American (33%) students
 Younger students performed poorly on reading
comprehension while older students performed
poorly on writing

4. AREA OF FOCUS – READING COMPREHENSION
 Strategies
 Teaching questioning to improve comprehension
 Questioning the Author
 Asking questions as a reader
 Say, Mean, Matter
 Implementations
 Double-Entry Diary
 Short Story comprehension & analysis
 Question-oriented discussion & modeling
 Vygotsky’s social constructivism theory (ZPD, etc.)

5. STRATEGIES – QUESTIONING THE AUTHOR
 Step 1: Find reading material that will
generate good conversation
 Step 2: Students need to be taught that they
can, and should, ask questions of authors
 Students need explicit instruction on when and
how to ask questions
 Many student simply lack the language with
which we ask questions of authors

6. STRATEGIES – QUESTIONING THE AUTHOR
 Step 3: Display poster with different
situational/strategic questions
 Refer to poster during discussion
 Model usage of poster during discussion
 Discuss different types of questions and
when/why they are best asked
 Reinforce usage of question chart and/or student
generated questions

8. STRATEGIES – QUESTIONING THE AUTHOR
 Step 4: Discuss differences of opinion w/
students.
 Authors will not, in all likelihood, be able to
answer the questions students are asking of
them.
 Discuss inferences, critical thinking, and using
evidence to bolster or shape opinions

9. DOUBLE-ENTRY DIARIES & SHORT STORIES
 Incorporate more short stories into American
Studies A
 We’ve currently got a lot of non-fiction, 2 novel
excerpts, a play, and numerous poems, but no
short stories
 At least one of the readings on the ECA is
ALWAYS a short story

10. DOUBLE-ENTRY DIARIES AND SHORT STORIES
 Use double-entry diaries to encourage
students to ask questions before (engage),
during (think critically), and after (reflect,
analyze, go back to text) reading.
 Use double-entry diaries to encourage
students to make connections between
themselves, between the text and other
texts, and between the text and the world
around them (maintain engagement and
construct meaning).

11. STRATEGY – SAY, MEAN, MATTER
 Breaking down the task of textual analysis
 Helping students make clear connections
between argument and evidence
 What does it say (literal; word-for-word from the
text)
 What does it mean? (what can we infer?)
 Why does it matter? (what is the author saying?0

12. RESEARCH
 Beck, I.L., & McKeown, M.G. (2001). Inviting students into the
pursuit of meaning. Educational Psychology Review, 13, 225-
241.
 Beck, I.L., & McKeown, M.G. (2002). Questioning the author:
Making sense of social studies. Educational
Leadership, 60(3), 44-47.
 Beck, I.L., & McKeown, M.G., Hamilton, R.L., & Kucan, L.
(1997). Questioning the author: An approach for enhancing
student engagement with text. Newark, DE: International
Reading Association
 Tovani, Cris. I Read It, but I Don't Get It: Comprehension
Strategies for Adolescent Readers. Portland, Me.:
Stenhouse, 2000.
 Gallagher, Kelly. Deeper Reading: Comprehending