1. Diane Phelps
Dissertation Summary
Yu-Chin Liu Research Assistant award
August 11, 2008
The purpose of my dissertation is to investigate the grade 4 constructed response
outcome effect size data of Dr. Jim Collins’ Writing Intensive Reading Comprehension study. As
a Year III field observer, I gathered qualitative data from 4th
grade and 5th
grade classrooms—
both control and experimental. I witnessed first-hand the positive effect of the WIRC thinksheet
intervention in our 4th
and 5th
grade experimental classrooms. Based on these observations, I
am presently interested in investigating why the 4th
grade constructed response effect size gain
of .05 (as depicted on the table above) lacks in significance with respect to overall intervention
gains.
Based upon the findings of my previous research, my hunch is that the minimal 4th
grade
constructed response effect size may be associated with excessive student appropriation from
both teacher and text. In other words, the fourth grade teachers may have over-assisted
emergent writers with writing strategy acquisition. From the controlled experiment
perspective, we have found that the WIRC intervention works. My dissertation will be written
from the formative experiment perspective to investigate the factors that inhibited the
intervention’s effectiveness. Subsequently, I will examine enhancement factors to be
considered for future interventions designed to enhance traditional literacy instruction.