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Improving student writing with extended day learning

Sandy Yazzie

University of New England

Marylin Newell

Action Research Spring 2011

April 15, 2011

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents— Pg. 2-3

Abstract Pg. 4

Introduction Pg. 5

Rationale for Study Pg. 5

Problem Statement Pg. 6

Research Questions Pg. 6

Hypothesis Pg. 7

Literature Review— Pg. 7

Introduction Pg. 7

Extended day teaching Pg. 7

Extended day programs for at risk kids Pg. 8

Writing Strategies Pg. 9

Writing confidence Pg. 10

Writing as a priority Pg. 10

Extending time to learn Pg. 11

Why Extended learning opportunities Pg. 11

Methodology Pg. 12

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Research design Pg. 12

Data Collection plan Pg. 13

All school write papers Pg. 15

Sample selection Pg. 16

Instruments Pg. 17

Data Results Pg. 17

Findings Pg. 17

Discussion Pg. 27

Limitations of the study Pg. 29

Further Research Pg. 30

Action Plan Pg. 31

Conclusions Pg. 32

References Pg. 34

Appendices Pg. 35

Appendix A: Official Scoring Guide Pg. 35

Appendix B: Pre Writer’s Club Survey Pg. 42

Appendix C: Post Writer’s Club Survey Pg. 43

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Abstract

The purpose of the study of the writer’s club at Mills Elementary was to find out if extending the

day to increase writing instruction would help the students improve their writing skills. The school also

wanted to see if the additional instruction time and writing time would lead to a higher percentage of

students passing the state writing test. The Mills team created an afterschool extended day intervention

where 4th grade students received additional instruction in writing, and also gave the students additional

time to work on writing. They worked on specific skills to help the students become better and more

complete writers. The teachers had students work in groups, read writing out loud, work on writing with

detail, and on vocabulary building. On the state writing test convention scores count double, so the

extended day program concentrated on teaching conventions as well.

In this study through surveys, writing samples and teacher observation it was discovered that the

students writing did improve. The scores on the post write after the intervention were much better than

the scores on the pre write. Also, through the survey it showed that students’ attitude towards writing

improved, as well as their opinions of their own writing. Teacher observations during the intervention

also were positive. The teachers stated they could see a difference in students’ writing and that the

students had a better attitude and a feel of excitement about their writing. Mills set a goal of having 11%

more students pass the state writing test this year than last. The results came back the week of April 11

and 35% of the fourth grade students passed the test. This is an increase from last year of 13%.

Mills does believe that this intervention was successful. The data shows an improvement in

writing. Extended day writer’s club proved to be successful with the writing the students did in class, and

had a positive result on the survey. The results of the state testing were also successful, as the scores

showed a 13% increase in the number of students passing.

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Introduction

Mills Elementary School is in Klamath Falls, OR. It is one of five elementary schools in the city

school district. Mills is the largest elementary school in Klamath with about 500 students. The students

will be involved in this project as the primary learners. Mills School has a 96% free and reduced lunch

rate. It is in an area of Klamath Falls that is considered to be the “low income” area. Mills is quite

diverse. They have 48% Hispanic students, 10% Native American, with the other 42% mostly Caucasian

The problem being looked at is Mills School does not have a very high rate of passing on the state writing

test that all 4th grade students take. The research was to find out if an after school writing club would help

more students reach the goal of passing the test. This district had not given teachers much direction when

it comes to teaching writing. Only in the last year have they taken on a writing program for all teachers to

use.

Rationale for Study

In Oregon every year the 4th grade students take a writing test that is scored at the state level.

Overall scores for Mills students on this test are low. Last year, only 15 of 68 fourth grade students

passed the test. This research project sought to increase the number of children passing the test.

The results on the state writing test last year show that the way writing was currently taught was

not effective, because such a small number of students actually passed the test each year. There was a

group of students in each class that the teachers are fairly certain would pass the test. They were already

good writers, and it came easy for them. The students that had a harder time with writing, or were just

academically low would struggle with passing the test. Writing was taught in the classrooms, but with so

much emphasis placed on math and reading, sometimes it did not get as much emphasis as it should.

Most of the teachers only found 30 minutes a day to teach writing and for most of these students it was

not enough. The reading block at Mills is 90 minutes long, and the math block is 60. The district had

asked that only reading be taught during the reading block, so teaching writing during reading was not an

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option. There were 30 minutes of interventions scheduled during the day for each reading and math. The

students that were struggling with those subjects got extra help, and the students that were on target got

extra instruction that took them a little further. There was no intervention scheduled for writing.

Because writing was not taught in a longer block it seemed it was affecting the kids’ writing

progress. One of the problems was that there was not enough time in the day. With the longer reading

and math blocks, time for music and library, mandatory ELD classes for all students, recess, lunch and all

the other things that go into a school day, the school was simply out of minutes for a longer writing block.

Problem Statement

The way schools in Oregon are measured is based on the OAKS test. This test only tests reading

and math skills. The state report card is based on these scores, so a lot of emphasis was placed on the

OAKS test by the district. Schools and districts felt a lot of pressure to pass this test, so a lot of time was

spent working, planning and creating interventions to help the students pass this test. Because of this,

writing took a secondary role. Teachers taught writing, but until a year ago, they did not even have a

curriculum on which to base their teaching. Creating a writing club after school for these students gave

the students more time to practice writing, and gave the teachers more instruction time in an atmosphere

that was more conducive to learning for some of the children.

Research questions

There were three research questions that needed to be answered. If students that were fair writers

were exposed to extra writing instruction would a higher percentage of them pass the writing test than had

passed in previous years? They school also wanted to know if this was going to be successful because of

the extra writing instruction, or because of the different environment in which the teaching took place.

Lastly the question became, was the cause of the problem the lack of time to teach writing, or was it that

the students just were not motivated to write.

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Hypotheses

With additional instruction and practice in writing 11% more students will pass the state writing

test this year than last.

Literature Review

Introduction

The idea for extended day learning is not new. At Mills they were looking for something that

would help their students be successful learners and successful writers. They wanted to improve

students’ writing scores on the state test. But the Mills team also wanted to help students improve their

writing so they could pass the test but also so students could go on and have the base they needed to be

able to continue to be good writers and continue passing the state test at the higher levels. What they

needed were ideas and data that proved that creating something in an extended day format would help

these students. The research they did was in after school writing programs, or extended day writing

programs.

Extended day teaching

The report, “Analyses of Performance of Extended-Time and non-Extended Time SURR

School”, did a study with math and reading scores in a school that was underachieving. They discovered

that by extending the day, they had more children meet the standards in reading and math, and fewer

children in the lowest proficiency level. This study found by extending the time that the students were

learning, it markedly improved their test scores (Education, 2000). In this study the schools that had an

extended day improved their scores by 6.8% in reading and 2.9% in math. The schools with no extended

day program also improved but not as much (reading 4.7% and math 1.2%) (Education, 2000). This

study is relevant to the study at Mills Elementary because it is similar to what the study at Mills was

attempting to discover about their writing program. Mills wanted to see if extending the day and creating

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a writing club for students would improve their scores on the state writing test. Even though in the SURR

study the research was about reading and math, the concept was the same, and could be tied into writing

as well. The conclusion of the study was that schools with extended time learning improved at a greater

rate than students in non-extended time programs.

Extended day programs for at risk kids

A report titled “Extended Day and After School Programs and their Effectiveness” discusses the

pros and cons of after school programs. It reviewed 34 different kinds of after school programs in

different areas. It also looked at how students involved in these programs did in school and how

effective many different types of programs are. Also included in this article were suggestions for making

after school programs more efficient. Keeping the groups smaller in extended day is one way to make the

teaching more effective and efficient. Fashola stated to have as many adults as possible for each

intervention group. This knocks the student/teacher ratio even smaller and makes the instruction more

effective. Even though this article does not exactly cover how an extended day program would help

students improve their learning, there were valid points contained in the article and pieces that could be

used by the after school program at Mills. For instance, children that face learning obstacles could be

dealt with differently after school. Hopefully their needs could be met more efficiently. Children that

have behavior problems in a larger class often do better in smaller groups so after school extended day

programs help to eliminate some of these barriers (Fashola, 1998). It is important to create an efficient

learning environment. Studies show that students that come from a home with lack of parental support,

are from poverty, or with other socioeconomic factors are at risk of academic failure (Fashola, 1998).

Many of the children at Mills come from homes of poverty, and many come home to an empty house, or

do not have parents that value education. School based academic extended day programs continue and

extend the learning that takes place in the classroom.

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Writing Strategies

The article “Writing Next” (Perin, 2007) discussed nine different strategies to improve writing

instruction, and students’ writing. Ideas included 1. Writing Strategies—teach students strategies for

planning, revising and editing their work. 2. Summarization—be explicit and systematic in teaching

students how to summarize text. 3. Collaborative Writing—using instructional plans where students work

together to plan, draft, revise, and edit their compositions. 4. Specific goals—giving students specific

goals for the writing they are to complete. 5. Word processing—using computers and word processors as

instructional supports for writing assignments. 6. Sentence combining—which involves teaching students

to construct more complex sophisticated sentences. 7. Prewriting—engage students in activities designed

to help them generate or organize ideas for their composition. 8. Inquiry Activities—which engages

students in analyzing immediate, concrete data to help them develop ideas and content for writing (Perin,

2007, pp. 4-5). Perin also did a study of how successful or unsuccessful each different strategy was. In

this article Perin discussed the fact that not many of the nation’s young people are effective writers. So

her purpose was to highlight key elements to help improve the students writing skills. One idea this report

by Perin talks about was that writing was sometimes seen as the “flip side” of reading. It was assumed

that students that were good readers would be good writers. It stated though that even though writing and

reading were both vital aspects of literacy, they each require their own dedicated instruction. What

improves reading does not always improve writing (Perin, 2007). This report also broke writing down

into the skills that are important and the elements that were needed to improve writing. Perin’s report

stated that extended writing instruction was a good way to improve writing because of the extra time and

attention the students received (Perin, 2007).

Perin’s article does not specifically discuss using the extended day idea that Mills Elementary

tried. Instead it contained ideas and activities that helped to improve the students’ writing skills. The

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Writer’s club teachers gave the students extra writing instruction in the extended day program, and used

the eight ideas talked about above as effective teaching strategies.

Writing Confidence

“Improving Students’ Confidence in Writing Achievement Through the use of Parent, Student,

and Teacher Interventions” (Marienau, 2001) is another report that looks at different ways to improve

students writing achievement. This study not only included the idea of extended writing time as a way to

improve student confidence and writing skills, but it also looked at other teaching strategies and activities

to give students more confidence in their writing. The ideas contained in this article are good and logical

teaching ideas, but they added an additional variable to this research. It is good information to use if the

school decided to extend the research idea further.

Writing as a Priority

Part of the reason that students are not performing well on writing assessments and a reason their

skills are inadequate, could be because writing is not a big enough priority in schools. The article

“Making Writing Instruction a Priority in America’s Middle and High Schools” (Alliance for Excellent

Education, 2007) states some excellent reasons that writing for many students is not as good as it should

or could be. One fact stated in this article was “Very few teachers require their students to write more

than a few hours per week, and two thirds of students say their weekly writing assignments add up to less

than an hour” (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2007, p. 1). The world today is becoming so advanced

technologically that writing is not as important as it once was. Email, instant messages and texting are

becoming so popular with all their shortcuts that students don’t write like they did in the 1870s, 1970s or

even the 1990s (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2007). Often times people believe that writing and

reading go hand in hand. It is true that good writing instruction can be a part of the reading program, but

students need instruction to become proficient writers. Simply put, reading instruction is not enough.

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America’s students will not become skilled writers unless and until their schools make writing a priority

(Alliance for Excellent Education, 2007).

This article supports the fact that students need more time writing to become better writers.

There are a lot of skills to master to become proficient writers. Writers have a lot to learn: some may

have more raw talent than others but all writers need practice and the idea of extending writing time in the

school day, or extending the school day to write is a central thought in the Alliance for Excellent

Education article (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2007). The thought at Mills Elementary was that if

there was not enough time in the day to reach all the students to effectively teach them the skills they

need to be good writers, then by extending their day, they will receive the extra instruction they need to

improve.

Extending time to learn

“ Extended-day programs: time to learn: extending learning time for students in need of support

can bridge the academic gap by providing students with the time they require to master subject content”

(Wise, 2002, p. 12) discusses the fact that schools have high expectations for their students, but they do

not provide them with the time to master the skills. Some students need more time to learn than others,

and extending their day can bridge the gap to successful learning. The bottom line in much of this

research is—if you do not give children of any age time to write their writing will not improve. This

article states exactly what the Mills School project tried to prove. There is not enough time in the day to

adequately teach everything that needs to be taught, so the school wanted to find success in an after

school writing program that helped their students reach a passing score on the state writing test. The

information and links in this article were really beneficial to the research needed in the Mills project.

Why extended learning opportunities

Students come to school from a variety of backgrounds with many different experiences.

“Closing the Gap through Extended Learning Opportunities” (NEA, 2008) discusses the idea that when

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students are provided extended learning programs that it helps them build foundations for success. This

article also gives good advice on how to build a successful extended day learning opportunity. NEA says

these programs should target students that are struggling because these programs have a positive effect on

those students’ grades and self-esteem (NEA, 2008). Some of the information in this article was

compared and used by the Mills program. The Mills students were struggling with writing. Many of

them come from homes where there is not always someone home when they get out of school. So, in a

way, these programs are helping kids and parents because kids will spend less time at home unsupervised,

and more time at school learning. The information found in this article directly correlated with the

program that Mills created.

Methodology

Research design

Last year at Mills only 22% of the 4th grade students passed the test. This research project

explored methods to increase the number of children passing the test. Mills looked at the possibility of

creating interventions for writing during the day. But the school had already developed interventions for

reading and math during the day and they were running out of time. There was a need at the school for a

writing intervention and it was decided that the extended day format would be used to improve writing

scores.

At Mills, it seemed that the biggest obstacle to more students passing the writing test was time. If

they had more time to work with the students on the writing activities that the teachers provide them,

there would probably be an increase in their writing scores. To be a good writer, certain skills have to be

practiced. Students need chances to write. If the students have an increased amount of time to practice

writing, will this lead to more children passing the writing test this year? For this research the writer’s

club was the intervention. The Writer’s club took place after school and was intended to help students

improve their writing. It gave the students more writing instruction and more time to practice writing.

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There were three teachers at Mills school that offered to teach the after school intervention for writing.

They decided to call it Writer’s club so it did not seem like a punishment staying after school to work on

writing. The students were picked according to a pre writing all school write paper that all of the 4 th grade

students wrote. The papers were scored by the team of teachers and any student that didn’t get a passing

score was eligible to be in writer’s club. The papers were scored according to the same standards that the

state scorers used (Appendix A).

The writer’s club took place after school, starting at 2:50. The students were divided into three

groups and then teamed with a teacher they worked with for the duration of the instruction. All three

classes did the same instruction. The teachers created lessons on writing complete sentences, adding

detail to writing, proper use of conventions, and writing solid paragraphs. The writer’s club was not only

a place to practice writing, but a place to challenge the skills they already had to become better. Not only

did these students get more time to learn and practice writing, they learned in an environment that was

different from the regular classroom. This alone could have been what some students needed—a break

from the regular classroom context. By providing them a place to practice, learn new skills, work in

smaller groups, be able to ask for help, have a smaller teacher/student ration than a classroom, and give

them meaningful activities they saw an improvement in writing skills. Data was collected on a pre and

post writing test given to the students, and also through a survey (Appendix B and Appendix C). The

survey was given at the beginning of the extended day project and again at the end. Teacher observation

was another key that helped to decide the success of this intervention. Writer’s club led to improved

feelings about writing as well as better scores on the state writing test.

Data collection plan

There were different ways the data was collected. The students did two all school write papers.

These all school writes were graded using the same criteria the state uses. One was done before the

Writer’s club started and one was done at the culmination of the club. The two papers were compared to

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see if their writing had improved. The papers were graded based on the state writing standards, but had

different prompts for the students to pick from. This followed the practice that the state testing provided

of giving the students prompts but letting them pick the one they are the most comfortable writing about.

The students’ state writing test scores were looked at. In previous years there were a low

percentage of 4th grade students passing the writing test. With this intervention the school wanted to see if

they could increase the number of students passing the test. Even though the students are different from

year to year the hope was that they had found a successful intervention to help a higher percentage of

students receive a passing score on the test. Two surveys, simply titled Pre-writing Survey and Post-

writing Survey, were used to find out the students’ attitudes toward writing; how they felt about their

own writing at the beginning of the intervention, and if the after school program had changed their

attitude about writing. The students’ attitudes toward writing played a big part in how successful this

intervention was. Students received the survey at the beginning of the writer’s club and again at the end.

This showed the difference in the pre and post intervention feelings.

The answers in the survey were given point values, so a high point result showed a positive

response by the students, and a low point score showed a negative response. A high point survey showed

that the students thought the Writer’s club and the extra time and instruction were helpful to their writing

skills. It also showed that the students had improved their attitude toward writing. A low score showed

the opposite. The students completed two all school write papers, and they were scored. The two scores

were compared to see if the students improved their writing. To prevent bias from teachers involved in

the club, other teachers from the building scored the papers. The other measure used was the results of

the state writing test. Even though it was different students that took the test last year the team decided to

use last year’s scores to get an idea of where to start. Last year 22% of the students passed the test. The

team decided they wanted an 11% increase in the number of students who passed the test this year. This

worked out to three additional students. Mills hoped that the Writer’s club would increase the number of

students who passed the test, and become better writers.

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One additional measure of how the students progressed was teacher observation. The teachers

helped answer the questions of whether the extra writing instruction was helping the students improve, or

the different classroom and smaller groups. Teacher observation helped define if the problem was caused

by lack of time for good instruction in the classroom, or if the students lacked motivation to be good

writers. The teachers provided a brief write up of what they observed with the students during the

Writer’s club intervention.

All school write papers

For the all school write the students received a folder similar to the one they get when they do the

state writing test. The purpose of this was to create an environment that was very familiar to them for

when they did the actual test. All of their pre-writing and editing was done on their own paper, and the

final copy was placed in the all school write booklet. There was a space for two scorers to record their

scores in each of the areas. Since the state test gives students a choice of writing prompts, they were also

able to choose from the three prompts the one they thought they could write their best paper on.

Pre-test prompts--

1. Think of a time you helped someone or they helped you. Tell what happened.

2. Explain how you celebrate a favorite holiday, even, or custom. Use details so your reader can

picture what your favorite time is like.

3. You have read stories that explain why something in nature is the way it is—such as Why a

Camel has a hump. Make up your own story to tell why something is the way it is.

Post-test prompts—

1. What would I grow in my garden?

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2. Think of something you know how to make. Explain very clearly how you make it so someone

could follow your directions and do it.

3. Imagine you are alone on a beach at night. Suddenly you see lights far out in the ocean. Make up

a story about what happens to you.

Sample Selection

There were certain students that were targeted for this project. Each class had been doing writing

instruction, and the whole school had done a writing sample. After the writing samples were graded

students were chosen for the writing club. Papers were graded on a scale from1-6 in each area. The

areas scored were Ideas and content, Organization, Voice, Word choice, Sentence fluency and

Conventions (which count double). Students chosen to participate in the writer’s club were students that

scored in the 3 range. A score of 4 was passing. The students with scores of mostly 3s were required to

participate in the club. Students that scored lower were already receiving extra instruction from the

Special Education teachers. If those students wanted to be a part of the club, they were welcome, but the

other students were the subject of this project. The SpEd students scores were not counted in the final

results as their intervention comes from the SpEd teachers. There currently are two classes of 4 th grade

students at Mills. The school received a grant that helped pay three teachers to teach the writers club

three days a week. This made sure that the group size was small, and the students got more one on one

instruction time.

Parents needed to give permission for the kids to participate in the Writer’s club because it was

held after school. Also, transportation for some kids was a problem, so they were able to provide some

bussing. There were teachers willing to teach this, but if there were not they would have had to find

teachers. Two years ago Mills School was placed in improvement status because of their scores on the

OAKS test. The school received a school improvement grant but the district office had to approve the

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money that was spent on this project. Because writing is not something that will take them out of the

improvement status the team wasn’t sure the district would want to spend the money there.

The principal and vice principal talked a lot about this idea. Eventually, writing will become part

of the school report card and they wanted to be ready for that. The principal was in full support of this

idea and willing to help with anything that was needed. The school set up the groups based on teacher

input and current classroom performance. The group of students targeted was based on their classroom

performance, willingness to learn, and interest in writing. Any student was welcome to come to the

writer’s club because they all take the state test, and many of them needed to improve. With the data they

had from the initial all school write; they were able to see improvement for any child from the first write

to that final. Also, the bus barn was contacted to transport students home. The parents were all informed

of the purpose of the writer’s club, and that data was collected from their student’s classroom writing, and

from the writing tests after the state test was completed.

Instruments

The data collection instruments in used in this research project included two surveys. They were

a pre and post intervention survey (Appendix B, Appendix C). Also they used a pre and post write paper

to see their scores before and after the intervention. Teacher observation was used as a tool to find out if

the students were improving their overall writing. The final piece was the results of the state writing test.

Data Results

Findings

In this study the data was collected through a pre and post intervention survey and from a pre and

post intervention writing samples. Every answer in the survey was worth points. 5=strongly agree,

4=agree, 3=undecided, 2=disagree, 1=strongly disagree. The answers were tallied and each question was

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scored. From there an average score was found. A high score on a positive statement means that the

students had a positive response to the question.

Figure one showed how the students felt about their writing. This figure shows their pre and post

intervention average scores. In comparing the two scores it showed that at the end of the intervention the

students felt better on average about their ability as writers. Overall the students felt they were better

writers at the end of the intervention.

average score

3.7

2.3

Figure 1:Question 1I am a good writer pre I am a good writer post

Figure 2 regards the students’ feelings about how well they wrote before writer’s club and after.

This shows that many of the students thought they were good writers before the intervention, but they

changed their mind after the intervention.

average score

2.2

3

Figure 2:Question 2I was a good writer before writers club preI was a good writer before writers club post

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Figure 3 showed the students’ feeling about writer’s club and whether or not they thought it

would help them be better writers. The intervention tried to improve writing but improved attitudes about

writing were important too. The data here showed a slight increase in the feeling that writer’s club helped

them be a better writer.

average score

3.8

3.5

Figure 3:Question 3writers club will help me write better prewriters club helped me write better post

Figure 4 represents the question of whether or not the students thought writing was easy or fun. It

lends to their attitudes about writing. Good attitudes helped to create better writers. Figure 4 showed

that the students thought at the end of the intervention that writing was easy and fun.

average score

3.7

2.8

Figure 4:Question 4writing is easy and fun prewriting is more fun and easier now post

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Figure 5 showed how the students felt about writing. The data in this figure represented an

increase in number of students that said they liked to write from the beginning of the intervention until the

end.

average score

3.7

2.6

Figure 5:Question 5I like to write pre I like to write post3.5

Figure 6 was the question that asked where the students are more comfortable writing; in the

classroom or during writer’s club. This was important so the study showed if it was the intervention or

where it took place that was helping. The students’ response to the post intervention survey showed that

they were more comfortable writing during writer’s club.

average score

4.2

2.9

Figure 6:Question 6it is easy to write in the classroom preIt is easier to write during writers club post

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Figure 7 represents the students’ feelings about working and writing in small groups. This chart’s

data showed a small decrease from the pre to the post intervention survey.

average score

4.1

4.3

Figure 7:Question 7I like to work and write in small groups preI like to work and write in small groups post

Figure 8 represents the thoughts that the students’ had about having extra time to complete

assignments. This graphic didn’t change much from the pre to post survey, but it does represent an

increase in the number of students that realized extra time could help them.

average score

3.9

3.3

Figure 8:Question 8having extra time helps me--preHaving extra time to write has helped me--post

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Figure 9 represents the desire to want to become a better writer. It also shows if the students

believe they became a better writer at the end of the writer’s club. Many of the students wanted to be

better writers, and the data shows that they believed they did improve during the intervention.

average score

4.3

4.02

Figure 9:Question 9I would like to improve my writingI think my writing has improved since writers club--post

Figure 10 represents the students’ attitude toward writing in general. Not as many students

thought at the beginning of the intervention that writing was fun to do. The data showed a sharp increase

in positive feelings about writing in the post intervention survey.

average score

4.2

2.8

Figure 10:Question 10Writing is fun--pre writing is fun--post

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The Mills students did a writing sample. There were fifty-eight 4th graders that did the pre write.

Of those students thirty qualified for the intervention because their scores were not passing. To be

considered proficient they needed to get a score of four or higher in each of the categories. Many of the

students scored a four in some areas. To pass the state test however they needed a score of at least four in

all areas. Every student was given the pre-write, including the SpEd students and the ELL students. For

this study the scores of the SpEd students were not counted but if they wanted to participate in the

intervention they were welcome. The scores were not counted because their main intervention has been

provided by the SpEd teachers, not the writer’s club

After the pre-write was scored the students’ scores were looked at and broken down by the

different categories. Some students scored four or better in some areas but not all six. They qualified for

the intervention if they received any score in the three or lower range. This breakdown also helped the

teachers see where the students were having the most difficulty so they could plan their instruction for the

groups. In figures 11-16 the graphs show the number of students of the 30 in the intervention that

received a score of 3 or higher. The explanations for the writing scores came from the Oregon

Department of Education Official Scoring Guide for Writing (Appendix A).

Figure 11 shows the scores in the category of voice. To score a 4 in voice the writing needs to

have a sense of writing to be read. The reader may get a glimpse of the writer behind the words. The

writing is lively and sincere, and has humor where appropriate. In places the writing is expressive,

engaging or sincere…a paper scoring 4 is not perfect, but on the way to be good writing.

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Scores of 3 or higher0

10

20

30

40

50

60 Figure 11:Voice

voice pre writevoice post write

Number of students

Figure 12 represents the category of word choice. To score a 4 in word choice the words in the

writing effectively convey the intended message. The writer uses a variety of words that work in the

writing. Writing scoring a 4 is appropriate to the audience and the purpose of the writing but it is not

particularly energized.

Scores of 3 or higher05

101520253035404550

Figure 12:Word choice

Word choice pre writeWord choice post write

Number of students

Figure 13 represents the category of ideas and content. This area is graded on the ability of the

reader to understand the main ideas of the writing. Writing scoring a 4 here should be clear and focused.

Support for the writing is present, but it may be limited or general. This writing is good, but to get a

higher score it needs to have more details and be more fully developed.

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Scores of 3 or higher0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40Figure 13:Ideas and Content

Ideas and content pre writeIdeas and content post write

Number ofStudents

Figure 14 represents the organization category. This strand is graded on the structure of the

piece. To score a 4 the writing needs to have clear sequencing and paragraph breaks. It may be a little

predictable, but you can recognize a clear beginning, middle and end. It is organized, but still has some

weakness or room to improve.

Scores of 3 or higher0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40 Figure 14:Organization

Organization pre writeOrganization post write

Number ofStudetns

Figure 15 deals with sentence fluency. Papers scoring a 4 in this strand flow. The connections

between phrases or sentences may be a little choppy. The sentence patterns are varied making the writing

easy to read out loud. This writing has a natural sound and the reader can move easily through the paper.

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Scores of 3 or higher0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45 Figure 15:Sentence Fluency

Sentence fluency pre writeSentence fluency post write

Number ofStudents

Figure 16 shows the scores in the category of conventions. Conventions are scored on

punctuation, spelling, capitalization, grammar and usage. To score a 4 in this area the writer needs to

show control of these standard conventions. The paper does not have significant errors. Small errors may

be noticeable but they do not impede the reading of the paper. This paper might not show knowledge of a

wide range of conventions but it uses the conventions correctly that are used. Spelling on common words

is correct, correct capitalization is used but there is a moderate need for more editing.

Socres of 3 or higher0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35Figure 16:Conventions

Conventions pre writeConventions post write

Number ofStudents

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Teacher observation was another data collection tool. When observing the concept of extra

writing practice and instruction improving the student’s writing, the teachers reported that the students

enjoyed the lessons that were being taught. The students also got to write more and they shared their

writing with the class. Also the teacher was able to work with more students one on one, and they were

able to get through an entire lesson with the smaller groups and that led to more instruction time. The

teachers also reported that while observing if it made a difference where the instruction took place that the

students liked the after school atmosphere and the smaller groups. They enjoyed working in a different

room, with a different teacher. They observed that the students were more relaxed too. When observing

the possible impact of group size, teachers reported observing more students on task in the smaller groups

and they were more willing to ask for help. The small groups were not as intimidating for the students so

they were also more willing to share their work with others. The study wanted to know if the low scores

were caused by a lack of time to teach writing or by a lack of motivation from the students. The teacher

observers thought that the students lacked motivation to write because they do not get many chances to

write. They also said that the small group setting was harder for the students to blend in and do nothing.

The students enjoyed reading their work out loud, and this led to an increased level of concern and caring

about their writing. The teachers noticed that the more the students cared about their writing the harder

they worked. It seemed the more writing they did the more they enjoyed it.

The last data collection piece was the scoring by the state of the students’ work on the state

writing test. When the results came back from the state, the Mills students had reached their goal of 11%

more students passing the state test for this year. Nineteen of the fifty-four fourth graders passed the state

test for a percentage of 35%. The extended day intervention helped these students to be better writers.

Discussion

Based on the information in the student pre writer’s club survey (Appendix B) the majority of the

students felt that they were not good writers. They also thought that writing was hard and not fun. The

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students thought they worked better in smaller groups such as the writer’s club provided for them. Many

of the students felt like they were not good writers, but they liked the idea of improving their writing.

On the post writer’s club survey (Appendix C) the overall feeling was that they improved their

writing. They also felt more confident in their ability as writers. These students enjoyed the after school

extended day time for writing, and felt that working in smaller groups helped them. Overall the students

had an improvement in their attitude towards writing which also improved their confidence in their ability

to write well. Teacher observations from the beginning to the end of writer’s club stated this fact as well.

At the beginning of the club, many of the students would hide their writing and didn’t want others to hear

it or read it. However by the end of the intervention even the reluctant writers were excited about their

turn to be able to read their papers to the group. It was a huge improvement. One exciting thing that the

team discovered was that there were students begging to be part of the after school program. This told the

team that what was happening was not only educational but fun.

The students did a pre and post writing assignment that was graded. On the pretest 30 of these

students wrote a paper that was not passing by state standards (Appendix A). The papers were all graded

by two graders following the state guidelines. The team used the same standards that the state uses so the

students got used to the testing procedure. The idea was that keeping everything consistent would help a

higher percentage of students pass the state writing test. Thirty students were chosen to participate in the

after school extended day writer’s club.

After the post writer’s club papers were graded the teachers found that more students received

passing score the second time than the first time. The same format that was used the first time was

followed the second time and the same criteria were used. The papers were graded in six areas (voice,

conventions, ideas and content, word choice, organization and sentence fluency). When the papers were

graded this more students received a score of 3 or higher in each area. Not every student passed in all six

areas, but overall the scores were much improved.

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The three teachers teaching the intervention had several observations. These teachers agreed that

with the smaller classes they were able to get more instruction given in a shorter amount of time. The

teachers were able to give more one on one attention to the students and this helped them gain confidence.

As a team the teachers created lessons that were engaging and fun, and the students seemed to like the

lessons. Another observation was in the atmosphere that the extended day created. The kids were more

relaxed and enjoyed working in a different room with a different teacher. Teacher observation noted that

the students were more on task in the smaller groups and more willing to ask for help. The small group

learning was not as intimidating to the students and they were willing to stretch themselves a little more

than they would in the regular classroom.

One intervention that worked well was during writer’s club was to have the students read out loud

their writing. The more they read out loud the more they wanted to create writing they could be proud of.

It increased their level of concern about how they write, because they wanted it to sound good to the

others as they read it. All in all, the more they were able to write, the more they enjoyed it, and the

teachers all agreed that the students overall writing improved immensely.

The final piece of data to be collected for this study was the results of the state test. Mills wanted

to see an 11% increase in the number of students passing the test this year as compared to last year. The

results came back in mid April with favorable results. Thirty-five percent of the students passed the test.

This told the Mills team that the intervention had been successful.

Limitations of the study

The limitations to this study would be that they needed to have a longer time for the intervention

to take place. Many students made comments such as “I was just getting the hang of it and it is over!”

Others said, “I know I got better, but I wanted to make this story longer, and read it to the class”. In the

future at Mills the intervention will start sooner and last longer. That way more children can be served,

and if there are students that need more instruction they will get it. Another limitation could be that the

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data from the state might not be back in time for inclusion in this research study. The research can be

continued though, and information added later. Further limitations of the study would be the researcher’s

limited experience with research and data collection.

Probably the biggest limitation was time for research and for students to be involved. Despite

this though the students overall were successful, enjoyed the intervention and felt good about themselves

at the end of the study. They expressed support for the intervention and said they would do it again if the

opportunity came up.

Further Research

Extended day learning opportunities are not a new idea. To find out more about the benefits of

extended day learning it would make sense to do more similar studies. It also would be beneficial to

have studies that last longer, and have a larger group to get data from. At Mills the team is going to look

at Writer’s club starting sooner in the year. They can do a six week sessions. The students that do well on

the post write will be excused, and another group can start. If they don’t pass they can continue in the

intervention. For next year this is one way to involve more students. Extending the number of students

this intervention is open to is another idea that Mills wants to try. There is a thought that including the 3rd

graders in the intervention will help to further prepare them for the writing test before they get into the 4 th

grade.

In the future it would be good to find out which areas the students struggle with the most. This

way the instruction could be strand specific to the writing. For instance dividing the students up by the

strand they are having difficulty with would make instruction easier. All of the students that have a hard

time with conventions for example would be in the same class. If the numbers are too large, two groups

could take on the task of teaching conventions. Students that struggle with more than one strand would

then go to a different intervention after they pass the first one.

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The Mills team needs to do further investigation into the writing scores and ways to improve

them. The extended day worked this year as more students did pass the test. More research into how to

make the extended day program even better is a good idea. For next year the school is looking at

purchasing a curriculum that will be taught during extended day. This will help to make the instruction

even more consistant.

Action Plan

Each year looking at the writing test results by the 4th grade students Mills was frustrated by the

low number of students that were passing the test. The Mills team looked at the testing data, the surveys

and the students pre-writing exercises to see where the students were struggling and to come up with

lessons to help them succeed. The data was used to create intervention groups in an extended day learning

program.

Based on the apparent success of this project the plan for sharing the results of this research

project is to take it to the in-service at the beginning of next school year. All teachers get together in the

week before school starts and Mills wants to put together a presentation for the other schools. All 4 th

graders in the state take the test. Because this project turned out to be successful Mills would like to share

their program, ideas, and data with the other elementary schools in the district. Another idea to share the

information is to take it to the first PLC meeting for the 3rd and 4th grade teachers and present it to them.

Teachers from other schools will also be invited to come and watch the writer’s club in action. Mills will

also help any other school in the district work out a plan to create their own writer’s club if they need

assistance.

At Mills they feel that they were fortunate to have a team of teachers that were excited about

creating this intervention, and worked hard to make it successful. These students were excited to stay

after school and work with teachers in a different atmosphere. That helped make it work. It is thought

that maybe if this project were tried at other schools in the district they might have a harder time getting

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the students to buy in. Part of the reason for this is the students themselves. At Mills, many students go

home to an empty house, or an older brother or sister that is in charge. Getting to stay after school with a

teacher, get a snack and not be alone for many of these children was a big reason they wanted to stay.

Learning to be a better writer was a bonus. The Mills team is ready to help anyone that would like to use

our model at their school.

This project is a work in progress. The school would like to keep building and adapting this

program to make it more successful year after year. The intervention teachers are collecting ideas from

other teachers so they can improve next year on the instruction. The idea of adding 3rd graders to the

intervention for next year has come up. The thought is that if the school works with 3rd and 4th grade

students for the next couple years in an extended day fashion, maybe in a couple years there will be no

more need to work with the 4th graders. All of the intervention can take place in the 3rd grade and those

students will be ready to write as 4th graders. The knowledge gained from this project will definitely play

a part in instruction at Mills School. The afterschool intervention will continue to be a part of the

curriculum at Mills.

Conclusions

Teaching at Mills Elementary School looks really similar to many elementary schools. They

work hard to teach all the subjects and get the students ready to pass the state OAKS test for students in

grades 3-12 each year. Reading, writing, math, science, social studies, health and PE, and ELD are all

taught to the students by their classroom teacher. The limitation to this is that there was not enough time

in a day to adequately teach all the subjects for the amount of time needed. Fourth grade students are

expected to be ready to take the OAKS test, and also be prepared to take a state writing test. It was

noticed that the percentage of students obtaining a passing score on this test was low. Passing the writing

test is not a requirement of the state report card so it probably does get overlooked some. The school

wondered why the students were not doing very well on this test and what they could do to improve their

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scores. Last year only 22% of the students passed the state writing test. This statistic motivated the

people at Mills to take action to improve writing.

Although conducting the research was time consuming and getting everything ready was a lot of

work, this paper and all involved taught the team at Mills a lot. It will serve to improve the education of

the students, and their scores on the state tests. Even if the students didn’t reach the goal that was set, the

Mills team would deem this intervention a success. The increases they saw in the students’ confidence

and writing ability from the beginning of the intervention to the end were impressive. This alone says

that Mills will continue this practice of extended day learning to help all students.

The writer’s club research project at Mills Elementary went well. The results on the surveys were

positive, and the students enjoyed their time in writer’s club. At the end most of the students felt as

though they had become better writers and felt better about their ability to write. The results of the state

test came back with a positive effect. According to the state scores, 35% of the students, 19 of 54, came

back with passing scores. This is a 13% increase. At first this project seemed a little daunting, and

maybe a little out of reach. As time went on though, it all came into perspective and the research flowed

more easily. This project will serve as an important tool to improve education for the students at Mills

school. Using this data shows that extended day learning was effective for the students at Mills, and

when something works you need to stick with it. The team at Mills will need to keep monitoring the

activities to make sure they are effective. Extended day writer’s club, and other extended day activities

will be a part of the education process for students at Mills school as long as they are getting results.

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References

Alliance for Excellent Education (2007, April). Making writing instruction a priority in America’s

middle and high school, 1. Washington, DC, USA. Retrieved from

www.all4ed.org/publications/WritingNext/index.html

Education, N.Y. (2000). Analyses of performance of extended-time and on-extended time schools.

Brooklyn, NY: New York Board of Education.

Fashola, O.S. (1998). Review of Extended day and after school programs and their effectiveness. Center

for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk.

Marienau, E.K.(2001). Improving students’ confidence in writing achievement. Chicago, Illinois: St.

Xavier University and Skylight Professional Development.

NEA (2008). Closing the gap through extended learning opportunities. Washington, DC:NEA Education

Policy and Practices Department.

Perin, S.G. (2007). Writing Next—Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and

high schools 4-5. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Wise, C.D. (2002,Sept-Oct). Extended day programs—time to learn: extending learning time for students

In need of support can bridge the academic gap by providing students time they require to master

Subject content, 12. Leadership

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Appendices

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Appendix A—State Scoring Guide

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38

39

40

41

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Appendix B-Pre-Writing survey

Pre-Writing Survey

1. I feel I am a good writer.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

2. I believe I was a good writer before I went to Writer’s club.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

3. I think the Writer’s club will help me be a better writer.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

4. Writing is easy and fun for me.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

5. I like to write.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

6. It is easy to write classroom.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

7. I like to work and write in small groups.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

8. Having extra time to learn to write has helped me be a better writer.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

9. I would like to improve my writing.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

10. Writing is fun.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

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Appendix C Post-writing Survey

Post-Writing Survey

1. I feel I am a good writer.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

2. I believe I was a good writer before I went to Writer’s club.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

3. I think the Writer’s club helped me to be a better writer.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

4. Writing is easier and more fun for me now than it was before Writer’s club.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

5. I like to write.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

6. It is easier to write during Writer’s club than it is in the classroom.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

7. I like to work and write in small groups.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

8. Having extra time to learn to write has helped me be a better writer.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

9. I think my writing has improved since going to Writer’s club.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree

10. Writing is fun.Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree