Draft2

Student Journals:
Students involved in the intervention will maintain journals. These journals will reflect their attitudes toward reading and whether the attitudes change over time.
Teacher-Researcher Observation Journal:
I will maintain a journal recording observed changes in behaviors, habits and attitudes toward reading. This will serve to document changes over time.
Student Averages:
The students’ averages will be compared before, during (after three weeks) and after (after six weeks). Has the intervention improved student performance in the reading activities in class?

III. Findings

During the three weeks before the newspaper intervention began, 53 (73.6%) of the students’ averages had dropped from the previous report. The amount of decrease ranged from –0.4 to –39.7 points. The average decrease was 10.8 points. The intervention lasted six weeks, with averages calculated at three-week intervals. During the first three-week period, only 16 (22.2%) students had experienced a drop. The decreases ranged from –0.3 to –11.3, and the average drop was 6.0 points. During the second three weeks of the intervention, 21 (29%) of the participants had experiences a drop in their academic average, and the average amount of decrease was 9.0 points. The decreases ranged from 1.0 to 31.9 points. Two students experienced drastic drops (of 31.9 and 23.0 points). When these two large numbers were eliminated, the average drop was 6.3 points.

The At-Grade Level Students (n=25)

Prior to the intervention, sixteen (64%) of these students experienced a drop in their academic average before the intervention, while nine (36%) had increased their averages. In the first recording period of the intervention, only four participants' averages declined. In the final three weeks of the study, seven participants' averages dropped.

In journal writing, students discussed information they had read. In the first three weeks, participation in journal writing rose in the class in which students were already performing at grade level. The number of students with 100% participation in the journal entries rose during both recording periods. During the first recording period, only three of these students (12%) decreased their level of participation. Thirteen increased. During the second recording period, however, twelve (48%) decreased their level of participation. Five increased.

During the intervention, which can only indicate one change, six (24%) of the students declined in their level of participation in the newspaper assignments. Eight increased.

In the Teacher's Journal, it was noted that more of these students were participating in reading and writing activities during class time. These students increased their requests for media center visits. More students began to "use their time wisely." In the evaluation of newspaper assignments, it was noted that these students were unfamiliar with outlining skills, but they were more capable of making their own judgmental statements about the text, such as "I don't agree with this" and "This is a good idea because..." While some students did copy newspaper articles word for word, more of these students were able to write about what they read using their own words.

Four of these students never completed a newspaper assignment during the intervention.