Data Analysis

PRE-TEST & POST-TEST

The Pre and Post Test that was conducted for this study measured student understanding of letter sounds at the beginning of the research period in January and at the end of the research period in March.

Students must have a firm understanding of letter sounds before they are able to develop a foundation of phonological awareness skills such as blending, segmenting & decoding.

It was necessary for this study to test student knowledge of letter sounds as the Pre and Post Test because these skills must act as the base foundation for beginning readers.

When looking at this data, you can see that all students grew in their letter sound understanding from the pre test to the post test. Specifically, 10 out of 21 students have now mastered all 26 of their letter sounds by the post test.

A paired-samples t-test was conducted to determine the effect of small reading group instruction on student understanding of blending and segmenting words. There was a significant difference in the scores prior to implementing small reading group instruction (M=12.14, SD=5.91) and after implementing (M=21.52, SD=5.62) small reading group instruction; t(21)= 8.974, p = 0.000000009453. The observed standardized effect size is large (1.96). That indicates that the magnitude of the difference between the average and μ0 is large. These results suggest that the use of small reading group instruction had a positive effect on students’ understanding of blending and segmenting words. Specifically, the results suggest that the use of blending and segmenting strategies during small reading group instruction increased student understanding of letter names and sounds.

ANECDOTAL NOTES

By recording Anecdotal Notes each time I met with a small group, I was able to make observations of each student and jot down instructional support they needed during small groups. They also acted as a way to note what instruction students could benefit from moving forward.

Specifically, I could note if a student was struggling to stay on task for certain activities, needed multiple redirections, was showing mastery in certain areas, or even note if a student needed more of a challenge.

Anecdotal Notes helped with seeing differentiation and know what each student needed during small groups. By taking these notes, I was able to intentionally plan activities that were developmentally appropriate for students. I was able to reflect on the observations and my teaching to determine best practices for students.

LANGUAGE ARTS ASSESSMENT

The Language Arts Assessment measures phonological awareness knowledge over the following skills: blending sounds, segmenting sounds & decoding words.

This assessment is conducted 4 times during the school year during each quarter. The data that is compared below is pulled from 2 of these assessments that were conducted in January and March.

The data is significant to the study because it is a direct reflection of students' understanding of the phonological awareness skills that were taught and practiced during small reading groups.

Specifically, the strategies found on the Action Plan tab are all strategies that support student understanding of blending, segmenting & decoding. All of these skills are beneficial to the development of beginning readers.

Blending

January

March

Blending is the ability to hear sounds and put them together on their own and say the word they make.

This data shows that in January, 8 students could successfully blend all 4 words in this assessment. By March, 16 students now show mastery in being able to blend all 4 words in the assessment. It's important to note that in January, 3 students could not blend at all and in March, only 1 student was unable to blend.

Segmenting

January

March

Segmenting is the opposite of blending: it is the ability for students to say each individual sound they hear in a word.

This data shows that in January, 6 students could successfully segment the sounds for all 4 words given in this assessment. By March, 11 students now show mastery in being able to segment the sounds for all 4 words in the assessment. It's important to note that in January, 4 students could not segment sounds at all and in March, only 1 student was unable to segment sounds.

Decoding

January

March

Decoding is the ability to look at the letters and sounds in a word, put them together, and successfully say the word.

This data shows that in January, 4 students could successfully decode the 6 words given in this assessment. By March, 8 students now show mastery in being able to decode all 6 words. It's important to note that in January, 6 students could not decode any words and in March, only 2 students were unable to decode words. The data in the March graph has higher numbers in student understanding of 4, 5, and 6 words than in January. This shows that students have grown in the ability to decode words.

In conclusion, students showed more positive growth than negative growth in their understanding of blending, segmenting & decoding words from the Language Arts Assessments.

KINDERGARTEN BASELINE ASSESSMENT

The Kindergarten Baseline Assessment measures student recognition of Letter Names for Uppercase and Lowercase letters. This assessment is also given 4 times each school year during each quarter.

This assessment tracks student growth and understanding of letter name knowledge. The data that is compared below is pulled from 2 of these assessments that were conducted in the Fall and Spring.

It is critical for students to understand letter names during the kindergarten year. Understanding letter names directly correlates to understanding letter sounds. If a child does not know the name of the letter, then they do not know the sound that it makes. A student must master these skills before knowing the sounds of each letter.

This data shows a great amount of growth in student understanding of Uppercase Letter names and Lowercase letter names on the Kindergarten Baseline Assessment.

When looking at Uppercase letter understanding, 6 students knew less than 15 of the uppercase letters in the fall. In the Spring, 15 of the 21 students showed growth in understanding all 26 Uppercase letters.

For Lowercase letter understanding, 9 students knew less than 15 of the lowercase letters in the fall. In the Spring, 11 of the 21 students showed growth in understanding all 26 Lowercase letters.

To note, it is significant to understand that according to research, students have a harder time grasping the concept of lowercase letters than uppercase letters.

Questions

After completing the research for this study, I still have the following lingering questions:

Which strategy was most effective?
Where would these students be now if I had not conducted this study?
Where would these students be if I conducted this study sooner?
Will this knowledge stay with these students?
Do the results from this study impact students' reading level?