Instructional Sensitivity of a Complex Language Arts Performance Assessment
Niemi, David; Wang, Jia; Steinberg, Diane H.; Baker, Eva L.; Wang, Haiwen (2007). Educational Assessment, v12 n3-4 p215-237. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ780912
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examining204Students, grade9
Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively
Review Details
Reviewed: October 2019
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Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively Practice Guide
(findings for Secondary Writing)
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it is a randomized controlled trial with high attrition, but the analytic intervention and comparison groups satisfy the baseline equivalence requirement.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Overall essay quality |
Secondary Writing vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample: Language analysis intervention vs. comparison condition;
|
1.85 |
1.63 |
Yes |
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|
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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Urban
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- a
- h
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- b
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California
Study Details
Setting
The study was conducted in ninth-grade English classrooms situated in four high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School district.
Study sample
The sample is comprised of general education ninth-grade students. No other demographic information was provided.
Intervention Group
The interventions were implemented over eight days, one period per day, for a total of approximately 6 hours and 40 minutes. During that time, students in the intervention group received instruction focused on elements of literature such as plot, theme, and conflict, and how to analyze them, with no review of writing skills, and with an emphasis on California state ELA standards.
Comparison Group
Teachers in the comparison condition implemented their normal curricula (i.e., business-as-usual).
Support for implementation
Teachers in the literary analysis intervention group received training separately from teachers in the other research groups. No more detailed information is provided.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
The WWC may review studies for multiple purposes, including different reports and re-reviews using updated standards. Each WWC review of this study is listed in the dropdown. Details on any review may be accessed by making a selection from the drop down list.
Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).