Abstract
The State of Texas
has recently changed the testing system in the state from the TAKS test to
STAAR test. With the new test have come
new requirements, standards, and accountability. This increase in accountability has lead many
teachers to question whether or not freshmen and sophomore students will be
motivated enough to pass the test. In
the TAKS testing era student performance would jump on average from 10-15% from
a class’s sophomore year to their junior year.
At Rice High School in Rice CISD many of the
teachers I work with had these same questions.
The teachers wanted to know if the increased student accountability
would help to increase student scores overall.
The district has performed at an adequate to below adequate rate for a
number of years. They struggle to meet
AYP most years and sometimes do not.
Furthermore, the high school most often receives an acceptable rating
from TEA. The district is working hard
to make strides in increasing student performance and become a recognized
school district establishing the need for research on student motivation and
testing within the student population.
Title
and Author
Student Motivation Related to STAAR EOC
tests
John Jarrett
Introduction
The project grew
from staff concern at school. Teachers
were worried about how students would perform on the new STAAR EOC tests. Recently, the district did not meet AYP
standards by a narrow margin. The
general background of the district is a racial makeup of approximately 60%
Hispanic, 25% White, and 15% African American.
Furthermore, the district has a total of approximately 75% of the
students who fall into the category of a low socioeconomic status. In the TAKS testing era most schools noticed
a significant jump in the scores from after a class’s sophomore year. This jump has most widely been attributed to
the fact that the freshmen and sophomore level test did not require a passing
score while the junior level test did require a score to graduate. With the background of the school and the
large number of at risk kids in the school, combined with the low motivational
level, the teachers were worried if the increased stakes of the new EOC would
hinder the development of the low performing students in the district. There are many students in the school who
live in poor conditions and have very rough home lives. A second aspect of the project is to see if
teacher immediacy with these students will result in higher performance.
The
problem with meeting AYP is not a new one to the school district. It has happened in the past and the school
has managed to work its way out of the hole.
However, the school district has set goals to work diligently to
increase test scores consistently and try to eliminate bad years where the
school fails to meet AYP.
The goal of the
research project is to determine if the increased standards of the STAAR EOC
test would motivate students to pass the tests.
Furthermore, the secondary goal of the project is to determine if use of
teacher immediacy will impact low performing student scores in a positive
manner.
Literature
Review
Throughout the action research
process, several articles were found regarding student motivation and student
motivation in testing environments. The
first examined the affect that low-stakes testing has on schools. The article describes that, “when low stakes
assessment test are used, low motivation can lead to substantial
underestimation of student profiency.
(Wise, Demars 2003)
|
Campus
|
AA
|
Hispanic
|
White
|
ED
|
ELA
|
|
|
|
|
|
2010
|
85%
|
73%
|
88%
|
85%
|
75%
|
2011
|
95%
|
99%
|
90%
|
97%
|
93%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Math
|
|
|
|
|
|
2010
|
79%
|
50%
|
81%
|
89%
|
60%
|
2011
|
93%
|
80%
|
94%
|
97%
|
93%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Science
|
|
|
|
|
|
2010
|
75%
|
50%
|
74%
|
85%
|
63%
|
2011
|
89%
|
90%
|
87%
|
97%
|
90%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Social St.
|
|
|
|
|
|
2010
|
93%
|
75%
|
97%
|
96%
|
87%
|
2011
|
96%
|
90%
|
94%
|
99%
|
85%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This data taken from the TEA website
represents the seniors of 2012 who took the TAKS test. As can be seen, there are major jumps in
student performance from their sophomore year (2011) to their junior year
(2012). While the sophomore level test
may affect the school, it was a low stakes test for the students. The TAKS tests taken a student’s junior year
directly affect their ability to graduate from high school creating an
incentive to pass. While high stakes testing make increase student performance,
Amrein and Berliner discuss how high stakes testing has not lead to any
increase in student learning. In the
article the authors state that, “ …when we look at 18 states with high stakes
testing policies, we find that such results have resulted in no measureable
improvement in student learning.” (Amrein, Berliner 2003) Even so, teachers feel forced to teach to the
test and try to spoon feed kids information to help them pass standardized
tests. A dramatic increase of time in
test preparation does not allow enough time for valuable learning experiences
that promote lifelong learners. As tests
get harder and standards increase, teachers are looking for new ways to
motivate their students. The specific
types of student motivation as described by Williams and Williams include,
“…student, teacher, content, method/process, and environment.” (Williams,
Williams) The authors suggest that every
student is different and requires different methods to motivate them. This was an idea that I thought about daily
when determining the best methods for motivating students. In another study, the author suggested that “Students succeed academically only if they want to succeed and feel
capable of doing so. If they lack either desire or confidence, they will not be
successful. Therefore, the essential question is a dual one: How do we help our
students want to learn and feel capable of learning?” (Stiggins)
The point made by Stiggins was a driving force for the research. Stiggins established that a student must
legitimately care about the test or subject and have the desire to pass it in
order to be able to be motivated.
The secondary question of the
research was to determine different methods of motivation to try and reach the
10-15% of students who are not motivated by the need to pass the test for
graduation purposes. Two articles helped
to shed some light on the subject. An
article by Ames
discusses how the classroom learning environment, goals, and structures can
affect student motivation. The article
discusses a multitude of ideas from classroom management strategies, goal
orientation, along with rewards systems that help to increase student
motivation. Even so, as I looked at my
kids and tried to determine different ways to motivate them, I went in search
of a different form of motivation to try to meet the needs of the students who
continually underperform. I have always
been a firm believer that if you build positive student relationships that
learning will take place. In an article
involving teacher immediacy, this claim is backed up. The author completed a study on teacher
immediacy at the college level and found that it helped to increase student
results in the classroom. Furthermore,
the author predicted that , “…this study might prove to be much stronger if
data were collected at the elementary or secondary levels where teachers are
seen as a more potent factor in student learning.” (Christophell)
Action Research Design
Subjects
The research project was limited to all of my
80 sophomore Geometry students. I was
able to follow the students from the spring of their freshmen year all the way
through this year. Secondly, in order to
determine if the use of teacher immediacy would increase testing scores I chose
10 low performing individuals to work with throughout the year. All ten of these students had either failed
last year’s Algebra 1 EOC or only passed by a small margin.
Procedures
The first stage of the action research process
involved determining how the requirements of the new STAAR EOC tests would
affect the motivational levels of students in Algebra 1. This study was conducted in the spring of
2012 prior to the first EOC tests. I had
the students fill out a small survey to answer two questions. Question one
asked if the students felt that they had worked hard enough to pass the Algebra
1 EOC. Question 2 asked if the students
felt they maintained an appropriate motivational level to pass the Algebra 1
EOC. The second portion of my research
involving student motivation to pass high stakes test included using the school
benchmark data from this school year.
The school district gives two benchmarks per year. One is in the fall, the other in the spring. The fall benchmark is simple a test grade, while the spring
benchmark is not only a test grade but, it also determines if a student will be
eligible for flex days at the end of the school year. If a passes all of their spring benchmarks,
as well as meeting other criteria, they will become eligible for the flex days
and get out of school 10 days earlier than students who do not meet the
criteria. The third portion of the research project
involved the 10 low performing students and the use of teacher immediacy. I made it a priority to develop relationships
with these students and develop a trusting caring relationship. I focused on using class time to show a
direct interest in their personal lives.
Simply put, I was hoping that if I showed that I cared for them, then
they would want to work a little harder in my class.
Findings
·
The responses to both survey questions were
similar in that approximately 87% of students felt that they had worked hard
enough and were motivated enough to pass the EOC tests. When the test results came back, the correlation
was very evident. I had right at 85% of
my kids pass the Algebra 1 EOC. The Wise
and Demars study implied that low stakes testing resulted in lower scores. The schools previous passing rate on freshmen
level state test had hovered around 76%.
The increase in stakes resulted in higher student motivation and an
increased passing rate of 9%.
·
The benchmark scores also reflected how the
increase in accountability and higher stakes lead to higher test scores. The
Geometry passing rates for the fall benchmark were 65%. The passing rates for the spring benchmark jumped
to an amazing 85%.
·
The 10 students I took a particular interest in
this year to develop a better sense of teacher immediacy this year did not show
the same results. In total, only two
made significant strides in their benchmark scores and class work throughout
the year. The rest hovered around the
pass/fail mark throughout the entirety.
Conclusions
In conclusion, the research
conducted clearly shows that the increased stakes has lead to higher
performance on standardized testing results at the freshmen and sophomore
level. The students clearly performed
better when the stakes were higher. On
the Algebra 1 EOC students passed at a rate 9% higher than past years. Furthermore, when flex days were added as a
reward for benchmark scores, the passing rate jumped an astounding 20%. On the other hand, the focus on using teacher
immediacy to try to reach low performing students and increase their scores did
not show the same results. Two out of
the 10 improved significantly while the rest did not.
While I
do not always agree with the difficulty and effectiveness of the STAAR EOC
tests, I do agree that it has increased student performance and motivation due
to the higher stakes. While I know the
state of Texas
is already talking about tweaking the system, I would recommend that students
be required to pass if they have to take it.
As the evidence shows some students take the attitude that if I do not
have to pass it then, what is the point? Furthermore, I would recommend that
the strategy of teacher immediacy would still be a good one if more teachers
became involved. If every sophomore
teacher focused on developing relationships with the low performing students,
one of them is bound to make a difference hopefully resulting in better results
in every class. Also, I would recommend the use of flex days as a reward for
student performance. Not only did
passing rates jump up but, the flex days at the end of the year allow for
teachers to build relationships and work one on one with the students who truly
struggle and need the extra help.
References