Effects of Self-Assessment on Math Homework

In this action research study of my eighth grade differentiated Algebra students, I investigated the effects of students using self-assessment on their homework. Students in my class were unmotivated and failed test objectives consistently. I wanted students to see that they controlled their learning and could be motivated to succeed. Formative assessment tells students how they need to improve. Learning needs to happen before they can be assessed. Self-assessment is one tool that helps students know if they are learning. A rubric scoring guide, daily documentation sheet and feedback on homework and test correlations were used to help students monitor their learning. Students needed time to develop the skill to self-assess. Students began to understand the relationship between homework and performing well on tests by the end of the action research period. Early in the period, most students encountered difficulty understanding that they controlled their learning and did not think homework was important. By the end of the year, all students said homework was important and that it helped them on quizzes and tests. Motivating students to complete homework is difficult. Teaching them to self-assess and to keep track of their learning helps them stay motivated.

Nurturing Young Students' Writing Knowledge, Self-Regulation, Attitudes, and Self-Efficacy: The Effects of Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of implementing the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model of instruction (Graham & Harris, 2005; Harris & Graham, 1996) on the writing skills and writing self-regulation, attitudes, self-efficacy, and knowledge of 6 first grade students. A multiple-baseline design across participants with multiple probes (Kazdin, 2010) was used to test the effectiveness of the SRSD instructional intervention. Each participant was taught an SRSD story writing strategy as well as self-regulation strategies. All students wrote stories in response to picture prompts during the baseline, instruction, independent performance, and maintenance phases. Stories were assessed for essential story components, length, and overall quality. All participants also completed a writing attitude scale, a writing self-efficacy scale, and participated in brief interviews during the baseline and independent performance phases. Results indicated that SRSD can be beneficial for average first grade writers. Participants wrote stories that contained more essential components, were longer, and of better quality after SRSD instruction. Participants also showed some improvement in writing self-efficacy from pre- to post-instruction. All of the students maintained positive writing attitudes throughout the study.