Weekly comprehension checks were the first piece of data that showed growth from the majority of students. These checks helped evaluate where my students were each week and the effect that targeted questioning had on my students. The comprehension checks impacted student learning because I was alerted to the areas needing more instruction and then provided that. For example, my orange group struggled with the main idea of the passage. Realizing this, I was able to focus my targeted questions around the main idea because I understood the need to reteach this key concept to my students to improve their reading achievement. Overall, the students improved their scores from the first week to the last; however, throughout the course of the study, many students showed dips. The most common decline in scores throughout all data points was week three. The declines throughout were due to the level of books. After talking with my literacy coach, I realized the use of different level books were used to create growth within students. Changing book levels challenges my students and creates a deeper level of thinking for them as they gain new skills to comprehend the text. During week three, student growth indicated that they were ready to move up levels in text selection. Moving groups up in text difficulty affected their comprehension check scores. This was seen in the red group partially as four of the five students scores dipped, while the other student stayed the same. Following this move in text difficulty, not only did the red groups' scores dip but many other students in other groups dipped as well. The scores dipped briefly, but, then improved throughout the study.

 

Another reason for the decline during week three is due to switching from reading a novel to reading our short texts during guided reading. The change in book type was tough for students as we transitioned from a fiction novel to nonfiction short texts. This was not only a change in our type of book but also our routine within the class. Students went from reading the same book over a period of time to reading a short text in a short period of time. Our schedule, during the time of this study, was also skewed due to the number of snow days which affected instructional time. Even with the altered day, students had an overall trend of growth throughout the study. An area of concern was student 5 in the blue group. This student's scores were steady with a large dip during week six. This told me that the text chosen that week was too difficult for that student. Using that information helped determine if this student was in the correct group. Their other scores were at approaching, which means they are close to being proficient. The use of other data collections was needed to make a decision on student 5. The group that was able to show the greatest amount of growth was my students achieving below grade level expectations, as seen in the green group graph to the left. This group also received instruction twice a day compared to the other groups only receiving instruction three times a week during guided reading. Students reading above grade level expectations had the most fluctuation of scores. These students received tougher questions throughout the study. These groups had questions that focused more on story structure, main idea, theme, and other key reading concepts. They needed less practice with within the text questions and more with beyond and about the text questions. I differentiated the group’s questions to meet this need.  Asking higher level questions to these students encouraged them to ask questions as they read and create conversations during guided reading on why the author chose to write a certain way. The data showed growth throughout the study, but with setbacks, followed by an increase in achievement.