Writing Sample-A

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Liberty University *

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Mathematics

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Jun 23, 2024

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docx

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1 Problem of Practice Needs Assessment Preliminary Site Information The National Center for Education Statistics ([NCES], 2021) provides demographic information and statistics for districts and schools across the United States. Norwood Elementary School will serve as the research site during this study. According to the NCES (2021), Norwood Elementary is located in an urban school district in the state of Alabama, which is the fifth largest in the state. The district, which was established in 1874, serves almost 22,000 students in grades Pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade, who attend 42 schools. The district employs about 2,700 certified and classified personnel and has an annual budget of $302 million dollars. The majority of the students (70%) are Black. About 24% are White and 4% are Hispanic. Another 1% are Asian and 1% are from two or more races. Most of the students in the district (94%) speak English as their first language. Approximately 6% of the students’ first language is not English. About 9% have been identified with a disability as defined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ([IDEA], 2004). Norwood Elementary is a midsize school. According to the NCES (2021), of the 307 students who attend Norwood Elementary School, 17 are enrolled in Pre-Kindergarten and 47 are in kindergarten. An additional 37 are enrolled in the first grade; 64 are enrolled in the second grade; 49 are enrolled in the third grade; 43 are enrolled in the fourth grade, and 43 are enrolled in the fifth grade. The majority (274) of the students who attend the school are of African American descent. Hispanics represent the second highest number (27) of the students enrolled. The remaining students are White (3), students of two or more races (2), and American Indian/Alaska Natives (1). The medium annual income of students’ families in the district is $34,127 dollars. Just over 37% of the students in the district are from families who live below the
2 poverty level and 47% of the students’ parents/guardians receive assistance from the state government for food. All students who attend the school are eligible to receive free meals. Therefore, Norwood Elementary is categorized as a Title 1 School and receives federal funding to improve students’ outcomes in reading and in mathematics (NCES, 2021). Approximately 66% of the families are renters of their housing facilities compared to 34%, who are homeowners. Only 30% of the students are from homes with married parents. About 57% of the district’s students reside in female-led household where no husband is present and 7% live in male-led households where no wife is present. The majority of the students’ parents/guardians includes either some college or an associate degree (40%). About 31% of the students’ parents/guardians hold a high school diploma or its equivalent and 12% did not finish high school. Only 17% of the students’ parents/guardians hold a bachelor’s degree or higher (NCES, 2021). The 19 teachers who are employed at the school provide instruction to approximately 307 students in Pre-K through fifth grade, 164 who are male and 143 who are female. Certified staff members include two Pre-K teachers, two kindergarten teachers, two first grade teachers, two second grade teachers, three third grade teachers, two fourth grade teachers, two fifth grade teachers, one special education teacher, one gifted education teacher, one ESL teacher, one Physical Ed teacher, one Math Coach, one Instructional Curriculum Coach, one Reading Coach, one Reading Interventionist, one Media Specialist, one music teacher, one band teacher, and one principal (NCES, 2021). Gratin (2021) reported that in December of 2020, the COVID-19 positivity rate for the district was 18%. As a result, the district went to all virtual learning. Then, in February of 2021, the COVID-19 positivity rate for the district decreased to 9%. On February 19, 2021, the
3 district’s superintendent directed all employees to return to work in-person on March 1, 2021. The same day, students were informed that they would be provided the option to choose to continue receiving instruction virtually or they could participate in blended learning beginning March 8, 2021. Students who chose blended learning were divided into two groups. Students in Group A received instruction in-person on Mondays and Tuesdays. Students in Group B received instruction on Thursdays and Fridays. On Wednesdays, students worked independently to complete assignments at home. Currently, approximately 12 or 3.94% of the 307 Pre-K-5 students enrolled at Norwood Elementary School continue to participate in virtual learning fulltime (S. Porterfield, Personal communication, December 12, 2021). There or 97 or 31.59% of the students who have opted to participate in blended learning (S. Porterfield, Personal communication, December 12, 2021). The remaining 198 or 64.49% of the school’s Pre-K-5 students come into the physical classroom each day to receive face-to-face instruction (S. Porterfield, Personal communication, December 12, 2021). It should be further noted that because of the district’s adoption of the no-touch virtual learning policy, physical sharing or contact through technologies such as paper, books, computer tablets, phones, and other devices is not permitted (Birmingham City Schools, 2021). Instead, teachers are permitted to only use online platforms to provide instruction and to evaluate student learning (Birmingham City Schools, 2021). In turn, all students must use online platforms to receive instruction and to complete and upload assignments. Teachers and students who are physically present in the classroom must use their own computer devices (Birmingham City Schools, 2021).
4 Statement of the Problem The problem of practice that will be addressed is Norwood Elementary School teachers’ lack of efficacy for providing virtual instruction that addresses the math performance of first through fifth grade students as measured by the iReady Math Assessment. At Norwood Elementary School, teachers administer the iReady Assessment to students in grades one through five. The purpose of the iReady Math Assessment is to identify students’ mastery of math concepts and operations. The assessment is administered three times each year, once at the beginning of the school year and again in the middle and at the end of the year. The scale scores vary by grade level and by intervals. Each scale score is categorized into one of three categories or placement definitions and then color-coded as either green, yellow, or red. An iReady Math Assessment Score is color-coded as green if the student is emerging or performs either on or no more than one year below grade level. The score is color-coded as yellow if a student performs two levels below their current grade level. A score that is color-coded red indicates that the study performed three or more grade levels below their current grade. Results from the latest iReady Math Assessment indicate that significant in 2020, significant numbers of students who attend Norwood Elementary School earned scores that were categorized as red and therefore performed three or more grade levels below their current grade in math. Moreover, within many grade levels, although the numbers and percentages of students who earned scores that were categorized as red more than doubled after the emergence of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the numbers and percentages of students who scores were categorized as green decreased by more than 50%. The decrease in the numbers and percentages of K-6 students at Norwood Elementary School, whose earned scores that were categorized compared to the increase in the numbers and percentages of those whose earned scores that were categorized as red on the iReady Math
5 Assessment Scores from 2019 to 2020, indicate that the virtual math instruction provided by teachers on-site has been less effective than the math instruction provided in-person. The problem of practice that will be addressed are the numbers and percentages first through fifth grade students at Norwood Elementary School, who earn scores categorized as red as determined by the iReady Math Assessment. The decline in Norwood Elementary students’ performance on the iReady Math Assessment from 2019 to 2020 indicates a gap between teachers’ effectiveness for providing virtual instruction that improves math proficiency among first through fifth grade students and the students’ actual performance. In addition, there seems to be a gap in the school principals’ expectation regarding the teachers’ ability to use online math instruction that fosters the academic needs of students who attend Norwood Elementary School and the teachers’ perceptions of their lack of self-efficacy for providing online math instruction that fosters the meets the academic needs of students their students. Since the onset of COVID-19, teachers at Norwood Elementary School have not been provided with adequate professional development offerings that will improve their efficacy for providing virtual instruction to their students that will improve their math performance. However, even before the onset of COVID-19, researchers have found that virtual learning presented challenges for teachers and for students ( Livy et al., 2021; Mills et al ., 2021; Rahayu, 2020). Researchers Buentello-Montoya (2021), Knake et al. (2021) and Polly et al. (2022) also found that accommodating the learning needs of students who receive virtual instruction has been challenging and that helping students perform at optimum levels while receiving instruction online requires more attention to teaching strategies and students learning. However, lowered student performance throughout the nation, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, has prevented even greater challenges and the need for news
6 skills of teachers and school leaders for identifying and utilizing innovative pedagogical approaches to accommodate the academic needs of their students through virtual learning (Darling-Hammond et al., 2019). Despite the reopening of Norwood Elementary School on March 8, 2021, amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic, K-65 teachers and students continue to participate in virtual teaching and learning. Data and Evidence Virtual instruction provided by Norwood Elementary School teachers from 2019 to 2020 proved to be ineffective for improving the math performance of first through fifth grade students. The data and evidence are documented by both quantitative and qualitative data sources: (a) The iReady Math Assessment scores; and (b) teachers’ responses to questions to a questionnaire on professional development. Data and evidence from the iReady Math Assessment scores verify an increase in the numbers and percentages of K-6 students at Norwood Elementary School, who performed three or more grade levels below their current grade, and the numbers and percentages of students who performed either on or no more than one year below their grade level. The iReady Math Assessment scores also provide evidence that the numbers and percentages of students whose scores were categorized green and who performed at or above grade level diminished from 2019 to 2020. 2019 and 2020 iReady Math Assessment Scores The first set of data used to provide data and evidence for the need to improve teachers’ effectiveness for providing math instruction virtually are the 2019 and 2020 iReady math assessment scores for students in grades first through six. Although the 2019 iReady math assessment was administered at Norwood Elementary School, the students completed the 2020 iReady math assessment within their homes during school closure. Although the differences in
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