RESEARCH SITE
I currently work as a math interventionist at a cyber charter school that serves students from across the state of Pennsylvania in an online setting. The school demographics are very unique since the school hosts students from different districts in Pennsylvania. I do not have the current data for median household income for students, but in 2016, the median household income for Pennsylvania was $56,907 (Pennsylvania Household Income). In 2015, 0.4% of students identified as American Indian/Alaska Native, 3.5% as Asian, 17.8% as Black, 6.9% as Hispanic, 0.2% as Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, 3.9% as two or more races, and 67.3% identified as White (Civil Rights Data Collection, 2015). The Civil Rights Data collected in 2015 found that 51.6% of students enrolled were female and 48.4% were male. The school has a high percentage of students with disabilities at 16.5%, 1.8% of students had a 504 plan, and 0.9% of students were identified as having limited English proficiency (Civil Rights Data Collection, 2015). The school does not acknowledge Gifted IEPs because there is no gifted program or gifted certified teachers, so 0% of the students are considered gifted and talented (Civil Rights Data Collection, 2015).
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Since the school is online, 0% of students are eligible for free and reduced lunch, however, it is a Title 1 school. Students are required to login to their school accounts each day for attendance. 7.5% of students in grades K-12 are chronically absent, meaning they did not login for ten or more days during the school year (Civil Rights Data Collection, 2015). In 2015, 252 students from grades K-12 were retained (Civil Rights Data Collection, 2015). The online school environment also eliminates statistics such as detention, suspensions, expulsions, and arrests, all equallying 0% of the overall population. However, I do know that some students in the past have been “suspended” online, which limits their availability to other students and teachers. It seems this type of suspension is not included in the disciplinary data.
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Currently, the entire school, kindergarten through 12th grade, has 3,274 students enrolled. Out of those 3,274 students, 752 are elementary students. In 2015, there were 148 teachers at PALCS from grades K-12 and 25% of those teachers were in their first or second year of teaching (Civil Rights Data Collection, 2015). This year, the elementary department hired two additional 5th grade teachers, one additional 4th grade teacher, and one additional math interventionist. The elementary principal was hired in 2016. The high school principal was hired in 2019 and the middle school principal has been at the school since 2015. The elementary department has two guidance counselors for students in grades K-5. There are four special education teachers in the elementary department and at least three regular education teachers for every grade level. The school offers optional electives including art, music, foreign language, and coding. Health/PE is the only required elective for students in K-5.
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I currently have thirty-eight students enrolled in my intervention class. Nineteen are boys and nineteen are girls. Fourteen are Black or African American, eighteen are White, one is Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, one is Middle Eastern/Asian, and four are Hispanic.
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ORIGIN OF RESEARCH QUESTION
My new position as an elementary math interventionist sparked my interest in enhancing the program at my school. My school has a large population of elementary students performing below grade level in math. The current math intervention program includes two math specialists for about five hundred underperforming students. Since the need for intervention is so high, not all students are receiving intervention services.
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During the 2019-2020 school year, one hundred students were invited to math intervention based on PSSA data, diagnostic results, and teacher input. The students that were invited to math intervention are performing one grade level below (tier 2) in three to four different math content areas including numbers and operations - base ten, numbers and operations - fractions, and measurement and data. The content areas are divided into units lasting between six to ten weeks. The students meet with the math interventionist twice a week for 30 minute lessons. The lessons focus on the identified content areas. Each student completes a pre-assessment before a unit and a post-assessment at the end of the unit. The students who enrolled at the beginning of the year will remain in intervention for the duration of the school year. There are many challenges with the current model of math intervention:
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Students who enter the program remain in the program for the entire year, even if they show growth.
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The program only supports up to one hundred students who are one grade level below in specific content areas.
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The duration of each intervention unit is scheduled and does not occur in context as other forms of immediate intervention might.
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The students are grouped based on scheduling conflicts rather than ability.
There is little research addressing the best ways to provide intervention (Ketterlin-Geller, Chard, Fien, 2008). Therefore, I wanted to conduct research to examine the existing intervention program at my school and make recommendations for a unique intervention program that specifically works for cyber students.
ABOUT THE RESEARCH TOPIC
Research proves that a full time math interventionist improves students’ mathematical understanding and performance (Harbour, Adelson, Pittard, Karp 2018). There are different models of math intervention: problem-solving intervention and standard treatment (Lembke, Hampton, Beyers, 2012). In problem-solving intervention the teacher determines the areas of student need through assessments, implements evidence based intervention, and uses ongoing assessments to determine instructional changes (Lembke, Hampton, Beyers, 2012). In standard treatment intervention a package or product is purchased (Lembke, Hampton, Beyers, 2012). In this model the math interventionist follows the purchased program or the student works through an adaptive online program. Each school is able to decide which math intervention model works best to support their targeted students.
A problem-solving math intervention program was adopted at my school in the 2018-2019 school year. The initial structure and goal of the math intervention program has since been adjusted to better suit our students’ needs. However, with such a large population of tier 2 and tier 3 students, many of our students are not receiving math intervention services. Therefore, I am examining different models of math intervention in literature and in local school districts to improve the math intervention program at my cyber school for the 2020-2021 school year.
REFLECTION
Before I began my research project I believed that underperforming math students should receive a standard treatment intervention model, meaning they should follow a purchased program. However, research proves that both models (problem-solving and standard treatment) improve student performance as long as there is a full time math interventionist. I am still in the process of conducting interviews, though I have learned that cyber teachers prefer a problem-solving model.