Date of Conferral
2022
Degree
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
School
Education
Advisor
Dr. Michelle McCraney
Abstract
AbstractThe problem explored in this study was the low achievement of third grade students on the English Language Arts (ELA) Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers Assessment (PARCC). The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore teacher perceptions about third grade students in one charter school who were consistently scoring low on the PARCC assessment in ELA. The conceptual framework for this study was Vygotsky's Social Constructivist Theory. Vygotsky's Social Constructivist theory suggests that when learners are engaged in the process of learning, they are able to learn from the person who is presenting the information (Lev Vygotsky's Social Constructivist Theory Developmental Standards, 2020). The study location was an urban school setting. The data were gathered through structured interviews recorded via Zoom with 10 third grade ELA educators. Open coding was used to identify three themes aligned to the research question. Findings from the study indicated that educators reported that students’ prior knowledge, the difference in the way the curriculum assessments are formatted in comparison to the format of the ELA PARCC assessments, and students’ abilities to demonstrate comprehension impacted their performance on the ELA PARCC Assessment. The results further indicated that teachers needed additional support related to prior knowledge, building student comprehension and test formatting. As a result, a three-day professional development was created to support educators with planning related to the identified themes that arose from the interviews. Findings from the study could lead to positive social change as administrators use the findings to improve the learning opportunities experienced by students and improve the standing of a neighborhood school based on PARCC scores.
Recommended Citation
Smith, Melissa, "Perceptions of English Language Arts Teachers Related to Low Student Performance on the PARCC Assessment" (2022). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 14509.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/14509
