Date of Conferral
4-15-2025
Date of Award
April 2025
Degree
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
School
Education
Advisor
Donald Yarosz
Abstract
Third-grade students are not meeting minimum proficiency in opinion and informational writing, as determined by scores from the annually mandated Georgia Milestones Assessment (GMAS) in the 19 elementary schools in a local school district in central Georgia. Guided by Vygotsky’s social-constructivist perspective, the purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore Title 1 third-grade English Language Arts teachers’ experiences with using writing strategies designed to improve students’ writing proficiency on the GMAS in the Title 1 elementary schools in a local district in central Georgia. Data were collected using semistructured interviews with 10 third-grade teachers who were chosen from 15 local Title 1 schools using purposive and snowball sampling. Interview data were analyzed inductively to identify five themes: (a) teachers reported that students’ limited foundational writing skills made it challenging to implement advanced strategies, (b) teachers identified specific strategies that effectively supported student growth, (c) barriers such as time constraints, curriculum alignment, and standardized testing pressure hindered writing implementation, (d) teachers highlighted authentic writing and student engagement as key to writing development, and (e) most teachers expressed a need for more practical professional development in writing strategies. These findings informed the development of a 3-day summer launch writing training for K-3 teachers, designed to address the challenges teachers experienced in writing instruction and adopting best practices. This study has the potential to promote positive social change by influencing teachers’ instructional strategies, which may help improve the writing proficiency of third-grade students in the local setting.
Recommended Citation
Robertson, Kim, "Title 1 Third-Grade Teachers' Experiences with Writing Strategies to Improve Students' Writing Proficiency" (2025). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 17601.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/17601
