PLC Group: Mr. Keefe Mr. Brewer Mr. Skramstad Student Reading Habits and its Impact on CST

Identifying the Problem We recognized a disparity between 11 th grade students in the general Lincoln population and Magnet regarding CST in English language Arts. Only 33% of 11th grade Lincoln students (non-Magnet) perform at proficient or above on the CST and 82.5% of Magnet students perform at proficient or above on the CST.

Hypothesis : The achievement gap in 11th grade English is occurring because of the reading habits of readers and non-readers. Prediction : If Lincoln HS helped to increase English 11 reading habits, the problem would be reduced in the general population. Hypothesis and Prediction

Our Initial Inquiry We created an initial 20 question survey on reading habits. We polled 11 th grade students only from all SLCs including Magnet. Some of our questions included: I don’t like reading books with challenging vocabulary. At home reading is encouraged. I think teachers should spend more time on vocabulary instruction. Not knowing vocabulary words keeps you from reading. Not knowing how to choose a book keeps me from reading. I only read what interest me. I have a library card and use it. I reckoned books to others.

Our Revised Inquiry We created a 20 question survey on reading habits. We polled 11 th grade students only. As a result of our initial survey, we decided to isolate 3 specific questions and determine if there was a correlation between CST and student reading habits. These are the three questions we asked: How many minutes do you read for pleasure each day? To what degree do you feel about this statement: reading is enjoyable. To what degree to do you feel about this statement: at home, reading is encouraged.

How many minutes a day do you read for pleasure outside of school? Question #1:

SUMMARY OUTPUT Q#1 Regression Statistics Multiple R R Square6.7E-05 Adjusted R Square Standard Error Observations124 ANOVA dfSSMSF Significance F Regression Residual Total Coefficients Standard Errort StatP-valueLower 95%Upper 95%Lower 95.0%Upper 95.0% Intercept E X Variable

To what degree do you feel about this statement: Reading is enjoyable. Question #2:

SUMMARY OUTPUT Q#2 Regression Statistics Multiple R R Square Adjusted R Square Standard Error Observations124 ANOVA dfSSMSFSignificance F Regression Residual Total Coefficients Standard Errort StatP-valueLower 95%Upper 95%Lower 95.0%Upper 95.0% Intercept E X Variable

To what degree do you feel about this statement: At home, reading is encouraged. Question #3:

SUMMARY OUTPUT Q#3 Regression Statistics Multiple R R Square Adjusted R Square Standard Error Observations124 ANOVA dfSSMSF Significance F Regression Residual Total Coefficients Standard Errort StatP-valueLower 95%Upper 95%Lower 95.0%Upper 95.0% Intercept E X Variable

Conclusions We found no correlation between CST Scores in English Language (10 th grade) and our three questions: Pleasure reading at night, Enjoyment of Reading, and Reading Encouragement at Home. There are many factors we could have focused on to determine a positive correlation. We did find some question whether students were responding sincerely to many of our survey questions like Reading is encouraged or minutes spent reading at night. Perhaps students would try to create a certain impression.