School Improvement Research Series - Education Northwest

1 School Improvement Research SeriesResearch You Can UseClose-Up #4 Monitoring Student Learning in the ClassroomKathleen CottonINTRODUCTIONThe body of educational Research literature which has come to be known as the effectiveschooling Research identifies the practice of monitoring student learning as an essentialcomponent of high-quality Education . The careful monitoring of student progress is shown inthe literature to be one of the major factors differentiating effective schools and teachers fromineffective ones. Indeed, those analyses which have sought to determine the relative effect sizesof different instructional practices have identified monitoring student progress as a strongpredictor of student does "monitoring student learning" involve?

2 The American Heritage dictionary definesmonitoring as KEEPING WATCH OVER; SUPERVISING and also gives another morespecific meaning: TO SCRUTINIZE OR CHECK SYSTEMATICALLY WITH A VIEW TOCOLLECTING CERTAIN SPECIFIED CATEGORIES OF DATA. As the term is used ineducational settings, monitoring takes in both these meanings and is closely connected with therelated functions of record keeping, reporting, and decision our purposes here we shall define monitoring as ACTIVITIES PURSUED BYTEACHERS TO KEEP TRACK OF STUDENT LEARNING FOR PURPOSES OFMAKING INSTRUCTIONAL DECISIONS AND PROVIDING FEEDBACK TOSTUDENTS ON THEIR PROGRESS.

3 When educators speak of classroom monitoring, theygenerally refer to the following teacher behaviors:Questioning students during classroom discussions to check their understanding of thematerial being taughtCirculating around the classroom during seatwork and engaging in one-to-one contactswith students about their workAssigning, collecting, and correcting homework; recording completion and gradesConducting periodic reviews with students to confirm their grasp of learning material andidentify gaps in their knowledge and understandingAdministering and correcting tests.

4 Recording scoresReviewing student performance data collected and recorded and using these data to makeneeded adjustments in instructionDefined this way, monitoring obviously includes many kinds of activities, but it is important tonote that the present analysis does not address issues relating to schoolwide or district-levelmonitoring of student learning. It is not concerned, except incidentally, with monitoringstudents' behavior. And it provides only cursory information on such matters as teacher trainingin monitoring and assessment practices or the processes teachers follow in putting monitoringinformation to , the focus here is classroom-level monitoring of student learning progress and whatresearch says about the relationships between such monitoring and the student outcomes ofachievement, attitudes and social Research ON MONITORING STUDENT LEARNINGS everal dozen documents were reviewed in preparation for this report.

5 Of these, 23 are studiesor reviews which clearly indicate a relationship between one or more forms of monitoringstudent learning and student outcomes--usually achievement. Fifteen documents are reviewsand eight are studies. Five involve elementary students, three involve secondary students, andfifteen are concerned with the entire K-12 range. Fourteen have general achievement as thedependent variable. Language arts is the outcome focus of three documents. Others include:mathematics--3, science--2, social studies--1, and student attitudes--5. Some investigationswere concerned with more than one outcome area.

6 Nineteen of the studies concern regulareducation students of various races, socioeconomic groups, and ability levels. Three havespecial Education subjects, and one focuses on Chapter 1 the kinds of monitoring functions investigated, teacher questioning to check studentunderstanding is the focus of three reports. Others include: monitoring seat work4,assigning/collecting/grading homework--2, conducting periodic reviews in class--2, formativetesting--2, and reviewing records--3. Nine of the reports focused on two or more of pertaining to each of these kinds of classroom monitoring--and to monitoring ingeneral--are cited in the sections which AND OTHER LEARNING PROBESThe term "learning probe" refers to a variety of ways that teachers can ask for brief studentresponses to lesson content so as to determine their understanding of what is being to the class, quizzes.

7 And other means of calling upon students to demonstrate theirunderstanding are methods used by teachers to find out if their instruction is "working" or if itneeds to be adjusted in some the use of learning probes have a beneficial effect on student achievement? The researchindicates that this approach can indeed produce achievement benefits. Particularly effectivetechniques include:Keeping questions at an appropriate level of difficulty; that is, at a level where moststudents can experience a high degree of success in answeringPaying close attention to who is answering questions during classroom discussion andcalling upon non volunteersAsking students to comment or elaborate on one another's answersUsing information on students levels of understanding to increase the pace of instructionwhenever appropriate.

8 (There is a strong positive relationship between content coveredand student achievement. Monitoring can alert teachers to situations where they canprofitably pick up the instructional pace and thus cover more material.)MONITORING SEATWORKR esearch comparing the behavior of effective teachers ( , those whose students achieve highlyor higher than would be expected given background variable) with that of less effective teachershas clearly revealed the importance of monitoring the class during seatwork periods. Suchmonitoring involves teachers moving around the classroom, being aware of how well or poorlystudents are progressing with their assignments, and working with students one-to-one asneeded.

9 The most effective teachers:Have systematic procedures for supervising and encouraging students while they more interactions with students during seatwork periods, rather than waiting forstudents to ask for helpHave more substantive interactions with students during seatwork monitoring, stay task-oriented, and work through problems with studentsGive extra time and attention to students they believe need extra helpStress careful and consistent checking of assignments and require that these be turned inMONITORING HOMEWORKThe assignment of homework.

10 Like many educational practices, can be beneficial, neutral, ordetrimental depending upon he nature and context of the homework tasks. The use ofhomework assignments bears a significant and positive relationship to achievement when thehomework is carefully monitored, as well as serving the function of increasing students'learning time. Homework confers the most beneficial results when assignments are:Closely tied to the subject matter currently being studied in the classroomGiven frequently as a means of extending student practice time with new materialAppropriate to the ability and maturity levels of studentsClearly understood by students and parentsMonitored by parents.