Writing Intensive Reading Comprehension, Year 2:

1. Writing Intensive Reading Comprehension, Year 2: Developing Measures for Interpreting What the WIRC Data Tell Us About Reading-Writing Connections Jim Collins, Jaekyung Lee, Janina Brutt-Griffler, Mary McVee, Tim Madigan, Jeff Fox, Sean Turner, Eric Vosburgh, Pavithra Babu University at Buffalo Project Abstract Highlights of Year 2 in the WIRC Study The Writing Intensive Reading Comprehension Study is a three-year project testing the effectiveness of using writing to enhance the reading comprehension and writing performance of fourth- and fifth-graders in low-performing urban schools. The purpose of the study is to determine if guided reading and writing supported by thinksheets  guides to reading, writing and problem solving which teachers use interactively with students will improve the reading comprehension of fourth- and fifth-graders. Where We Are in This 3-Year Study Targeted Reading Select and Connect Thinksheets Internal, External, and Dialogic Connectedness Thinksheets to Bring Reading & Writing Together Experimental Data Analysis Connectedness Measures and Thinksheet Analysis Assessing the Benefits of Writing Intensive Reading Comprehension (WIRC): Measurement and Design of the WIRC Experiment Jeff Fox, Jaek Lee & Jim Collins Writing Intensive Reading Comprehension (WIRC) is a progressive instructional intervention designed to enhance the competence of struggling readers and writers. One goal of the three-year WIRC study is to subject the intervention to a rigorous scientific evaluation of its effectiveness. This paper describes decisions made by the WIRC research team related to development of the experimental design, sampling and generalizability, psychometric properties of the assessment tools, cross-condition equivalence in reading competence prior to delivery of the intervention, and cross-condition equivalence in instructional practices that are unrelated to the WIRC intervention. Results are discussed in terms of outstanding research issues and challenges. Bringing Reading and Writing Together: The Two Year History of Interactive Thinksheets in the WIRC Study Tim Madigan, Jim Collins & Jaek Lee A thinksheet is an interactive scaffold that helps students write about their reading. This paper presents the two-year history of thinksheets in our grant. Using data from student writing and classroom discourse, we tell what we learned from designing and testing thinksheets and how students and teachers responded to our evolving design. This evolution can be described generally as moving from “Write to Read” thinksheets in Year 1, which had the purpose of helping students to write about their reading by targeting information in literary selection, to “Select and Connect” thinksheets in Year 2, which had the further purpose of choosing details and organizing them into coherent writing, first in graphic organizers and then in written texts. We analyze this movement in terms of our theoretical model of reading-writing relations. Connectedness Analysis Janina Brutt-Griffler, Jim Collins & Jaek Lee A comparison of two data sets from the 4th and 5th grade students on three measurements of reading and writing achievement employed in the WIRC study reveals improved student performance over time. Essays written at the mid-point of the school year by the 4th and 5th grade students demonstrate higher mean scores on the ELA rubric, internal and external connectedness and automated analysis, all of which speak to the increased quality of writing. This growth also has something to say about (a) reading comprehension and (b) a developmental stage that both groups of students demonstrate. We are currently using the same measures to analyze a third data set from the same students at a later point in the school year to see if the pattern of growth continued. Papers Presented