Grad school research project ideas

[Mandamom]

I am in my final few months of my M.S. in Reading and Literacy. Our classes are accelerated so things are moving quickly -- a little too fast. My background is that I'm a former homeschooler, current teacher at a small school (64 students) and I tutor about 5 students on the side. I have an O/G background and don't really consider myself a teacher -- more a tutor due to our small classes and how I teach. 

 

i am in the stage where i need to consider what my final project will be. It will have to include statistical data and I need a minimum of 60 participants if I am doing survey research. If I'm doing experimental, correlational,  I could need upward of 90 with 30 students in each group. 

 

Here is my problem, my school is too small as the students grades range from first to eleventh with some of the classes as small as 3 students. I have a lot of reading, math and writing scores (we test each 2-3 times per year for each student) over the past bunch of years I could possibly use for something. 

 

I thought about accessing homeschoolers (maybe these forums)  and doing some sort of survey or something -- but what? I need something where I can collect statistical data and do some analysis. I'm not sure that would be sufficient for M.S. level but there might be something. 

 

I could contact my son's school (5th grade) and see what I could do there. Timing might be a problem as by the time I have to do this, school might be on summer break (I will be following up with my school regarding that challenge. 

 

I am seriously stressing over this. 

 

If anyone has any ideas, websites or suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it. I've looked at a bunch and nothing is striking my fancy - I might be too stressed because nothing is looking possible. 

 

Thank you,

 

 

[daijobu]

There's a lot of interest in new innovative forms of education, including online learning.  Maybe something to do with homeschoolers' use of online learning or tools, and how effective (or not effective) they might be?  

[ElizabethB]

I am interested in the correlation between MWIA slowdown and silent reading rate. I have data for its correlation to regular reading rate and reading grade level. Here are tests you can use for silent reading speed and the MWIA:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/syllablesspellsu.html

 

Also, my recent gap closing video talks about differences between races for scores, but you need a large sample of minority students which you may or may not have in your area, it would likely need to be at least 20 or 30 percent minority students but size needed would vary based on actual data.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zORKu1F5wx0

 

The short MWIA takes a minute or two per student. You could use a different reading passage and number every word and let them read for a minute and tabulate Word per Minute rate based on that, numbering on your copy only so as to not distract the student. (The passages I have could take a long time for a slow reader. But, if every student had a stopwatch, they could all read that one at the same time.)

 

I would be even more interested to see before and after scores if they read one minute worth of nonsense words in class for a few weeks, but that is a lot more work! (Nonsense words also with tests.) With before and after scores you would want to use a normed reading grade level test such as the GORT IV.

 

I have a beta DVD that is only the lessons, no teacher tips yet, but you should be able to teach from it. You could do before and after testing with it at a Y/ low income community center or church summer program--I have a strong suspicion that silent reading speeds of teen helpers would also improve if they have a slowdown on the MWIA and helped younger students read. All my students who are below grade level have improved their oral reading speeds after my program but I have not yet measured silent reading speed. That is even more work but interesting and helpful to the community!

Edited March 27, 2017 by ElizabethB