Informing my Inquiry

How can I support my students to make sense of a range of texts independently? 

So far in my inquiry, I have come to the realisation that while my students are able to discuss texts with others and do well in Probe testing (with an external tester), they struggle in PAT testing.

My hunch is that my students are supported by discursive nature of Probe, but they struggle to access the deeper meaning of texts when alone. I also wonder if they struggle when presented with a range of texts and text types, as in class/ the probe test they are able to focus on one text and dedicate more time to making sense of it.

It is now time to start collecting data to prove/ disprove my hunches and find out where my students struggle. These are the methods of data collection that I have been considering:

e-asTTle Reading
While I have the PAT results for my class, I would like more insight into the type of questions that my students struggle with. I know that e-asTTles marking console illustrates students strengths and weaknesses which would give me more information about my students reading abilities.

This test would also be helpful to test the reliability of my PAT data. In comparing the two results I may identify students who performed particularly well/ poorly in the PAT test. I could triangulate this data using an independent assessment resource bank task as well, to ensure I have an accurate picture of my students achievement.

Assessment Resource Bank 
I will assign two level four assessment tasks from the Assessment Resource Bank. In the first instance, students will complete the task independently in test conditions. It might be useful to go back over the test with students in reading groups, to see which questions they struggled with and where they may have gone wrong.

I could also run a second assessment task with my target group. I would be interested in sitting with them one on one and running the test orally. I wonder if simply hearing the questions aloud/ being able to answer orally would impact the students results between the tests.

Student Voice
I need to understand a little more about what is happening inside my students heads when they take a test. Are they reading all of the texts? Do they lose motivation or become anxious? I will use a survey (Google Form) to get feedback on how my students are feeling, what they thought of the test and the texts/ areas that they found challenging. 

Ultimately, I need to know whether my students are struggling with particular reading strategies, or with test taking skills.

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