Monitoring Reading Growth Using Student Recalls: Effects of Two Teacher Feedback Systems

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare two types of teacher feedback, using an ongoing measurement system that involved students’ performance on a reading recall task. Twenty-two teachers were assigned randomly to two treatment groups. In the performance indicator feedback group, teachers received graphs that displayed students’ total number of content words retold over time; in the performance indicator with qualitative feedback group, teachers received graphs along with a structured analysis of the story components students included in their recalls. Teachers used the monitoring systems for 15 weeks, with 41 students with reading problems. Multivariate analyses of covariance indicated that teachers in the performance indicator with qualitative feedback group wrote more specific instructional plans and effected better growth with their pupils. Achievement differences were larger as the outcome measures related more directly to the recall task embedded within the ongoing measurement system. Implications for assessment, instructional planning, and research design are discussed.