Successful Literacy Passport Test Remediation Strategies for Elementary and Middle School Students In Virginia middle school students must pass all three parts of the Literacy Passport Test (LPT) to be promoted to the ninth grade. As early as fourth grade, students can take the Literacy Passport Predictor Test to ascertain deficiencies that need attention. School divisions are responsible for providing remediation for students who fail one or more parts of the LPT. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to examine instructional strategies teachers and other school personnel have employed to successfully remediate students who have failed the reading and writing parts of the Virginia LPT or LPT Predictor Test. The intent was to determine if specific approaches seem to work best for different types of students (e.g., elementary or middle), and if particular materials, teaching strategies, scheduling, and other factors appear to be associated with successful remediation. METHODOLOGY Five focus groups were convened in early May, 1994, to provide information. The participants were classroom and resource teachers who have had experience in remediating students for the LPT. These individuals were purposively selected to be knowledgable about successful remediation strategies from different schools. Selection was done to result in as many different schools being represented as possible. Sixteen individuals participated in two elementary level focus groups, representing sixteen different schools. Eighteen individuals participated in three middle level focus groups, representing eleven different schools. The data were analyzed by first reviewing moderator and observer notes and discussing major themes, issues, and conclusions. In addition, transcripts of the interviews were coded and analyzed. ELEMENTARY FINDINGS Organizational/Structural Factors An important organizational factor was teaming and collaboration. Teachers worked together for the students to provide a comprehensive, focused, and consistent approach. There was a group commitment that probably fostered a serious, concerted effort that would be evident to students. Effectively remediation occurs where resources are provided to give teachers extra help in the regular classroom. This extra help comes in various forms, though it appears that the help needs to be in significant amounts of time each day to be effective. This finding is consistent with the idea that it is generally more effective to push-in rather than pull-out, putting extra resources in the regular classroom. Another organizational factor was the need for efficient and timely follow-up of remediated students and feedback to teachers. Finally, it seemed that teachers were very appreciative of workshops and in-services that would help them understand the nature of the tests. Teacher Responsibility Classroom teachers believed that they were primarily reponsible for students passing the LPT and for remediating students. These teachers took on ownership, commitment, and responsibility. This suggests a seriousness of purpose and dedication that is translated as a serious, yet caring, attitude. General Approaches To Teaching One of the most salient findings from these groups was the emphasis on student attitude, motivation, and interest. Students need become engaged in reading and writing. This occurs as teachers use approaches and materials that helps the student make a meaningful connection with the topic. The purpose of reading is constructing meaning; the key to motivating a student to pursue, to enjoy, and to become competent in both reading and writing is meaningfulness. Another significant finding was the need to emphasize writing processes and procedures. This essentially gives the students a structure and approach that they can use in different writing tasks. By providing structure and a formula, and by breaking down the process into small parts, students can more easily stay focused. While they did not teach the test, they certainly advocated teaching to the test so that students would be familiar with and practice the skills needed to score well. It was helpful to keep materials at the right level and individualize< as much as possible, and to allow students to make as many choices of their own as possible. Teachers indicated that most efforts to improve skills for the LPT were emphasized first for the entire class, followed by targeted individualized attention in the fifth grade. Finally, teachers indicated that it is helpful to create a low level of student stress. Specific Instructional Strategies and Techniques The most frequently mentioned instructional practice was the need for the teacher to model reading and writing as much as possible. Peer teaching was also mentioned as a very effective technique. Other techniques that were mentioned included the use of thematic units, close supervision, journals, visualization, making students accountable for what they read, and reading more nonfiction material. MIDDLE SCHOOL FINDINGS Organizational/Structural Factors Like the elementary focus groups, middle school participants stressed the importance of particular organizational and structural factors for successful remediation. The most frequently mentioned was importance of working in teams. Within their team, teachers spoke of determining how to do the remediation, of noting what each teacher is doing for a particular strategy, and then sharing strategies. Everyone was able to have the same expectations, and all assumed responsibility for teaching reading and writing. This results in a schoolwide commitment that students will pass the LPT. There is a cohesiveness and unified effort that is evident, resulting in a plan of some kind for systematically addressing remediation. An important aspect of the team concept is to have a reading specialist available as a resource for students and teachers alike. Another organizational factor concerns the identification and selection of students for remediation. While it was important to have some kind of systematic effort to identify students, the specific nature of that process could vary. A final important organizational factor was to ensure appropriate teacher responsibility and qualifications. This suggests that teachers need to assume personal responsibility and commitment for student success, and that they need appropriate training. Responsibility for students' passing the LPT lies with classroom teachers in all content areas, with assistance from remediation teachers. Teachers need to be trained in test format, scoring, and expectations. Teachers need to be interested in and motivated to help students succeed. Regular classroom teachers should not generally be "pulled" to do remediation unless they are trained and interested in doing it. It is important that all teachers receive supervisory and administrative understanding and support. It is especially important to have appropriate training for new teachers. Teaching Test-taking Skills Much of the discussion centered upon test wiseness and the need for better preparation in basic skills. It was found that students meeting with success on the LPT often have access to test-taking strategies and practice tests in their language arts classes. They are often given mock tests, scrantron forms and prompts that are similar to what they will find on the test. Many teachers also believe that basic skills need to be addressed for both writing and reading, such as sentence structure, vocabulary and grammar. In the case of both reading and writing, this translates into practice, practice, practice: Much of the test-taking strategies mentioned focused on getting students comfortable with using the cloze technique that they need to know how to do on the test. Student Motivation For middle school students needing remediation, motivating them to be meaningfully engaged in learning is critical. This factor was mentioned much more than any other. This is often fostered by building on student interests, by using instructional techniques that engage them, incentives, and by helping them realize the importance of passing the test. One of the key motivational issues seems to be that the students have a low self-efficacy of being able to do well on the test, and until this aspect of self-esteem is addressed the students will not want to work so that they can be successful. Teaching Strategies It was clear that the dominant teaching strategy for remediation was to use small groups of students and tutoring. This was more effective than teaching large groups. Thus, as much individualized attention as possible is needed to address both the motivational and academic deficiencies of the students. Having opportunities to work individually with students encouraged the development of a positive relationship between the teacher or mentor and student, which was important for supporting attitudinal and motivational needs. Teachers need to diagnose for effective remediation, but this did not tend to be a formalized approach or be in the form of a structured plan. It was found that computer programs can be very effective, including those emphasizing HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills). The programs were successful in providing individualization in a meaningful and interesting manner. The programs were well-connected to other learning or directly to the LPT, rather than a "one-shot" experience that is unrelated to what students are learning. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS Overall, this research suggests that there are a few general principles and approaches that have common elements, with much less emphasis on specific strategies or techniques. The common elements included the following: Schoolwide commitment to successful remediation, including high expectations of all personnel, cohesiveness of effort, and a plan that is shared and systematically implemented. Teaming of teachers and shared responsibility of all teachers for remediation. Individual teacher commitment, ownership, and sense of responsibility to do whatever is needed to help students pass. Appropriate teacher qualifications and training to understand LPT, diagnose student weaknesses, and implement remediation. Reading resource teachers are especially helpful with this. A systematic effort to identify students needing remediation and regular feedback to teachers concerning success rates of students. Teaching students test-taking skills. More emphasis on teaching basic skills such as vocabulary, sentence structure, and grammar. Effective use of visualization and visual imagery is helpful. Providing students with extensive practice in doing the skills needed to be successful on the tests. Incorporating cloze and other techniques into content areas. Structuring experiences and relationships with students to motivate them to work hard to succeed. Student engagement is needed, which is fostered by student interest and making meaningful connections with the topics. Motivation may also be enhanced if students share responsibility for developing the remediation plan. Individualizing instruction as much as possible, using push-in models at the elementary level and tutoring programs in the middle school to incorporate small groups and one-on-one instruction. Pull-out programs should be used cautiously. Use of computer programs, journals, visualization, student choice, incentives, and other techniques that are successful in maintaining student engagement. Use of teacher modeling and close supervision with guided structure, often made possible by extra instructional personnel. Begin remediation efforts as early as possible in the elementary school. From these findings it appears that the key to successful remediation is meaningful student engagement. Organizational factors, teacher commitment, building on student interest and motivation, and individualized instruction with close supervision create an environment where students are encouraged and rewarded for serious engagement in learning. It is in this condition that students will be receptive to specific strategies and skills that will enable them to be successful. Some aspects of this environment are at a "macro" level, influenced significantly by school administrators, such as creating a schoolwide focus, providing sufficient resources to enable small group and tutorial instruction, providing adequate teacher training, and developing a system for systematic feedback to teachers on the performance of their students. Other factors rely primarily on the willingness and commitment of individual teachers - content area teachers to emphasize literacy skills and language arts teachers to diagnose, establish a plan, establish a positive relationship with the student, find interesting materials for students, and do whatever is needed. James H. McMillan The information found in this research brief have been synthesized from the following MERC publication. Copies can be purchased using the online order form on the publications page. McMillan, J. H. (1995, October). Successful literacy passport test remediation strategies for elementary and middle school students: Research report. top of page | return to research list