AVID & Metacognitive Skills
B. Odajima, T. Smith, A. Stamatis, H. Taylor, R. Wilson
Which AVID Strategies Increase Metacognitive Skills in Middle-School Students? A Case Study.
Theoretical Framework
- Metacognition has often been defined as “thinking about thinking.”
- Metacognition appears to play a critical role in students’ successful learning (Livingston, 2003).
- Students in today’s classrooms must be able to do more than simply learn content.
- Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896–1934) Zone of Proximal Development focused on what teachers could do to support students with developing their metacognitive skills. This involved powerful teacher modeling and student guided practices, which are keys to successful learning (Griffith & Ruan, 2005).
- Metacognition represents skills lead to student expertise (Sternberg, 1998).
- Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) operates with the goal to close the achievement gap by preparing all students for college and other postsecondary opportunities.
- AVID focuses on:
- Developing students’ critical thinking
- Literacy
- Math skills
- Organization
- Time management
- Goal setting
- Empower students to take responsibility for their own learning (Swanson, Marcus & Elliott, 2000).
- The AVID elective class provides a structure for students in the areas of:
- Monitoring
- Organizing
- Planning
- Utilizing working memory
- As well as initiates and provides the emotional support to increase behavioral regulation (Watt, Powell, & Mendiola, 2004, 2009).
Research Problem & Research Questions
The purpose of this case study will be to discover the specific AVID curriculum strategies that increase metacognitive skills in middle-school students enrolled in AVID elective classes at two Waco ISD middle schools. At this stage in the research, metacognitive skills will be generally defined as (a) assess your own work, (b) organize materials, (c) set goals and develop steps to reach the goals, (d) remember what you needed to do next, (e) generate new ideas, (f) control your emotions, (g) solve problems, and/or (h) control your behavior.
What components of the AVID elective classroom curriculum improve metacognitive skills in first year AVID elective students in two Waco ISD middle schools?
Research Design & Analysis
Participants
- Five students: Demonstrated the most statistically significant growth in the quantitative portion of this project.
- Quantitative part: Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF)
- Rating form for the teacher: 86 items
- Examples of metacognitive skills measured by BRIEF: working memory, planning and organizing, and controlling emotions.
- Qualitative part: Interview guide
- What components of the AVID curriculum improved your metacognitive skills:
- (a) assess your own work,
- (b) organize materials,
- (c) set goals and develop steps to reach the goals,
- (d) remember what you needed to do next,
- (e) generate new ideas,
- (f) control your emotions,
- (g) solve problems, and/or
- (h) control your behavior.
Design
- (Mixed-method design)
- Qualitative: Intrinsic case study research design through individual structured interviews
- Why? Because the interest is only in understanding the particulars of this case
Procedures
- Two teachers will complete a pre and post BRIEF survey for each of the AVID students. The pre-survey will be completed in October and the post-survey in May of the school year.
- The two BRIEF surveys will be compared and the researcher will determine the 5 students that demonstrated the largest significant growth from the pre-survey to the post-survey on the BRIEF.
Data Analysis
- The top 5 students will be interviewed. The interviews will be video recorded and transcribed by the researcher to determine the students’ perspectives, especially their attitudes and opinions towards the reasons for their improvement in metacognitive growth.
- Reduction of the transcription will be the goal of the analysis.
- Responses will be categorized and placed into groups by examining repeating themes.
- There will be a second evaluator who will review and transcribe the video recordings. The transcribers will determine the results and place the responses into one of three categories: AVID elective class, traditional classroom curriculum, or skill not developed at school.
Why is this Important? Anticipated Results
Why is this important?
- The AVID Program targets a specific group of under-resourced learners.
- Most of the AVID students who are in the program are academically capable students who don’t come from a background where educational experiences are prevalent.
- From the perspective of a school district and a taxpayer, this research is important because it helps to refine a program that is a significant investment for school districts.
- Many school districts fund the program from a compensatory education fund, which is designed to educate at risk students as well as close the achievement gap.
Anticipated results
- Goal setting and organization will have the greatest impact increasing metacognitive skills in middle school students.
- The instruction on how to effectively organize an AVID binder and the model of having class specific folders to organize work has shown to be a significant advantage for students in the AVID program.