Action Research: Small Group Writing Instruction

Abstract

The problem is second grade students are not meeting their writing goals since coming back from remote learning. According to the National Center of Education Statistics [NCES], 2003, 2012) prior to remote learning, in the US three fourths of students do not write with proficiency, so this is a long-term problem that has been exacerbated by the quarantine. Ahmed, Wagner and Lopez (2014) pointed out that longitudinal studies showed the relationship between early literacy skills and later writing skills. This action research study was designed to examine the impact of small group instruction on a targeted group of lower-skilled writers. There were 8- second grade students from a general education classroom who participated in this study. Baseline data was first gathered from a pre-assessment on opinion writing graded with a rubric then compared to a post-assessment after small group instruction was given for a six-week period. The researcher's analysis showed that there was a marked increase in scores from the pre- to the post-assessment.