Student Analytics Demographics The instructional setting includes 28 second grade students in a rapidly growing suburban elementary school in Utah. The school has more than doubled its population in the past three years. This school's population consists of over 950 K-6 students, of which over 4% are ethnically diverse. The largest ethnic group of elementary school students is white. This is followed by Hispanic students (1.5%), black students (0.6%), mixed ethnic students (0.4%), and Asian students (0.2%) (2011). Approximately 5% of students come from economically disadvantaged families. Class sizes range from 24 to 32. Four students are classified as special education students. Three of the students receive speech therapy. A student is classified as TBI, traumatic brain injury. Response to Tier 1 intervention is being implemented for at-risk students. Data is being collected for two additional students who have been identified as at-risk behavior. At-risk students are the target group of this research and instructional design unit. The area of interest is reading comprehension strategies for non-fiction texts. These students are below grade level for reading comprehension. Students do not use strategies when reading, especially when reading nonfiction texts. On a comprehension test, 68% of the class did not score above grade level. These students are unable to transfer knowledge and information from the text to real-life situations, such as discussions about the text or answering questions about what they have read. Prior knowledge of the topic 70% of students scored below grade level on the nonfiction subtest. on the end-of-level tests of the previous year. When reading books or nonfiction passages, the text str...... in the center of the paper ...... level for students who are not fluent. There are apps or websites that read stories and highlight information as students read. This gives them even more opportunity and practice in implementing strategies and gaining important prior knowledge for understanding text structure. Involving parents is essential. Many parents are willing to help their children at home and therefore it is essential to inform them about the need to gain experience with non-fiction texts. The school has been a top-ranking elementary school in the State of Utah in the areas of reading, writing, mathematics and science every year since opening in 2010. Learning activities are supported by parent volunteers who value education. Parental involvement and expectations are high (2012). All of these strengths can be used to give students more experience with nonfiction texts.
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