How might explicit teaching of organizational skills impact student achievement in a 9th grade English class?

Seminar Title

How might explicit teaching of organizational skills impact student achievement in a 9th grade English class?

Organization Skills

9th Grade

High School

Language Arts

All Disciplines

“My dog ate my homework” is not an excuse students use these days, but the problem of missing assignments, missing materials, and missing due dates persists. As a result, for many students, disorganization is a factor contributing to poor academic performance. My action research project examined the relationship between organizational skill development and academic achievement in a 9th grade English classroom. If, like me, you’re tired of organizational issues affecting student performance, join me for this session where we will discuss strategies to help raise student organizational awareness and develop organizational skills that contribute to student success.

How might explicit teaching of organizational skills impact student achievement in a 9th grade English class? Inspired by research suggesting that developing organization skills in students positively affects student achievement, I conducted a ten-week action research project that involved teaching, monitoring, and enforcing student organizational skills and examining the impact they had on student academic achievement. Using a variety of data collection tools, I monitored student planner usage, the consistency of assignment completion, and overall student preparedness. Data collected from observations, surveys, and student self monitoring was ultimately compared with student grades in order to examine the relationship between organizational skills and student achievement. When I began the action research, I collected both baseline data and observational data from students. As the project progressed, students were responsible for monitoring their own behaviors and collecting their own data through self monitoring. This led to an increase in student awareness regarding their organizational habits; additionally, the data collected in my classroom showed 61% of students improved their final grade in English from the end of 8th grade to the end of the first quarter of 9th grade. Notably, student failure rates also decreased in that period. Though it cannot definitively be said that explicit teaching of organizational skill instruction is directly responsible for the 61% increase in student achievement for students in my class or the decrease in the number of failing grades, the results evidenced in my action research support the body of research that says organizational skill development plays a significant role in student achievement. Going forward, I will continue to help students develop organizational skills as I have become convinced that they are fundamental to overall student success.