2.4 Doctoral program issues: commentary on companion dissertations  (Page 10/14)

Since this example is centered in an on-going project, the intervention continues at the next grade level with more vocabulary words and more intensive science concepts. The subsequent replication model of companion dissertation calls for a replication of the previous study using the adopted measure (aligned with curriculum) with the students who matriculate to 1st or higher grade. The same group of participants can be involved; however, due to the reality of attrition rates (withdrawal) prevailing in certain school districts, new students are likely to be added, which might result into a slightly different sample size. Unique to this model, as opposed to simple replication studies is the nature of the term,“companion.”Prior to initiating this study, the two researchers would collaborate on how the study will be conducted and in what way it will be replicated. For example, a subsequent replication model companion dissertation abstract might be:

Statement of Problem. Norm-referenced measures (NRMs) or standardized measures are widely used to assess students’learning. The advantage of utilizing NRM rests on the comparability across student population, school, school district, and states. However, researchers have consistently expressed their concerns of NRMs because they not inform instruction; whereas, a curriculum-based measure (CBM) will provide teachers an added dimension in evaluating a student which is more relevant and beneficial.

Purpose. A companion dissertation was completed previously on kindergarten students, and therefore, the purpose of my study was to modify and validate the CBM on English oral proficiency and emergent literacy skills of 346 Hispanic first graders participating in an on-going story-retelling intervention in an urban school district, Southeast Texas. Three research questions guided this study: (a) What is the concurrent validity of CBM with norm-referenced standardized measure on English oracy?; (b) What is the concurrent validity of CBM with norm-referenced standardized measures on science concepts?; and (c) What is the concurrent validity of CBM with norm-referenced standardized measure on emergent literacy skills?

Design. A correlational design is employed to explore the relationship between scores collected from CBM and Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery-Revised (WLPB-R), Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI), and the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS).

Findings. Just as in the previous companion dissertation with kindergarten students, significant relationships were identified between CBM and WLPB-R, ITBS, TPRI, and DIEBLS, respectively, with moderate effect sizes. This indicated that the instrument has strong evidence of concurrent validity with NRMs in first grade classrooms and teachers are suggested to use this in their classroom with the outlined intervention.

Recommendations. Findings of my study apply restrictively to first graders receiving the same intervention. It is recommended that as students progress to a higher grade level, especially the 3rd grade, concurrent validity of CBM needs to be investigated with Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS, a high-stake test which determines grade promotion/retention in Texas).