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Reading Scores Were Worse in 2019 Because of Poor Comprehension.  The New 12th Grade Reading Scores Have Just Been Released, and They Are Worse.

10/31/2020

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The latest scores on the nation’s report for 12th graders across the nation have just been released and they are dismal.  As one report stated, 
 
“In reading, 37% of seniors scored at or above proficient in 2019. That’s about the same as in 2015, but down from 1992, when 40% of US seniors scored at least proficient on the exam.”  
 
This tells us that America’s high school graduates are going to be marching across the stage receiving a diploma with lower reading scores than ever before.  These test scores are before the coronavirus pandemic.  So, these scores are from regular classroom instruction before Covid-19.
Let’s take a few minutes to make sure that we are reading these scores correctly because there are several news agencies and websites that are misinterpreting the data.
 
What Does The Nation’s Report Card Tell Us?
 
Please note where the quotation above says “at least proficient.”  What does proficient mean?
Proficient means capable of producing desired results, but what does proficient mean in terms of the exam?  If a student reads at the proficient level, it means that they are able to read at their grade level.
 
Maureen Downey, education writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, provides the following clarification on what proficiency means: “NAEP [National Assessment of Educational Progress] results are measured at three achievement levels: Basic, Proficient and Advanced. Basic denotes partial mastery of knowledge and skills, Proficient denotes solid academic performance and Advanced represents superior work. To determine the percentage of students performing at or above the level indicating college preparedness, a single score is identified in each subject. These scores correspond closely with scores that define the Proficient level but were independently determined as a result of the Governing Board's preparedness research.”  
 
Basic means that a student knows a few things but probably not enough to make a passing grade or be an effective reader.  A student who cannot read at the basic level is also not comprehending what they read.  A student at the basic level may have a decoding/encoding problem and/or the student may have a comprehension problem. Most likely, students at the basic level have both an inability to decode/encode along with very weak comprehension skills.

Proficient means that the student can read at grade level.  A proficient student will have a passing grade in reading most likely.  Proficient means the student is effectively decoding/encoding as well as comprehending what they are reading.

An advanced student will most likely be at the top of their class making A’s in reading.  These are your advanced readers.
 
So, What Does A Proficient Score Mean?
 
A proficient score means that the 12th grade students who received a proficient score could read at the 12th grade level.  

Now let’s go to the Nation’s Report Card and look at the scores.   The National Assessment Of Educational Progress (NAEP) provides the following scores for 4th, 8th, and 12th grade for 2019.  The NAEP has been measuring reading scores since 1992, and while testing is not perfect, this does give a means of evaluating the effectiveness of teaching methods across a period of time.  If our teaching methods are improving, as they should be each year, then we should see improvement in reading scores each year as well.

Remember that all of these tests scores were taken before the coronavirus pandemic.  This is before Covid-19, before the lockdown, before we started arguing about whether students should or should not be returned to the classroom.  These are scores from the normal, everyday classroom.
These figures are straight from the NAEP [National Assessment of Educational Progress]. The NAEP scores identify what students should know and be able to do in reading. 
 
4th Grade Reading Scores for 2019
 
The National Center for Education Statistics 2020 report, Condition of Education, reports the dismal numbers: “In 2019, some 66 percent of 4th-grade students performed at or above the NAEP Basic achievement level in reading, 35 percent performed at or above NAEP Proficient, and 9 percent performed at NAEP Advanced.”  

This means that:

66%  at Basic—cannot read at grade level
35%  at Proficient—can read at grade level
   9%  at Advanced—can read above grade level
 
If we stop and think about it, these scores are telling us that across the nation, only 44% of the 4th graders tested could read at grade level.  That is less than half of the students.  That means that less than half of the students in 4th grade were able to read at the 4th grade level by the end of fourth grade.  No matter how you look at it, that is not a good percentage.  It does not help if you adjust for testing error or student complications.  If we are using an effective teaching method in the classroom, the percentage of students testing at the proficient level should be higher.  As I have explained in previous blog posts, poverty and low socioeconomic neighborhoods are not the cause of low reading scores.  Keller and Just, in their landmark research study in 2009, demonstrated that children from low socioeconomic neighborhoods can be taught to read when you change the teaching methods. 

 
I have also worked with numerous children from the housing projects.  A 15-year-old who failed for nine straight years learned to read using vowel clustering at my reading program.  Another student who entered my program failing in reading moved up four grade levels in one year, came from a single-parent home, and lived in the housing projects.  Poverty does not cause reading failure.  Poor or inadequate teaching methods cause reading failure.
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No, students do not automatically improve as they progress through school.  As noted with the eighth-grade scores, students actually get worse.
 
8th Grade Reading Scores for 2019
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, “In 2019, some 73 percent of 8th-grade students performed at or above the NAEP Basic achievement level in reading, 34 percent performed at or above NAEP Proficient, and 4 percent performed at NAEP Advanced.”  
 
73%  at Basic—cannot read at grade level
34%  at Proficient—can read at grade level
  4%  at Advanced—can read above grade level
 
Again, across the nation, only 38% of 8th graders tested could read at grade level.  Notice that the scores are getting worse. That is still less than half of the students.  That means that less than half of the students in 8th grade were able to read at the 8th grade level.
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Know that reading failure is one of the primary contributors to teenage violence and crime.  The National Council on Adult Literacy found that 85% of adolescents seen by the courts were classified as “functionally illiterate”—unable to read.  [For more about this data, see my book After-School Programming and Intrinsic Motivation, Chapter 1]

12th Grade Reading Scores for 2019
Twelve-graders have not been doing any better. Peggy G. Carr from the National Center for Educational Statistics stated that "The decline in twelfth-grade reading scores resembles the declines in fourth- and eighth-graders' reading scores, where we saw the largest declines among the lowest-performing students." ​

With this year’s interpretation of 12th grade scores, the Nation’s Report Card also listed a number of 12th graders scoring below the basic level.

30% Below Basic
33%  at Basic—cannot read at grade level
31%  at Proficient—can read at grade level
6%  at Advanced—can read above grade level

Failure does not simply vanish on its own. Reading failure when it goes uncorrected leads to more reading failure.  We must change our teaching methods from kindergarten all the way through high school.  We can teach these students to read. 

Comprehension plays a major role in these low reading scores.  Comprehension means you understand what you are reading and can apply that understanding.  Obviously, many students across the nation are struggling with comprehension. The methods that we are using to teach comprehension are definitely not working. We need a new approach.

The NAEP criteria for a basic score required the student to be able to:

  • “Identify elements of meaning and form and relate them to the overall meaning of the text”
  • “Make inferences, develop interpretations, make connections between texts, and draw conclusions”
  • “Provide some support for analyses”
  • “Interpret the meaning of a word as it is used in the text”

 As you can see, the requirements for a basic score were not that challenging.  After 12 years of classroom education, a student should be able to meet these basic requirements.

As Peggy Carr, the Associate Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, stated, “…over the past decade there has been no progress in either mathematics or reading performance, and the lowest performing students are doing worse….” 

Classroom education in reading is in terrible trouble.  No, not just because of the coronavirus pandemic or because students are being taught online, classroom teaching methods in reading are not working.  Methods being used in the classroom right now are failing teaching methods.  They have been shown to be failing for over 20 years.  When will we wake up, stop wasting children’s lives with phonics and cueing methods, and begin to actually teach an effective reading approach?

Our classroom teaching methods should be helping students get ready for college or for whatever type of career job they are planning.  Unfortunately, failure does not help any student get ready to assume a professional position in society.
 
Asking why reforms have not been working, educational policy author, Maureen Downey discusses the poor preparation that our students have been receiving:
 
“The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), known as The Nation's Report Card, also shows that an estimated 37 percent of 12th-graders are prepared for college-level coursework in each subject. In 2013, the last time the assessments were given, an estimated 39 percent of grade 12 students were prepared for college-level mathematics and an estimated 38 percent for college-level reading.” 
 

Approximately 61% of 12th graders reported on a questionnaire that they wanted to go to college, but only 37% are prepared for college-level work, and the scores are getting worse each year instead of better.  How are 12th graders who cannot read at the proficient level going to succeed in college? 
 
The answer:  they are not.
 
Why Are Students Failing in Reading?
 
Because of the teaching methods we use in the classroom to teach reading.  The approach we use to teach reading must change before scores get worse.  Yes, reading scores will continue to get worse unless we change the teaching methods that we are using in the classroom.
 
Comprehension is one of the major reasons that 12th grade scores were so low.  Comprehension is also one of the reading skills that I want us to examine in detail.
 
Many researchers are beginning to say that comprehension is one of the primary reasons for reading failure.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of confusion over how we can effectively teach comprehension.
 
Comprehension is essential in college classes.  Comprehension skills are essential in many business jobs.  Comprehension is essential just for life.  If you cannot comprehend what you are reading, you also cannot apply critical thinking or basic reasoning skills when reading.  Understanding both literary and informational texts is a very basic skill.  As Maureen Downey goes on to explain, twelth-graders in the United States are weak in comprehension and are not even able to identify important details when they are reading:
 
“The results are based on a nationally representative sample of 18,700 12th-graders from 740 schools. The reading assessment measures students' comprehension of two types of texts: literary and informational. Students earning a score equivalent to the national average were likely to be able to make an inference based on details in a reading text but were not likely to be able to recognize detail related to the purpose of a reading text.”
 
From kindergarten to 12th grade, we absolutely must improve reading and comprehension for all ages.  As this research shows, reading ability does not automatically improve as students get older.  If anything, reading ability gets worse.
 
What Should Be Done to Improve Reading Scores?
 
America’s high schoolers are graduating with a lower ability to read than ever before.
 
Many try to explain away these scores by saying, “testing is just not fair.” “We have too much testing.”  “We should stop testing.”  “Or that’s statistical error.”
 
Stopping the testing will not make reading improve.  Stopping the testing will just hide the disastrous job that is being done in the classroom.  No, what we need to do is change how we teach reading in the classroom. 
 
Rerunning the stats will not make the scores look any better either.  When scores are this low, there is something wrong. 
 
One of the primary focuses for these 12th grade students is comprehension.  Thomas Kane of the Brookings Institution offers one suggestion for improving comprehension. He emphasizes high standards and more time devoted to student writing: “…the combination of high standards and use of many more open ended items on the PARCC and SBAC tests, requiring students to explain their thinking, to write coherently and to demonstrate conceptual understanding, perhaps we will see an acceleration of progress in student achievement, and literacy.” 
 
In other words, we need to quit trying to teach with worksheets and multiple-choice tests.  If we want reading scores to improve, we must actually teach comprehension.  We must also teach critical thinking, as we discussed in my previous blog post. 

As the Nation’s Report Card scores demonstrate, the method that we are using to teach reading and comprehension at present in the classroom is not working.  Yes, the pandemic will make it harder, but I want to remind you that all of these scores are from classroom teaching methods and how reading was being taught in the classroom before the coronavirus pandemic.  No, we cannot blame these low scores on testing nor can we blame it on the coronavirus pandemic.  The cause of failing scores in reading is teaching method—the way we are teaching reading and comprehension in the classroom.
How should we teach comprehension? If the methods we are now using are not effective, what should we do to change?  In my next blog post, we will turn to neuroimaging research to find the answer.
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Reason #13 that Reading Scores were Worse in 2019:  Critical Thinking.  Why is Critical Thinking So Important When Teaching Reading?

10/28/2020

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Often, when I tell parents about critical thinking, they will ask, “Why is that included in reading?  I just want my child to learn to read.”  All readers must know how to evaluate the ideas that an author presents.  They must be able to judge whether the information they are reading is accurate, factual, or even logical.
 
When children first start learning to read, they begin by reading for details in a story or passage.  Later, they learn to summarize or identify the main idea.  Neither of these skills requires critical thinking, but when children begin to draw conclusions or interpret an author’s intent, then they are using critical thinking.  Students use critical thinking each time they ask, “What does this mean?” That is why comprehension requires effective critical thinking.  For a student to make sense of a story or passage, the student must be able to analyze what is specifically said by an author and what is implied but not directly stated by an author.  Critical thinking is a vital step in reading comprehension.  When a student’s reading comprehension improves, reading ability and reading scores also improve. 
 
One of the reasons reading scores were so poor in 2019 is the fact that our classrooms do not emphasize teaching critical thinking.  Why not? 
 
Educational psychologist and critical thinking specialist Dr. Linda Elder states that the reasons that classrooms do not emphasize critical thinking are:  “First, faculty who control and teach the curriculum simply don’t know what critical thinking is.  Second, they think they do.”  Elder goes on to explain that “Most teachers have never been explicitly taught the intellectual skills inherent in critical thinking.” Elder explains that, in education, we confuse rote memorization with learning. In today’s classroom, elementary to college, the emphasis is on memorization, not critical thinking.  
 
What is critical thinking?
 
“Critical thinking is about evaluating data, observations, well-known facts, available research, as well as opinions to draw some conclusions related to solving a problem or taking a decision.” 
  
Critical thinking requires a person to analyze facts objectively before forming a decision or making a judgment.  Critical thinking is based on evaluating evidence to determine whether something is true or not.  Accuracy is essential in critical thinking.  We cannot just assume that students will automatically learn critical thinking or how to analyze, evaluate, and make accurate decisions or judgments.  These are skills that must be taught.  Foremost, a critical thinker needs a willingness to admit that they may be wrong, needs to be able to question their own thinking, needs to recognize their own bias or prejudices, and a critical thinker needs to avoid drawing conclusions before evaluating the facts. 
 
The lack of critical thinking is clear in the question of should I or should I not wear a mask during the coronavirus pandemic.  Are people turning to the facts?  Are people evaluating the pros and cons of wearing a mask?  No, critical thinking has not entered the scene.  The question of whether to wear a mask or not is being purely decided by biased opinions, not facts.  Researchers state that 100,000 deaths could be avoided if everyone wears a mask.
 
Yet, people continue to die, coronavirus is still surging with 80,000 new cases a day for an all-time high, and  unfortunately, people continue to refuse to wear a mask. 
 
Critical thinking is a lifelong skill, but if students do not learn critical thinking in school, they most likely will never learn to apply evaluation and analysis to their decisions and problems.  Critical thinking is not only essential for understanding a story; it is also essential for making wise decisions in life.  Critical thinking helps us make intelligent decisions, evaluate the consequences of our actions before acting, and helps us to solve problems.  Critical thinking should be taught when children are young, even as young as first grade:
 
“A child’s natural curiosity helps lay the foundation for critical thinking. Critical thinking requires us to take in information, analyze it and make judgements about it, and that type of active engagement requires imagination and inquisitiveness....  They have to think about how the new information fits in with what they already know, or if it changes any information we already hold to be true….  we evaluate that information to determine if it is true, important and whether or not we should believe it. Help children learn these skills by teaching them to evaluate new information. Have them think about where or who the information is coming from, how it relates to what they already know and why it is or is not important.”
 
Do the Common Core Standards require critical thinking?
 
Yes, the Common Core Standards stress that critical thinking should be a part of the school curriculum.  Unfortunately, education programs are not preparing teachers to teach critical thinking.  The Center for Critical Thinking conducted a study and found that 89% of teachers felt that critical thinking was very important to include in the classroom curriculum, but only 19% could actually explain what critical thinking is and 75% of those interviewed could not explain how they would teach critical thinking to their students.
 
 
How should critical thinking be taught in the classroom?
 
In many schools, critical thinking is neither encouraged nor taught.  Many schools blame this on standardized testing.  Teachers say they do not have time to teach critical thinking; they must help students prepare for testing.  Yet, taking a test requires critical thinking, even a multiple-choice test.  The best way to teach critical thinking is to incorporate it into the curriculum.  Make it part of the learning process.
 
The first step is to encourage questions and to allow students to evaluate and analyze the information they are being taught in the classroom.  Don’t be afraid to have students challenge what you teach; instead, encourage students to explore and discover the truth. Teach students to research and find the answers:
 
“In our rapidly changing technological world more information is available at the touch of our fingers, so critical thinking skills are a must today….  – of all the information we deal with each day-- some is accurate-- but it can be very easy to get pulled into believing something that is propaganda or an outright fabrication….  Social media is a great place to see how few people employ critical thinking skills….  Teaching our children to question facts and research questionable statements presented as facts, is imperative today.  In many schools, kids are not always encouraged to take a critical mindset and question facts.”
 
Teach students how to analyze information, not just memorize facts.  Memorization discourages critical thinking.  Teaching students how to classify and compare information is better than memorization.  Comparing and contrasting two stories or two characters in a story can be an excellent way of teaching critical thinking.  In the middle of the political turmoil all around us, classifying and analyzing the statements made by politicians can be not only an important classroom assignment but it can also be an important life task:
 
“Classification plays an important role in critical thinking because it requires students to understand and apply a set of rules.  Give students a variety of objects and ask them to identify each object, then sort it into a category.  This is a great activity to help students think and self-question what object should go where and why.”
 
Teach perspective taking.  To actually teach critical thinking, we must also teach perspective taking.  Perspective taking is being able to see an issue from someone else’s point of view, not just your own.  Some teachers teach brainstorming with the misconception that they have taught perspective-taking.  The teachers think that they are teaching perspective taking when they teach brainstorming, but that is not how you teach perspective taking.  Brainstorming is a way to generate ideas.  Perspective taking is a way to understand what other people are thinking and feeling--to walk in someone else 's shoes as the old saying goes.  Brainstorming and perspective taking are two completely, totally different things.  Brainstorming is good; it generates ideas, but brainstorming is not the same as perspective taking:
 
“Some of the very best critical thinking exercises for elementary school students involve exploring a concept from multiple perspectives. This tactic not only establishes that an idea should be assessed from different points of view before an opinion is formed, it gives students a chance to share their own viewpoints while listening to and learning from others.” 
  
Encourage decision-making and problem-solving.  Critical thinking requires that students gather knowledge from at least two different perspectives and then learn how to apply that knowledge toward making a decision or solving a problem.  Students should evaluate the pros and cons of a decision or solution.  This enables students to apply what they have learned from the textbook or from classroom discussion.  All students should learn to use a simple problem solution format:  define the problem, brainstorm possible solutions, evaluate solutions, explore consequences of selected solution(s), and implement the best solution.
 
“When children are deeply vested in a topic or pursuit, they are more engaged and willing to experiment. The process of expanding their knowledge brings about a lot of opportunities for critical thinking….  Teach problem-solving skills. When dealing with problems or conflicts, it is necessary to use critical thinking skills to understand the problem and come up with possible solutions, so teach them the steps of problem-solving and they will use critical thinking in the process of finding solutions to problems.”
 
Encourage creativity.  Teaching a student to apply what they learn in the classroom to real-life situations is extremely important in life.  Helping students make that application through hands-on learning ensures that the student will remember what they have learned.  There are many ways to turn a critical thinking lesson into a hands-on learning experience:
 
“Imagination is key to teaching critical thinking in elementary school. Teachers should seek out new ways for students to use information to create something new. Art projects are an excellent way to do this. Students can also construct inventions, write a story or poem, create a game, sing a song—the sky’s the limit.” 
 
What are the advantages of teaching critical thinking in the classroom?
 
The editors at Wabisab Learning, a resource for creative new ideas in teaching, offer six advantages to teaching critical thinking in the classroom.
 
Encourages curiosity.  Critical thinking involves evaluating information in a rational not emotional way.  Critical thinkers check the facts and research to find information that supports or fails to support their ideas.  Critical thinkers are curious and want to learn.
 
“Effective critical thinkers don’t take anything at face value, either. They never stop asking questions and enjoy exploring all sides of an issue and the deeper facts hiding within all modes of data.”
 
Generates creativity.  The best grades in school always go to students who are also creative.  If you are just memorizing facts, you are not really learning.  Finding new and different hands-on ways to learn enables students to generate their own ideas and thoughts on a subject.  Such is a skill that is needed throughout life.
 
“Critical thinking in business, marketing, and professional alliances relies heavily on one’s ability to be creative.”          
 
Teaches problem-solving.  It has been said that Albert Einstein spent five minutes solving a problem and 55 minutes defining and researching the problem.  Critical thinkers do not just throw out opinions or guess at a solution.  Critical thinkers study the problem.
 
“Those who think critically tend to be instinctual problem solvers. This ranks as probably the most important skill we can help our learners build upon. The children today are the leaders of tomorrow….”
 
Fosters independent thinking.  As a teacher, we all strive to help our students learn how to learn and how to think independently.  Students need to ask questions, identify connections between ideas, and formulate their own ideas rather than just assuming something to be correct.  “Getting our learners to begin thinking independently is one of the many goals of education.”
 
Enables students to be successful in and out of the classroom.  Every teacher wants their students to be successful both in the classroom and outside of the classroom.  The question is how do we help students to be successful.  The answer is the way we teach.
 
“Many great educators have said many great things about the importance of lifelong learning skills. John Dewey, however, probably said it best:  ‘Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.’…. The point is that they never stop being learners. This is what it means to be a lifelong learner and a critical thinker.”
 
Critical thinking can be used with any subject.  Critical thinking teaches reasoning skills, how to evaluate a problem, organization, how to decide if a solution is workable or not, and analytical thinking.  It can even be said that critical thinking “… is a cross-cultural activity for the mind, and the mind must be exercised just like a muscle to stay healthy.
 
Dr. Eliza Abioye adds to this list of advantages for teaching critical thinking with a reminder of what happens when we do not teach critical thinking in the classroom.
 
“Critical thinking minimizes the chances of children being brainwashed by what they are told, what they see on TV or even what they read. They can be able to differentiate the truth from hearsay. Through this, children can explore their mind at a deeper level and develop the courage to think for themselves.” 
 
How can we best apply critical thinking when teaching reading?
 
We need critical thinking in school.  There are advantages for students—in the classroom and beyond.  So, how can we apply this concept of critical thinking when teaching reading?
 
First, improve comprehension skills.  My next blog post will talk specifically about how to improve comprehension skills, but, for now, I’ll only emphasize that you cannot have critical thinking if you do not have comprehension or understanding of what you are reading.
 
Encourage children to ask questions.  Children should always be encouraged to ask questions about things they do not understand.  Yes, answering questions can enable students to demonstrate what they have learned.  A test may also show simply how well a student is at taking tests.  In reading, we must do more than simply tack on a list of multiple-choice questions at the end of the story.  Use open ended questions, discussion questions, free writing responses, and other ways to generate thought with your students.
 
Analyze stories or nonfiction passages.  Allow students to compare and contrast stories, characters, or even themes.  When students are reading a story where the hero has to solve a problem, have students stop midway through the story and write how they would solve the problem.  Incorporate research with nonfiction topics.  The idea is that you want students to do more than just read and answer a list of questions.  You want students to work with the reading material.
 
Be creative and use hands-on learning techniques to apply what the student is learning.  I have said before and I will say again the best teaching methods are hands-on.  So, develop some hands-on projects that connect with what your students are reading.  Make a book.  Build a project.  Find a way to help students get involved with what they are reading, regardless whether it be fiction or nonfiction.
 
Comprehension and critical thinking are intertwined.  You cannot teach comprehension without teaching critical thinking.  Critical thinking is essential for effective reading.  How are you teaching critical thinking in your classroom?

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Reason #12 that Reading Scores were Worse in 2019:  Motivation.   Why Is Intrinsic Motivation Better than Extrinsic Motivation?

10/2/2020

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Many schools have reopened this fall, and unfortunately, many schools have already reclosed.  What kind of education can students expect to receive in an atmosphere where seven teachers have died from coronavirus and more than 21,000 students have been infected with coronavirus since school began. Coronavirus has not vanished and simply ignoring it will not make it go away.  
 
We must also understand that simply sending children back into the classroom will not guarantee that children learn or receive an education.  The Nation's Report Card stated that approximately 65% of 4th graders could not read at the 4th grade level by the end of 4th grade in 2019.  That failure existed in the classroom before the coronavirus.  This should tell us that there's something wrong with the teaching methods that we are using in the classroom.
 
Regardless whether students are receiving in-class instruction or online instruction, one of the main problems blocking education is lack of motivation or incorrect use of motivation.  This is particularly true in reading.  The way motivation is used in the classroom is a main reason that reading scores were worse in 2019.​
What is motivation? 
Motivation is connected to everything we do, but, for this discussion, I will limit our exploration of motivation to education.  Motivation is the process that guides our actions.  Explains why students behave as they do.  Motivation helps us get started, directs how we act, and determines how long we work on a project or assignment.  Does this imply that anything and everything we do in the classroom to create motivation will work? No. It also does not mean that all forms of motivation are positive for students. Compliance is not the same as motivation.  Although people often act out of fear, we do not want to motivate children by fear in the classroom.  
 
 
What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation? 
 
Intrinsic motivation is the internal desire to explore and to learn.  Extrinsic motivation involves completing an activity to receive a reward or to avoid some type of punishment.  Intrinsic motivation increases persistence and willingness to work on an assignment for a longer period of time. Extrinsic motivation has a very short-term effect, encourages procrastination, and leads to negative thought.  Intrinsic motivation produces more originality, better performance, higher test scores, increased creativity, and more complex thought and application.  Intrinsic motivation encourages doing an activity because it is interesting and satisfying.  Extrinsic rewards or prizes, when used in the classroom, reduce intrinsic motivation and the natural desire to learn.  The learning environment in a classroom can also affect intrinsic motivation.  If there is a predominantly negative environment in the classroom or too much pressure, competition, or control, then intrinsic motivation suffers.  Competition and conflict destroy intrinsic motivation.  Merely praising a student is not a form of intrinsic motivation.  
  

So, how should we use motivation in the classroom? 
 
In the classroom, most teachers use extrinsic motivation, but extrinsic motivation has been proven to be ineffective.  As far back as 1973, researchers demonstrated the negative effects of extrinsic motivation in the classroom.  In one such study, three and five year-olds were asked to draw a picture. One group was offered a reward for the best drawings. The other group was not offered any kind of reward, just the opportunity to draw. Both groups drew pictures. Then the researchers returned to the groups and ask them to draw a second set of pictures. For the second round, no rewards were offered. The children who had been offered a reward in the first round were not interested in drawing another picture for the second round. Why? Because they were not offered another prize. The children were drawing to receive a reward not for the pleasure of drawing. Extrinsic rewards reduced the children's natural desire to draw a picture. No reward, no picture.
  
Research has shown intrinsic motivation to be much more effective in the classroom than extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation can be more effective than extrinsic for helping students to increase their performance, test scores, and their desire to complete an assignment.  A study from Harvard found that “when students feel a sense of belonging, they experience more meaningful relationships, higher self-esteem, better academic performance, and improved well-being.”
 
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For example, the students at my Reading Orienteering Club become excited when we make a Saturn V rocket.  They enter the room and immediately glue 2 two-liter pop bottles together.  While the glue is drying, the students go to eight workstations where they do Read and Spell activities to search for 100 new words that the students cannot read or spell. Each student then uses 4 steps to learn the words “captured.” We capture a word in order to learn the word. No, we do not simply point to a word and tell the student what the word is. Instead, we break the word down into syllables, pronounce each letter sound or sound cluster, and then put the syllables back together and pronounce the word.  Next, we go to the dictionary and look up a definition for the word.  Then, the student uses the word correctly in a sentence.  Finally, the student sits down with manuscript paper and writes the word correctly using manuscript style printing.  Therefore, the student has learned how to read, pronounce, spell, write, and give a definition for 100 new words. No, we do not do all 100 words at one time.  Instead, we learn 5 words at a time. Then, go and glue those five words onto the rocket. After that, we go to the next workstation and learn five more words.  We continue until the rocket contains 100 new words and is ready to be launched. ​
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The rocket project uses a hands-on teaching approach. The hands-on project combines learning (teaching the short ă vowel sound) and counseling (rebuilding self-efficacy, creating a motivational environment where students tackle challenging learning tasks, and helping students develop completion skills).  The excitement of completing the rocket encourages even reluctant students to push a little harder to finish a challenging task.  Everyone, naturally, wants to see their rocket soar through the air. 
 
One young student was sent to my Reading Orienteering Club after-school program because he was failing in reading.  He never did his homework, scribbled all over his worksheets in class, and rarely finished his in-class assignments— instead, he put his head down and slept.  He repeatedly caused other inappropriate behaviors in the classroom.  The list was long.  Yet, he said to me, “Can't I finish?  My dad's not here yet.  I know I can finish.  Please.”  The student was pleading for extra time to finish his rocket, to finish capturing 10 more words.  I never offer shortcuts. He had to complete all four steps for all 10 words that he captured. He knew this, and he was still motivated to do the work. See what a difference changing the teaching method can make?

PictureBuild hands-on projects in stages. Let the motivation build as you teach.
What makes this project intrinsic rather than extrinsic?
 
First, making a rocket is not a reward.  Every single student makes a rocket, even if they’ve misbehaved in class.  Making a rocket is the assignment, not the reward.  The students do not need to earn points or complete any other assignments in order to be able to make a rocket. They simply walk in and begin making a rocket. The rocket is the teaching tool being used to teach students new words. 

PictureUse progressive steps to help children work at their reading level.
Each student works at their individual skill level. Since my Reading Orienteering Club  program works with first through third grade at-risk students, some of my students may be working on beginning words, such as cat, can, map.   At the same time, other students are working on more advanced words, like astronaut, absent, acrobat.  All words for this project are using the short ă vowel sound, but I use a “progressive step system” so that students are always working at their reading level.  I want the work to be challenging but not too difficult. 
 
Creating a positive group-centered motivational environment.  It is not really possible to motivate another person.  A teacher cannot motivate a student, but you can create a motivational environment.  It is this motivational environment that allows and encourages students to motivate themselves. The rocket project is exciting. Students work together and help one another. Yet, students know that they must finish their project before they launch their rockets.  Rockets that are not finished on time simply go on a table marked “to be finished.” They finish their projects later when time allows. Unfinished projects do not go home; the ROC is not an arts and craft program. It is a teaching program

Should students be allowed to choose their assignments?

Giving students the freedom to choose does not mean that students choose which assignment to work on or if they want to do an assignment or not.  Allowing students a choice merely allows students to fine -tune an assignment to suit their own personal interests.
 
Students struggling in reading need intrinsic motivation.  Create an intrinsically motivational environment by building an element of choice into your classroom.  Allowing a student to choose which book to read or the topic for their writing assignment does not reduce the quality of the learning experience.  The assignment is the same; you’ve just increased intrinsic motivation, the attention and willingness of the student to work, and thereby the depth of what is learned by allowing the student to choose, become involved with the learning task. 
 
I offer a reading cart.  Yes, I have selected the books on the cart, but I try to offer a wide selection.  No, I do not allow students to read comic books in place of a novel nor do I include books from popular movies.  I want books that the students have not read before or seen on TV.
 
Can intrinsic motivation be incorporated into a regular classroom?
 
It certainly can and should be each and every school day.  Here is an excellent example of intrinsic motivation at work in the classroom. I volunteered to help one 3rd grade teacher several years ago.  She was teaching 3rd graders how to write a paragraph.  She had the entire class of 22 students write a research report using the alphabet.  The students were to write on a topic of their choice.  Most of the students chose animals. Therefore, they wrote a paragraph for each letter in the alphabet that described a different animal—A for anteater and such.  The teacher chose the assignment and the requirements of the assignment, but students were allowed to choose the topic they would write about.  One student wrote about airplanes and had a difficult but fun time finding an airplane for each letter of the alphabet.  Another student wrote about whales.  No, there is not a type of whale whose name begins with X.  This was part of the fun.  Each student had to search and find an animal, airplane, or explanation to fit each letter of the alphabet.  Then, they wrote a paragraph that fit all of the requirements of the assignment.  The finished pages, complete with pictures, were bound together with yarn and made into a very inexpensive book.  The room was literally buzzing every day when it was time to work on the books.  Students were also able to work at their own individual skill level.  The more advanced students naturally wrote more complicated paragraphs in their books, but each student wrote a book.  Not one single student refused to write.  Everyone wanted to write a book.  No, class time was not wasted.  Students practiced writing paragraphs with grammatically correct sentences, using punctuation correctly, spelling, making use of research skills, reading, comprehension, and completing a project that stretched over several weeks’ time—persistence.  Almost every language arts skill that third graders needed to learn was incorporated into this one lesson.
 
Can intrinsic motivation be incorporated into online or distance learning?  
Yes, definitely.  A positive, intrinsically motivating work environment can be created for online classes, especially if you have face-to-face time with the student.  Groups can also generate an intrinsically motivating environment by how you set up and work with the students in your group.  Offering choices is one suggestion that works very well with online teaching. For example, I was working with a student today.  The student had a writing assignment.  I let the student choose the topic.  The assignment told the student exactly what they had to do to complete the writing assignment. By allowing the student to choose the topic, I made the assignment more intrinsically motivating.  The student worked much harder than if I had given the student a specific topic.  Confidence also increases when we emphasize intrinsic motivation.  Students are even more competent; they want to do their best. 


PictureFor more about intrinsic motivation, see Chapter 6 in Group-Centered Prevention and Mental Health: Theory, Training, and Practice
How can I increase intrinsic motivation in my classroom?
  • Build a motivational learning environment in your classroom.  Design classroom assignments to incorporate topics that students are interested in.  This does not need to change the requirements of an assignment.  Offer choices, as with the 3rd grade class example above. Remember, you cannot motivate a student, but you can help them motivate themselves.
  • Make sure your classroom assignments are positive, absolutely no competitions.  Competition and conflict destroy intrinsic motivation.

Help students rebuild self-efficacy.  Self-efficacy is not the same as self-esteem.  Self-esteem means I feel good about what I'm doing.  I can feel good about getting in trouble. A student getting in trouble for misbehavior may in fact have a very high positive self -esteem.  Some students delight in causing trouble in the classroom.  Self-efficacy, on the other hand, is having the confidence to know that you can work a math problem, read out loud when requested, or knowing that you can write a paragraph when asked to in class.  Self-efficacy requires skill building.  Students who lack skills will not be intrinsically motivated, even if you offer choices or have a positive classroom atmosphere.  

Reduce negativity in the classroom. Control teasing, bullying, and making fun of other students in any form or fashion.  Intrinsic motivation is not possible in a negative classroom.

Design intrinsic motivational strategies that help students change poor behavior or poor academic results.  Use a method that will help students learn to read rather than one that has failed, such as the rocket building activity described above. 

Teach critical thinking.  Critical thinking enables children to analyze why something worked or why it did not.  By analyzing the success or failure of their actions, students will develop a more positive approach to learning. 

Remove memorization from the classroom. Memorization becomes boring; boredom keeps students from learning.  It is also not an effective teaching method.

Be creative. Do not use worksheets.

Whenever possible, allow choices.  Allow your students to choose writing topics or books to read.  As mentioned earlier, you may provide a selection of topics to choose from or you may supply a collection of books to choose from.  Choosing from a designated group still allows children to have a sense of control and choice.

Incorporate hands-on learning projects whenever possible.  Do not just sit down and learn a list of spelling words.  Turn a list of spelling words into a hands-on project—a rocket or a puppet. 

How can I increase intrinsic motivation with online instruction?
Each of these 10 ideas mentioned above can be transferred to online instruction.  Yes, they really can.  The difference is that you are creating a special kind of environment when you teach online.  You are not in the same room with the student; therefore, you must build a connection between you and the student.  You must create a positive learning atmosphere online.  I'll devote a later blog to talking about how to create intrinsically motivating learning environments online.  It is possible, but it is different than working in a classroom. 

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    Elaine Clanton Harpine, Ph.D.

    Elaine is a program designer with many years of experience helping at-risk children learn to read. She earned a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology (Counseling) from the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

    if you teach a child to read, you can change the world.

    Copyright 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 Elaine Clanton Harpine 

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