Effect of Self-regulated Strategy Development Story-writing Instruction: Adult School Volunteers in Action

Abstract

A large majority of students continue to fall below basic writing levels in spite of the existence of effective supplemental writing treatments (e.g., Self-Regulated Strategy Development model; SRSD; Harris, Graham, and Mason, 2003). In this dissertation, three trained school volunteers, all with high school diplomas, but without writing tutoring experience or teacher preparation backgrounds, effectively delivered structured story-writing instruction using the SRSD model to six third-grade struggling writers. The tutees were eight (n =2), nine (n = 2) and ten (n = 2) year old Caucasian (4/6; 67%), Latino (1/6; 17%) and African American (1/6; 17%) students. Two students had been referred for or were receiving special education services. A multiple-baseline design across subjects was used to determine overall effect. All students’ writing improved in number of essential story elements included in stories. Writing quality and production also improved. All sessions were audio recorded. Treatment fidelity was high (above 90% for the majority of lessons) as was inter-rater reliability on all outcome measures (range .73 to 1.00). Conclusions are drawn and implications for future research discussed.