Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the Study Islandprogram as a formative assessment tool in the secondary levels of reading and math.Study Island is an online tool that assesses students according to their state’s standards inEnglish and math. The research design for the study was quantitative in nature and quasiexperimental with one independent variable consisting of two categories based uponparticipation status. Four chi-square tests of independence were used to address thehypotheses that academically at-risk students who participated in the Study Islandprogram performed better on the Kansas Reading and Math Assessments than theacademically at-risk students who did not participate. Additional analyses wereconducted to determine the amount of improvement of the entire sample from the Centerfor Educational Testing and Evaluation (CETE) diagnostic reading and math assessmentsto the Kansas Reading and Math Assessments. Data from the four chi-square tests didnot support a statistically significant relationship between the participation in the StudyIsland program and success on the Kansas Reading or Math Assessment. Data from thefour frequency tables indicated a greater percentage of improvement from the CETEdiagnostic assessments to the Kansas assessments than non-improvement, regardless ofparticipation status. Ultimately, there was no statistically significant evidence that the atrisk students who participated in the Study Island program had a greater percentage ofimprovement than the non-participants. The findings of this study could help highschools within the Blue Valley School District determine if this particular online,formative assessment intervention could impact their students’ learning and performanceon summative tests.