D IAGNOSING AND P REDICTING S TUDENT L EARNING O UTCOMES : R ESULTS OF L EARNING AND S TUDY S TRATEGIES I NVENTORY (LASSI) George R. Dawkins, Ph.D. Vice-Principal: Academic Affairs & Research Shortwood Teachers’ College 1

O BJECTIVES Findings of an action research study: 1. Learn about a diagnostic tool for assessing students’ learning and study skills 2. Provide learners with critical data regarding their strengths and weaknesses in learning and study skills 3. Developing customized learning intervention plan for learners 2

N EED FOR THE S TUDY Develop students’ learning profile Analyze students’ strengths and weaknesses Assess and monitor students’ ability to self-regulate their learning 3

N EED FOR THE S TUDY Develop meta-cognition and self-regulated thinking skills A plan to improve student outcomes Prediction of student achievement 4

B ENEFITS OF L EARNING AND S TUDY S TRATEGIES I NVENTORY (LASSI) A screening measure to help students develop greater awareness of their learning strengths and weaknesses; A diagnostic measure to help identify areas in which students could benefit from most educational interventions; A basis for planning individual prescriptions for remediation and enrichment; A means for examining individual students’ scores and class trends to help them decide where to place the greatest emphasis for types and nature of assessment and class activities; 5

B ENEFITS OF LASSI A pre-post achievement measure for students participating in programmes or courses focusing on learning strategies and study skills; An evaluation tool to assess the degree of success of intervention courses or programs; and An advising/counseling tool for college orientation programs, advisors, developmental education programs, learning assistance programs, and learning centers. 6

S TUDY ’ S M ETHODOLOGY 7 Design : Applied Survey study Sample Decisions: 43 fourth years (2011) 31 third years (2014) Purposive sampling 10 students participated in Intervention NoDepartmentNumber 1Language Arts15 2History/Geo/SS8 3Modern Languages12 4Early Childhood25 5Math8 6Religious Ed.6

R ESEARCH Q UESTIONS 1. In what categories of the LASSI inventory did students demonstrate strength? 2. In what categories of the LASSI inventory did students demonstrate weakness? 3. How well did the intervention plan work for selected students? 4. Is there a statistically significant correlation between students overall LASSI score and their final GPA? 8

I NSTRUMENT Source : Claire Weinstein & David Palmer (2002) No. of Questions = 80 Five-point scale Likert scale Ten categories each with 8 questions Total possible for each category is 40 Validity and reliability >0.71 Normed 9

I NTERVENTION P LAN Selected 10 students who indicated weaknesses based on profile Time management Anxiety and worry Concentration Self-testing and reviewing Were willing to attend a study group meeting once per month Profiles were examined and Sessions included training, counseling, motivational talks 10

GPA C HANGE OF T REATMENT G ROUP 11

LASSI 10 S KILLS C ATEGORIES 1. (ATT) Attitude towards studying and motivation for success 2. (MOT) Motivation, diligence, self- discipline, and willingness to work hard 3. (TMT) Use of time management principles for academic tasks 4. (ANX) Anxiety and worry about school performance 5. (CON) Concentration and attention to academic tasks 12

LASSI 10 S KILLS C ATEGORIES (C ONT ’ D ) 6. (INP) Information processing, acquiring knowledge, and reasoning 7. (SMI) Selecting main ideas and recognizing important information 8. (STA) Use of support techniques and materials 9. (SFT) Self-testing, reviewing, and preparing for classes 10. (TST) Test strategies and preparing for tests 13

E XAMPLES OF S KILL C ATEGORIES Information Processing Scale assesses: How well students’ can use imagery, verbal elaboration, organization strategies, and reasoning skills as learning strategies to help learn new information and skills and to build bridges between what they already know and what they are trying to learn and remember. Do students try to summarize or paraphrase their class reading assignments? Do they try to relate what is being presented in class to their prior knowledge ? 14

E XAMPLES OF S KILL C ATEGORIES Anxiety Scale assesses the degree to which: students worry about school and their academic performance. Do students worry so much that it is hard for them to concentrate? Are they easily discouraged by low grades? 15

E XAMPLES OF S KILL C ATEGORIES Attitude Scale assesses students’ attitudes and interests in college and achieving academic success: How clear are students about their own educational goals? Is school really important or worthwhile to them? 16

E XAMPLES OF S KILL C ATEGORIES Motivation Scale assesses students’ diligence, self-discipline, and willingness to exert the effort necessary to successfully complete academic requirements. Do students stay up-to-date in class assignments? Do they easily “give up” in difficult classes 17

LASSI (C ATEGORY M EANS ): 40- POINT S CALE 18

P ERCENTILE R ANKING 19

I NTERPRETATION A percentile indicates the portion of a national sample of students who score at or below a particular score E.G. The score of 33 on ATT is beside the 40 th percentile ; that means that 40% of the students in a national sample scored 33 or lower while 60% of the students scored 33 or higher. 20

I NTERPRETATION > than 75 th percentile indicates an area of relative strength Any score between 50 th and 75 th percentile levels indicates an area where you may need to improve strategies and skills Any score below the 50 th percentile level indicates an area of relative weakness 21

C ORRELATION A NALYSIS LASSI and GPA = 0.767** Statistically significant at 0.01 level 1% change that correlation r occurred by chance or random error. 58.9% of variance (error) explained in GPA as predicted by LASSI score 22

S CATTER P LOT : L INE OF B EST F IT 23

C ONCLUSIONS 1. Moderately high positive correlation between Students’ overall LASSI score and their final GPA 2. Regression model indicates a fairly good prediction equation for predicting students’ GPA based on their LASSI scores 3. Intervention plan worked by improving students GPA scores 24

R ECOMMENDATIONS : L OW S CORES ON I NVENTORY ScaleSuggestions AttitudeWork on higher level goal setting and reassess how school fits into your future MotivationWork on goal setting for individual tasks and assignments Time Management Learn how to create a schedule and to deal with distractions, competing goals, and procrastination AnxietyLearn techniques for coping with anxiety and reducing worry so you can focus on the task and not on anxiety ConcentrationLearn techniques to enhance concentration and set priorities by focusing attention on the task at hand and eliminating interfering thoughts, emotions, feelings, and situations Information Processing Learn methods that you can use to help add meaning and organization to what you are trying to learn 25

R ECOMMENDATIONS : L OW S CORES ON I NVENTORY ScaleSuggestions Selecting Main Ideas Learn more about how to identify important information so that you can focus attention and information processing strategies on appropriate material Study AidsLearn more about the types of study aids provided in educational materials and how you can create your own aids Self TestingLearn more about the importance of self-testing and need to learn specific methods to review school material and to monitor your comprehension Test Strategies Learn more about how to prepare for tests, how to create a plan of attack for taking a test, the characteristics of different types of tests and test items, and how to reason through to an answer 26