Teaching with high probability-strategies in the elementary classroom to affect student engagement, learning, and success: An action research study

Engaged students have been described as intrinsically motivated by curiosity, interest, enjoyment, and a desire to achieve personal goals. Researchers have discovered that the instructional practices of teachers can have a direct impact on student engagement and student achievement. High-probability strategies (HPS) are research based best practices that effective teachers employ regularly and that may increase student engagement. This study was an attempt to determine if HPS significantly impact student engagement, student learning, and student achievement. Additional researchers have demonstrated that HPS encourage student engagement through the development of higher level thinking skills, student-centered instruction, and generation of genuine student interest in learning tasks. This study gathered data in the form of student test scores in Grade 3 English language arts prior to and after the intervention, student responses to the engagement survey, and teacher reports of student engagement. Results of 3 data sources were reported for this study. Analysis using t test and analysis of variance resulted in f-values of .382249 and 4.0 respectively. Neither of these results provided a significant difference in either the language arts test scores pre-/post-implementation of HPS or the pre/post National Center for Student Engagement Student Engagement Survey results. However, trend data supported that student language arts scores were higher during the 4th 6 weeks and that student composite scores from the Research Assessment Package for Schools Teacher Report of Student Engagement were higher during the same 4th 6-week grading period. The implications of these results indicate that research in student engagement should continue to be ongoing.