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The Book Project: Improving motivation and achievement through publishing
Conference presentation

The Book Project: Improving motivation and achievement through publishing

Shelley Davidow
Excellence in Professional Practice: Improving Assessment of Student Learning (Sydney, Australia, 20-May-2015–23-May-2015)
Australian Council for Educational Research
2015
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https://www.acer.org/eppc/past-conferencesView
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Abstract

Curriculum and Pedagogy Specialist Studies in Education
This presentation focuses on the initial problem of motivation, engagement and achievement in high school English. Since English is a mandatory subject, students are not necessarily invested in the subject, except for the purpose of achieving a decent grade. My hypothesis: a publication or book project in Year 10 English would give students agency, and improve motivation. The goal was for students to write and edit short stories of publishable standard. The outcome: publication by our in-school press. Because our English curriculum is progressive, the assumption is that a C grade to a C grade over time is a standard improvement. The baseline data for Year 10 in Semester 1 delivered the usual spread of As, Bs, Cs, Ds. The intervention of the book project yielded positive results. There was an overall increase in standards. Compared with Semester 1 grades, 33% per cent of Year 10 English students at the end of Semester 2 moved up one full standard, 20% moved up two full standards and the rest maintained their standard or improved by half a standard or more. The book project intervention had a greater effect on student learning than any other program run previously or concurrently within the English department.

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