My research question asks: What strategies are English 12 teachers applying to improve struggling seniors

scores on the Accuplacer exam, and what are their perspectives regarding the effectiveness of their strategies?

Colleague Interview Questions:

(Although we are already well acquainted, I figured Id begin by thanking the member for his or her time and
start discussing our course.)
Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to meet and talk about English 12 and the students who still
need to pass Accuplacer. Your agreeing to partake in this interview testify to your commitment, so thank you.

Data Gathering for At-Risk Students

1. How do you think our at-risk group feels about their abilities to understand a high school level text
and write a high school level paper? (Do you think this affects their ability to perform on grade level?)
2. What type(s) of data (if any) have/do you use to inform your instruction? (Specifically, what data have
you used to gain insight into your struggling students ability levels and needs?)
3. How does this data affect your lesson planning?
Teaching Method
1. What do you think it takes, in terms of character and preparation, to be an effective English 12 teacher
(especially for our at-risk population)?
2. What current methods do you use when delivering a lesson and how often do you use them? (What does
a typical lesson look/sound like?)
3. Which of the methods that you describe do you feel has the biggest negative impact on this at-risk
population? How, specifically, has this negative method deterred learning? Relate to real-word life.
Then bring in outside source with simialr theme - discuss similarities - Sometimes getting them to
commit to writing ideas down is a challenge.
4. Which method has the biggest positive impact? How has the positive method improved skills?
Making school not feel like school.
5. What are some similar techniques (to the positive) that might have the same positive impact?
Differentiation
1. Have you attempted to differentiate instruction? Why/not? (If you have, how often? What has been the
result?)
2. What are some benefits that differentiation could offer our at-risk English 12 students?
3. How do you think you could implement this into our existing class structure?
I want to thank you for sharing some points about your practice with me. You provided a good overview of
students experiences and possible ways to enhance our at-risk populations abilities. I look forward to
sharing student comments/ideas at our Group Interview.