ClassWide Peer Tutoring Learning Management System
(CWPT-LMS): Technology Supporting Literacy,
Accountability, and Access to General Education Curriculum
Charles R. Greenwood, Shye Hou, & Joseph Delquadri
ABSTRACT (OSEP, DOE)
This is a Phase 3 - Implementation and Validation project under the "Steppingstones of Technology Innovation for Students with Disabilities Competition" (CFDA 84.3274A). Children at risk due to poverty and with disabilities face a number of challenges in their elementary schooling. These include: (a) learning basic literacy skills, (b) accessing the general education curriculum including the opportunity to learn challenging subject matter, and (c) inclusion in local accountability systems that monitor progress and that guide educational reform, among others.
The ClassWide Peer Tutoring - Learning Management System (CWPT-LMS) is the technology-based approach selected to address these challenges. The CWPT-LMS is a combination of local area networking software support and multimedia teacher training bundled with previously validated CWPT instructional/curriculum components. These components include class-wide peer tutoring instructional strategies, general education curriculum, teacher implementation supports, formative evaluation, and a school-wide administrative/adoption model. In combination, these components improve all students' access to appropriate, effective, sustainable, and acceptable general education classroom instruction.
The CWPT-LMS has previously undergone rigorous development (Phase 1) and research evaluation (Phase 2) that include published results of CWPT components (e.g., including a 12-year experimental-control group longitudinal study of CWPT benefits). And, the CWPT model has been independently replicated by others in over 35 separate experimental/intervention studies. CWPT is considered an effective approach to accommodating diversity in the general educational classroom. Additionally, three separate research/training projects (Phase 2) have evaluated the effects of Expert System advice for improving individual teacher's CWPT implementation [G008730085], developed an Interactive-CD teacher training manual [H029K0068], and evaluated the effects of a building-wide use of the CWPT-Learning Management System software [H180G6000] on students' literacy.
The purpose is to investigate the implementation of the CWPT-LMS in multiple, complex settings and evaluate contexts within which it may be effectively used and sustained in local elementary schools. Based on a multileveled, ecological-interaction framework for investigating contextual factors, both a national urban and a regional rural investigation are proposed.
A total of 22 elementary schools (14 national, 8 rural) will participate (22 Principals, 280 Teachers, and 8,500 Students - 980 with disabilities in all). A delayed, control-group design with case studies will control rival hypotheses and illuminate individual cases. This design is acceptable to teachers because all eventually use the CWPT-LMS, the control group becomes an experimental group one year later. Schools will be randomly assigned to treatment. Investigated are use in geographically, ethnically diverse urban and rural schools, diverse hardware platforms, and diverse general education curricula. Classroom teachers, parents of children with disabilities, and persons with disabilities will participate in planning, design, and evaluation.
A primary outcome will be a "blueprint" to be used in dissemination and utilization of the CWPT-LMS approach. The completed dissemination "blueprint" will consist of Core Components; Support Components, and Replication Components supporting scaling up use by others. Another outcome will be new information on the contextual factors that either promote or hinder utilization. Impact data will be collected yearly to determine student outcomes, quality of implementation, level of teacher use and participation, consumer satisfaction, and the adaptations made to the model in rural, suburban, and urban elementary schools. Of primary importance will be large-scale demonstration of the successful linkage of technology components to curriculum and progress monitoring in ways that encourage effectiveness, usability, and accessibility.
