WGU D179 Task 2: Data-Driven Educational Problem
Investigation
A. Problem Statement
An educational problem in my classroom is that a portion of my first-grade students
demonstrate limited growth in reading fluency despite participating in daily guided reading
instruction. This problem impacts students’ overall comprehension and confidence as readers,
which may hinder their ability to meet grade-level literacy benchmarks. The cause of this
problem appears to be inconsistent practice and support with fluency strategies outside of
small-group instruction, leaving struggling readers without enough reinforcement to internalize
skills. This issue can be investigated by analyzing assessment data that tracks students’ fluency
progress over time.
B. Existing Data
To investigate this problem, I will use existing pre-assessment and fall benchmark fluency data
from my district’s assessments.
• General characteristics/demographics of participants: The participants are 22 first-grade
students, ages six to seven, in a public elementary school classroom. The group includes
students from a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds, with 35% identified as
English learners and 20% receiving special education services.
• Timeliness of the data: The pre-assessment was collected at week 1 in August at the
start of the school year, and the fall benchmark was collected at week 9 in September.
This makes the data recent and useful for examining early growth.
• Type of data: The data consist of quantitative scores measuring words read correctly per
minute (WCPM) on grade-level passages.
• Instrument used: The district uses the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills
(DIBELS) oral reading fluency assessment to collect this data.
• Relevance to the problem: These data directly measure reading fluency, the area of
concern in the problem statement. Comparing pre-assessment to fall benchmark scores
shows which students made progress in the first two months of school and which
students are already falling behind.
Investigation
A. Problem Statement
An educational problem in my classroom is that a portion of my first-grade students
demonstrate limited growth in reading fluency despite participating in daily guided reading
instruction. This problem impacts students’ overall comprehension and confidence as readers,
which may hinder their ability to meet grade-level literacy benchmarks. The cause of this
problem appears to be inconsistent practice and support with fluency strategies outside of
small-group instruction, leaving struggling readers without enough reinforcement to internalize
skills. This issue can be investigated by analyzing assessment data that tracks students’ fluency
progress over time.
B. Existing Data
To investigate this problem, I will use existing pre-assessment and fall benchmark fluency data
from my district’s assessments.
• General characteristics/demographics of participants: The participants are 22 first-grade
students, ages six to seven, in a public elementary school classroom. The group includes
students from a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds, with 35% identified as
English learners and 20% receiving special education services.
• Timeliness of the data: The pre-assessment was collected at week 1 in August at the
start of the school year, and the fall benchmark was collected at week 9 in September.
This makes the data recent and useful for examining early growth.
• Type of data: The data consist of quantitative scores measuring words read correctly per
minute (WCPM) on grade-level passages.
• Instrument used: The district uses the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills
(DIBELS) oral reading fluency assessment to collect this data.
• Relevance to the problem: These data directly measure reading fluency, the area of
concern in the problem statement. Comparing pre-assessment to fall benchmark scores
shows which students made progress in the first two months of school and which
students are already falling behind.
