- RESEARCH & ASSESSMENT
RESEARCH and ASSESSMENT
“Students who are disengaged in a traditional classroom setting gravitate to debate. The excitement of debate tournaments ignites their intellectual curiosity. Once their mind catches fire, the curiosity spreads to other areas of their life. They begin to ask critically-informed questions about their history textbooks, their neighborhoods, and the nightly news. I've seen the reading scores of students who join debate jump two and three grade levels in a single semester. They learn how to read passages critically and to understand how to break the author's argument into its component parts. Betty Maddox, former district consultant, high school teacher, and UDL coach,
Overview
Rather than assume that the conventional approaches
of debate education apply equally to all, the National Debate Project
is committed to assessing debate programs to determine their effectiveness
for meeting the needs of those typically denied access. Experience with urban students in both high schools and middle
schools has motivated the creation and refinement of an assessment protocol
designed to evaluate baseline measures of fundamental educational skills,
to record daily progress (or lack thereof) of NDP program participants,
and to complete an annual evaluation of overall program effectiveness.
One example of the NDP assessment protocols is the one utilized by
Pre- and Post-measures for Participants Conducted Annually
1) Gray Oral Reading Test: This instrument uses a 30-minute one-on-one session with each program participant to determine reading fluency (accuracy and rate), as well as their reading comprehension. Student scores are compared against national norms for grade and age equivalencies. Targeted individual assignments based on the actual reading level of the students can concentrate on needed areas of improvement.
2) McCroskey’s Willingness to Communicate Scale: This measure, approved by the National Communication Association as a valid measure of various forms of communication apprehension, explores student attitudes toward oral communication in interpersonal, group, meeting, and public settings. Refined for the experiences and reading levels of students in the program, McCroskey’s measure helps identify which students require a slower transition to public debate.
3) The Competent Speaker: The National Communication Associate recently developed The Competent Speaker form to serve as an evaluative template for student’s public speaking. The instrument focuses on several factors critical to effective speaking: chooses and narrows a topic, communicates the thesis/specific purpose, provides appropriate supporting material, and uses an organizational pattern uses language all that are appropriate to the audience, occasion, and purpose. It also tests use of vocal variety to heighten and maintain interest, use of pronunciation, grammar, and articulation, and use of physical behaviors that support the verbal message.
4) Grade Point Averages: An annual comparison of final grade point averages from year to year allows for the measurement of a more global assessment of school motivation and abilities.
5) Attendance and Disciplinary Referrals: An annual comparison of school attendance, program attendance and disciplinary referrals permits as assessment of the impact on actual use of physical violence in the school setting, as well as overall school engagement.
In addition to these measures conducted at the beginning and ending of each year of the CAD program, daily reports from after-school instructors track personal observations related to behavior and performance. The field-tested curriculum of CAD has been vetted through an architecture featuring diagnostic, formative, and summative educational evaluation methodologies.
Research Bibliography
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