Case Study

by

Allison Hood

Donald is a sixteen year old African American male in the 11th grade. He lives at home with his maternal grandmother, a one cousin. His father is currently incarcerated and his mother is absent from his life. Donald has previously attended another middle school in an adjoining county while he briefly lived with his mother. The student has been identified as being at risk for graduating from high school on time, so he has had Student Support Team Intervention. Donald passed the GHSWT in the fall of 2011 with a 203. A student must make a 200 to pass. He passed the Literature and Composition EOCT in the 9th grade (Spring 2010) with a 70. This indicates that while he passed both tests in the area of English Language Arts, he is still at risk for passing the GHSGT English Language Arts portion. He did not pass the Biology portion of the EOCT after taking the test twice, as his scores were: 51 in the spring of 2010, and 57 in the winter of 2010, though some improvement was shown in the score. On the Math 1 EOCT portion, his scores went down: 65 in spring of 2010, and 64 in spring 2011. This is a concern of his math teachers, as the test is very important and is also a good indication of being at risk for not passing the GHSGT in the same area. The

spring 2011 Physical Science portion of the EOCT was also a lower score for the student, as he made a 64. Because he hasnt passed these sections of the EOCT, Donald has been given after school tutoring sessions to help him in some areas of remediation. In our county, students are provided transportation home from the tutorials, as well as an evening snack since students are in an economically disadvantaged area.

While teachers are not allowed access to a students disciplinary record at this time, I was able to speak with his assigned grade level Assistant Principal. Donald has been sent to ISS (In School Suspension) for the last year, on average at least twice monthly. In order to be assigned to ISS, a student must first break a rule in a teachers classroom, get warned, parents are contacted, and then is sent first to ISD (In School Detention). It is after this chain of consequences that the student is then sent to ISS. This indicates that this student is a chronic rule breaker of several classroom or school wide rules.

According to a Penn State Learning Style Inventory that Donald took online, he is a Tactile Learner. His results state that he should trace words as he is 3

saying them, in order to learn facts he should write them repeatedly and keep scrap paper handy for taking notes, and taking and keeping lecture notes would be very important to the learning process of this student. Donald also took a Multiple Intelligence Assessment online at (www.literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html), and his results stated that his top three intelligences were: Body Movement; Musical; and Social. This supports Donalds low math and science scores on the EOCT. In the written interest inventory he took, he listed hanging out with my friends as what he likes to do in his spare time, and his favorite subject in school is PE and his least favorite is Science. Donald loves to talk, and his AP explained that his teachers complained that he is easily distracted, and cannot keep to himself. Therefore it would explain his low test performance because of him constantly being a behavior problem. This correlates with a low performance of his grades.

Donalds highest grade in his high school career is Physical Education: 96 in 2010, and 93 in 2011. Donald passed his 9th grade Language Arts class with a 70, but failed his 10th grade class with a 68. He failed Biology twice, once with a 4

49 and a 65 the second time. In his social studies classes he made fairly well. In Recent US Presidents was an 81, American Government and Civics he made a 70. The Learning Style Inventory that Donald took supports his struggles. According to the Inventory results, facts should be written down several times until mastery. Donald stated that he does not like taking notes.

While I observed Donald in a core class, I noticed similar behavior that he exhibits in my class. He was frequently distracted by other students. His teacher reminded him of the consequences of his behavior. At one time, I thought he was going to be sent out. Donald thrives on attention he receives from his peers. When I discussed this student with his other teachers, they were unanimous in their comments regarding Donald. He cant focus on his academic work, he likes attention from his peers and he struggles with extended and redefining activities.