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Research Proposal Thoughts

       As I embark on my last month of school there are so many things going on.  I am looking at making a move, working, looking for work, and I've made my final decision on my research proposal.  Initially when I started this program, I knew that I wanted my research to focus on creativity in the classroom.  I changed from that to how lack of creativity produces apathy in students, and completely jumped to my current topic dealing with mathematics and intervention on a Tier 3 level.

     I am in the midst of writing a research proposal that focuses on the effects of the position I now hold in a rural East Texas school.  I was brought in as an outside contractor to provide math intervention services for students identified as "struggling" as well as additional intervention for special education students in the 3rd and 4th grade.   My participants come to me for 45 minute increments in a small group setting.  I focus on foundational math concepts such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, and word problems.  This research topic started somewhat because I began utilizing a website called Arcademic SkillBuilders to assess their performance each week in multiplication and division.  I wanted to assess if their accuracy in problem solving was improving and if their response time was improving as well. 
 
     For my research proposal I am doing an quantitative experimental study involving a control group of students not receiving intervention, and a group of students who will receive the additional intervention.  I hypothesize that the additional mathematical intervention will improve students accuracy and response time on foundational math problems.  My null hypothesis is that the additional intervention will not result in an increase in problem accuracy or an improvement in their response time. 

     For the next few days I will be focusing on gathering my reference articles for my literature review, and writing my introduction draft which is due this upcoming week.

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