Self-regulated strategy development has the potential to help students with some learning disabilities improve their writing skills, according to a research review by the federal What Works Clearinghouse.
The intervention is a six-step process in which a teacher gives background knowledge, discusses a strategy with the student, models the strategy, helps the student memorize the strategy, supports it, and then observes as the student performs the strategy independently. In particular, the teacher helps the student learn to set goals and monitor her own progress as she uses a writing strategy.
Based on an analysis of 10 single-case design studies of black, white, and Asian students, the clearinghouse found the strategy potentially helped improve writing for students in grades 2-10, though it found no evidence that the process helped improve students’ progress in elementary mathematics.
