How to improve reading comprehension and problem solving skills in students. A professional development-research project with teachers

The research was conducted within a professional development-research project with 24 Italian
teachers from primary and middle schools. With the professional development-research project we
wanted to improve the quality of the institute’s curriculum by qualifying the instructional design and the
didactic practices of the teachers. The main objective was to promote the development of “learn to
learn” skills in students, which characterizes the European framework and, in Italy, the National
Guidelines for the Curriculum (Ryjchen & Salganik, 2000; MIUR, 2002; Asquini, 2014; Marcuccio,
2015).
The research hypothesis is that the use in the didactic practices of assessment tools that require
students to solve “real-life” problematic situations for an “authentic assessment” could promote the
development of reading comprehension and problem solving skills. To ensure students gain familiarity
with these types of tests, innovative teaching approaches are required. In this perspective, teachers
have to utilize the didactic practices’ appropriate assessment tools and reflect with students about the
decision-making processes required by these type of tests.
The teachers' professional development-research project focuses on the need to establish a
continuous balance between instructional designing, operating contexts, and skills assessment. These
skills are consolidated through reflection, comparison, and discussion between teachers and students
(Weeden, Winter & Broadfoot, 2002; Felisatti & Rizzo, 2007; Domenici et al., 2016). With the support
of experts from Roma Tre University, teachers were involved in heterogeneous working groups. These
groups elaborated semi-structured tests that propose to students problematic situations related to
“real-life”. (Wiggins, 1998; Tessaro, 2014; Moretti, Giuliani & Morini, 2015), explained grids with the
right answers to use in the assessment process and conducted the try-out in the classrooms, to review
the tests on the basis of the evidence showed by the try-out phase.
The exploratory research was conducted with a mixed-method approach and used both qualitative
and quantitative tools (Baldacci, 2001; Johnson et al., 2007; La Marca, 2014). These tools involved
semistructured tests based on “real-life” and “authentic” problems, dialogical reflection with students,
focus groups and a questionnaire. The aim was to find out the opinions of teachers on the professional
development-research project.
The results of the professional development-research project confirm the possibility to improve
students’ development of reading comprehension and of problem solving skills through the use of
tests based on “real-life” and “authentic” problems. The group-works created for the construction of
tests and the reflection about the results of the students, represent a strategy that can enhance the
effectiveness of teacher professional development courses.
Keywords: Assessment, Problem solving, Reading comprehension, Semistructured tests, Skills,
Teachers’ professional development