B. Three-Way Interaction

Three-way interactions involve data from three different sources. Bernhardt lists the following questions that involve two-way interactions (p. 4):

• Do students of different ethnicities perceive the learning environment differently, and do they score differently on standardized achievement tests consistent with these perceptions? (demographic/perceptions/student learning)
• Which program this year is making the biggest difference in achievement for at-risk students, and is one group of students responding more successfully to the program than are other students? (school processes/student learning/demographic)
• Is there a difference in students' reports of what they like most about the school according to whether they participate in extracurricular activities? Do students who participate have higher grade-point averages than students who don't participate? (perceptions/student learning/school processes)
• What instructional process did the previously non-English-speaking students enjoy most in their all-English classrooms this year? (perceptions/demographic/school processes)

For example, the graph below depicts data that involves the percentage of students who took the test (assessment data), the gender of the students (demographics) and the family income levels (demographics). By interpreting the graph, we can see that females at the lower income levels are more likely to take the test than males. At the higher income levels, males are more likely to take the test.

TRY THIS

Mr. Karas is experimenting with different strategies to prepare his students for the statewide reading test. He wants to determine if one strategy is more effective than the other and whether there is any difference in scores for the two genders. He divided his class into two different groups -- one group used the FCAT Explorer (an online program with interactive practice tests); the other students participated in reading groups that involved story-telling and discussion. Here is the data he collected:

Using this data, create a graph and answer the following questions:

1. What are the three sources of data?
2. What data categories do they represent (assessment, student, program, or perceptions)?
3. Are both teaching strategies equally effective overall?
4. Which strategy seems to be most effective for the boys?