The purpose of this study was to investigate which effects the application of writing performance assessment has on academic achievement of low-achieving students of mathematics in the area of fraction, on the sides of conceptual understanding and procedural understanding separately. On the side of the area of conceptual understanding, this researcher has analyzed its effects with ramification into representations, problem solutions, and justification. And the procedural understanding has been analyzed its effects for calculation.
The subjects were 20 low-achieving students of mathematics from the fifth grade in the elementary school, who were selected by using SPM I (Raven, 1982) and the test for diagnosis and placement by Korea Institute of Curriculum & Evaluation. And then, they were randomly assigned in the experimental and control groups. After administrating a pre-test to the both groups, the experimental group was applied a fraction study program and writing performance assessment 12 times, twice a week with 40 minutes per class for 6 weeks. After intervention, a post-test was carried out with the same test routine (Neimi, 1996) as the pre-test used, and the results of the pre-test and post-test was analyzed by ANCOVA. As a result, the academic achievement of the experimental group, in which the writing performance assessment has been applied, increased as compared with that of the control group.
Results suggest that low-achieving students’ ability to learn the fraction can be increased and capability of mathematical thinking like concept explanations can be enhanced through the writing performance assessment, which makes it possible to consider children’s properties and reflect assessment results into class.
Key words : Learning Disabilities, Writing Performance Assessment, Academic Achievement