September 10, 2015

Dear Families,
As you may already know, I am a graduate student in the Department of Early and Middle Grades
Education at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, working toward my M.Ed. in Early Childhood. As
part of my Masters degree program, I will be conducting a classroom action research assignment to
understand how writing across curriculum impacts student achievement.
For the next six weeks, I would like to include your child (and all of my students in Room 114) in my
research project on the impact of writing in all content areas.
During a six week period, your child will be observed as she/he engages in daily classroom instruction. In
an effort to improve the writing of my students, they will be asked to complete a task that involves writing
in each subject area. In addition to observations of your child working, I will be collecting student work.
This work will be collected in the same way I collect other assignments and will be returned at a later
date. I will be collecting data in other ways as well. This data will give me the opportunity to examine
my methods of instruction, reflect on my practice, and find ways to improve these methods in the
classroom.
All data that I collect (observations, student work samples, etc.) will be kept confidential and no
references to childrens names will be used in my work.
I do not anticipate any risk should be put on your child. Each days activities will continue as a regular
school day. Your child's participation in this project is completely voluntary. All children in our room will
be engaged in writing to learn. Those children who are participants in my research will be observed and
their work will be collected. If you choose for your child to not participate observations of her/his
experiences during the writing experiences and the quality of her/his work will not be recorded or used in
my research and course work. The choice to participate or not will not impact your childs grades or status
at school in any way. You may withdraw your consent for your child to participate at any time, with no
penalty.
All information that is obtained during this research project will be kept strictly secure and will not
become a part of your child's school record. Your childs name and any other information concerning
his/her identity will be deleted from the research information. Your childs confidentiality is most
important and every effort will be made to insure that this research remains confidential at all times.
The results of this study will be used for an online website that is required in my course, Early Childhood
Researcher, in the College of Education at WCU. Pseudonyms or codes will be substituted for the names
of children and the school. This helps protect confidentiality. The website is a private site viewable only
by me, my classmates and my professors. I will be constructing a summary of my research project that
will be available online to all; however, childrens names and the name of our school will not be included
in the summary of my research.

In the space at the bottom of this letter, please indicate whether or not you allow your child to
participate in this project. Participation includes the use of written observations about your
childs experiences during the writing activities and reviewing your childs written work in order
to record the gains and improvements made from including writing in all subject areas.

Please return one copy of this completed form as soon as possible. The second copy is to keep
for your records. If you have any questions about this research project, please feel free to contact
me. I appreciate your continued support and thank you in advance for your consideration!
Sincerely,
Shavonne Scott
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________ I agree to allow my child to participate in this study to observe her/his experiences during the
writing activities and to collect her/his work with the goal of identifying changes/improvements in line
with your research. I understand there is no risk to my child and that I may withdraw my consent at any
time, without penalty.
________ I would rather my child not participate in the observations and her/his writing to not be used in
your research. I understand that this decision will not negatively impact my childs status or participation
in school experiences.
Parents signature and date:
_________________________________________________________________________________
If you have any questions about your childs participation or this research project, please contact me
sascott@lancaster.k12.pa.us .