Haeun Park, MAT’25, designed her capstone project around the question of how students can better understand complex texts without reducing academic rigor. During her teaching residency at Hope High School, Park taught two 10th-grade English classes and introduced specific summarization strategies to help students understand and engage with complex reading material.

Her project, “Summary as Strategy: Growing Student Literacy Through Summarization of Complex Texts,” centered on the power of regular, short summaries. "Through a unit-long study of Sophocles' Antigone, students practiced daily summarization techniques—such as 'Sidebar Summaries' and 'So Far' trackers—designed to scaffold their understanding of a complex, high-level text," Park explained. "Sidebar Summaries" involved students writing brief notes as they read, while "So Far" trackers helped them follow the narrative progression.

Park emphasized that these strategies were not about simplifying the content. "The goal was to teach responsively in ways that met students where they were, without compromising depth or rigor," she stated. Her findings were clear: "With consistent use of strategies supporting cognitive processing of key information, students exhibited increased confidence in their content understanding and produced stronger interpretations of the text."

Striking Results and Broad Impact

The results were striking: Over the course of the unit, the percentage of students meeting expectations in summary writing soared from 19% on the diagnostic to 74% on the final assessment. Similar gains were observed in analytical short responses. Beyond the data, students reported improved text comprehension and a greater likelihood of re-engaging with class after absences.

At its heart, Park's project champions the idea that strong reading and writing skills are fundamental to educational equity. "Ultimately, by centering summary as both a literacy and equity strategy, students gained consistent tools to access and make meaning of challenging content," she affirmed.

Advice to future MATs

Park offers a key piece of advice for future teacher candidates: prioritize building genuine relationships with students during the fall semester. She shared, "A strong foundation of trust invites students to take academic risks and believe in their capacity to grow."