Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
June S. Delano
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
achievement, adequately decoding, applied dissertation, comprehension, data analysis, decoding, elementary school, explicit instruction, grade 3, guided practice, independent reading, instructional model, outcomes, predicting, questioning, read aloud, reading comprehension, reading programs, reading strategies, reading instruction, school improvement, skills instruction, students, summarizing, teacher modeling, third grade students, writer-developed program
Abstract
This applied dissertation focused on improving the reading comprehension of third grade students in an elementary school. The instructional model of the school was based on providing skills instruction. Further, students were not given opportunities to read independently for an extended time. The third grade students of this elementary school concentrated on decoding and neglected comprehension when they read.
A program was developed by this writer to help the participating students use strategies while reading. This program included teachers reading aloud to students to model strategies, the writer’s explicit instructions and guided practice of these strategies, and the students independent reading to apply the strategies. Within the framework of this writer developed program, students were trained to use predicting, questioning, and summarizing strategies. These strategies were taught individually and then in combination once a week.
The results of the dissertation showed that the program impacted all of the students involved. Analysis of the data showed that the students met the outcomes which the writer had projected. The overall goal of improving third grade students who were adequately decoding but not comprehending reading selection was achieved.