Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
John Kellmayer
Committee Member
Joan Mignerey
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
achievement, administrators, adoption, applied dissertation, assessment, balanced reading, curriculum development, curriculum revision, elementary classrooms, elementary reading program, implementation, in-service staff training, intervention strategies, kindergarten-grade 6, language arts, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, professional development, reading, reading achievement, reading curriculum, reading program evaluation, reading specialists, socioeconomic characteristics, staff training, state curriculum standards, student achievement, students, suburban school district, teachers, 5th-grade reading scores
Abstract
This applied dissertation describes a process of reviewing and adopting a kindergarten-Grade 6 reading program in a Pennsylvania suburban school district with a student population of approximately 3,800. An analysis of the district’s 5th-grade reading scores on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education in 1997, indicated that for the years 1997–2000, district mean scores were 50 to 70 points lower than the mean score of schools of similar community type and socioeconomic characteristics.
Planned solution strategies included (a) reviewing and evaluating recently published reading programs, (b) revising the district’s reading curriculum to be aligned with the state curriculum standards, (c) reviewing and using 2 selected balanced reading/language arts programs in 36 elementary classrooms, (d) adopting and implementing a new elementary/language arts reading program, and (e) conducting in-service staff training on the implementation of the new reading program. These intervention strategies involved students, teachers, reading specialists, and administrators. The process began in April 2000 and continued through February 2002.
The interventions of this applied dissertation helped to improve reading achievement. The district’s mean 2002 5th-grade Pennsylvania System of School Assessment reading score was 50 to 60 points higher than the mean scores in 1997, 1998, and 1999 and improved to be within the average score band of schools of similar community type and socioeconomic characteristics.