Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
James Ann Lynch
Committee Member
Michael Griffin
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
academic standards, America’s Choice, assessment, classroom observations, curriculum, Developmental Reading Assessment, elementary education, Georgia’s Choice, instructional methods, instructional strategies, lesson plans, National Center on Education and the Economy, performance standards, reading assessment, reading instruction, reading performance, reading program, student achievement, student performance, suburban elementary school, surveys, teacher coaching, teacher knowledge, teacher perceptions, teacher training, teachers' meetings
Abstract
The purpose of this applied dissertation was to determine if implementing America’s Choice (National Center on Education and the Economy, 1999)/Georgia’s Choice design to teach reading changed the instructional methods of 4th-grade teachers and improve 4th-grade students’ reading performance as measured by the Developmental Reading Assessment (Beavers, 2002). These changes were evidenced in lesson plans, instructional strategies, classroom observations, and teacher surveys.
This applied dissertation report describes how reading performance standards using the America’s Choice design were implemented in 4th-grade classrooms in a suburban elementary school with 5 fourth-grade teachers, 1 enhanced instruction program teacher, and 108 fourth-grade students. A survey was given to 4th-grade teachers at Sky Haven Elementary School to gather information at the beginning of the school year. The results of the survey indicated that 100% of teachers had not been formerly trained to implement performance standards throughout the curriculum using the America’s Choice design.
The writer coached the 4th-grade teachers to implement reading performance standards in their lesson plans and daily instruction delivery during teachers’ meetings. The target group of teachers responded to questions on a pre- and postassessment depicting their knowledge of using performance standards. Teachers responded monthly to a survey expressing their understanding and perception of the information being presented during the teachers’ meetings. These surveys were analyzed and coded for reoccurring themes throughout the written responses. At project’s end, quantitative data were gathered to determine if students’ scores increased on the Developmental Reading Assessment, and qualitative data were used to determine if teacher instructional methods changed.
An analysis of the results revealed that the intervention of this study changed teacher instructional methods to that of America’s Choice/Georgia’s Choice as evidenced by teacher responses to surveys, lesson plans, and classroom observations. The analysis also revealed that 100% of the students demonstrated 1 level increase on the Developmental Reading Assessment administered by the classroom teacher.