Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Joan Mignerey
Committee Member
Deborah L. Wortham
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
afterschool programs, afterschool reading programs, afterschool tutoring, assistant principals, Burnt Mills Elementary School, educational program evaluation, elementary school students, extended-day programs, Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5, low-achieving students, Montgomery County Public Schools System, parent involvement, reading performance, reading programs, reading skills, school administrators, student achievement, student performance, tutoring programs, tutoring services
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to evaluate an afterschool reading program to determine whether it was an effective mechanism for improving student performance in reading at the Grade 3, 4, and 5 levels. It addressed the problem of poor reading skills of students at Burnt Mills Elementary School (BMES) in the Montgomery County Public Schools System (MCPS}, the site of the program. Statewide tests had shown that students at BMES scored 20 to 30 percentile points less than their counterparts elsewhere in the MCPS.
The administrators at BMES implemented an afterschool reading program as a means of reversing the problem of declining performance. The program involved tutoring low-achieving students whose skills were inadequate in grade-level reading. The evaluation of the program was assigned to the writer, who was an assistant principal, as part of the required training for that position. This evaluation determined that the afterschool reading program was a relatively effective means of improving the reading performance of students. It documented lessons learned from the program that could be useful in guiding the development of similar programs in the future as well as programs at other institutions. It also documented the results of an extensive literature review in the areas of afterschool (extended-day) programs and improvement of reading performance. The writer recommended modifications to the program based on the results of the evaluation and the extensive literature review.