Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
EdD Program for Educational Leaders
Keywords
balanced literacy, grade 2, guided reading, guided writing, informal assessments, literacy instruction, professional development, professional learning communities, reading achievement, reading comprehension, reading instruction, reading levels, rural elementary schools, student achievement, teacher instruction, teacher training, vocabulary skills
Abstract
The problem addressed was low reading achievement for Grade 2 students at Putnam County Elementary School. Reading comprehension and vocabulary skills were not being demonstrated by Grade 2 students to a satisfactory level according to the test data. Teachers in the school expressed frustration about how to help students achieve higher levels. One variable that impacts reading achievement is teacher instruction. This study addresses that variable.
The intervention was a staff development training program to help Grade 2 teachers at Putnam County Elementary School learn to implement a balanced approach to literacy through guided reading and guided writing. The quasi-experimental project involved the training of 3 teachers of 53 Grade 2 students in a rural elementary school. The teachers were trained to implement balanced literacy instructional strategies and how to utilize informal assessments to assist in designing daily instruction.
A comparison of the results was made for the 1998-1999 school year and the year of intervention, 1999-2000. The pre- and post-comparison indicated growth in students’ reading achievement after treatment. An analysis of data at the end of the project indicated this approach to reading instruction helped teachers have a better understanding of how well Grade 2 students actually performed in reading text. The percentage of students at or above grade level in the fall was 49% while the percentage of students in the spring at or above grade level was 59.6%, an overall improvement of 10.6%. Therefore, the terminal objective of 4% increase in overall student reading achievement was met on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test (1989). The objective was met in regards to students at all reading levels. Not only did lower achieving students’ reading skills improve, but the average and higher achieving students’ reading levels were also raised beyond the 4% objective.