Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Clifford Claiborne
Committee Member
Robert Esenberg
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
achievement, adaptive computer training, auditory processing, decoding, Fast ForWord, fluency, Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, language skills, literacy skills, phonemic awareness, phonics, reading comprehension, reading disabilities, reading intervention, spelling, Stanford 9, student achievement, struggling readers, third grade students, word analysis
Abstract
This applied dissertation utilized an adaptive computer training program known as Fast ForWord as an intervention to improve the literacy skills of struggling, below-level third grade readers at Smyser Accelerated School. The intent of the intervention was to improve students’ phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, and spelling skills on standardized tests and to improve classroom performance grades in reading and spelling.
A large number of students in third grade are not able to achieve at or above level on the reading comprehension test of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills. It was believed that a high mobility rate in second and third grade, poor phonemic awareness skills, and auditory processing problems cause students to have gaps in phonemic awareness, word analysis, and language skills that are necessary for decoding and fluency in the reading process. This inability to rapidly decode words and read fluently causes the reader to attend to word recognition rather than attending to comprehension. Third grade is a pivotal grade for students to solidify decoding, language, and comprehension skills in order to advance to more complex levels of understanding. The Fast For Word adaptive training programs were used as an intervention to retrain the brain in phonemic awareness, phonics, word analysis, language, and reading comprehension skills.
An analysis of the data revealed that 4 of 15 students advanced above grade level on the Stanford 9 reading comprehension test after the 20-week intervention of Fast ForWord. Six of fifteen students advanced above grade level on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills reading comprehension test after the 20-week intervention of Fast ForWord. Ten of fifteen students improved their phonemic awareness skills as measured on The Phonological Awareness Test.