Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Gloria Wolfson
Committee Member
Paul Terry
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
achievement, attitudes, Black female students, class size, classroom teachers, Criterion Test of Basic Skills, early intervention, early reading, elementary schools, Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, grade retention, group reading, instructional time, parent surveys, Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening, pullout model, Reading Recovery, reading achievement, reading instruction, remedial instruction, rural communities, second graders, small-group instruction, teacher training, third graders, time, Title I, treatment groups, virtual instruction, White female students, White male students
Abstract
The intervention described in this applied dissertation was designed as an alternative to retention for students in a small rural community who were reading below grade level. The focus of the study was to assess whether instruction given by Reading Recovery teachers to small groups of struggling second and third graders, delivered in long segments over a short period of time, was more effective than that delivered for shorter segments over a longer period of time. Two Reading Recovery teachers team-taught groups of 6-7 students to provide intensive reading instruction virtually all day for 7 weeks. Treatment groups were compared to groups of similar backgrounds and abilities from a school where Reading Recovery teachers provided 20-30 minutes of remedial reading instruction for 13 weeks using a typical Title I pullout model. Twenty seven students (11 White females, 15 White males, 1 Black female) took part in the study.
Data were gathered on how much direct reading instruction students received from the Reading Recovery teachers. Pre and post reading achievement levels were determined by administering the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, Criterion Test of Basic Skills, and the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening. Surveys were given to students, parents, and classroom teachers to ascertain their beliefs and attitudes about the success of the two pullout models.
Analysis of the time data revealed that the treatment groups received about twice as much direct reading instruction from the Reading Recovery teachers in about half the time. Achievement data indicated that treatment groups were able to show significant gains in 7 weeks.