Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Donald Lueder
Committee Member
Claudia Chaille
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
african american students, comprehension, data analysis, District of Columbia, elementary education, fourth grade students, free breakfast and lunch program, guidance counselor, Hispanic students, intervention programs, John Burroughs Elementary School, learning styles, national curve equivalency, parent participation, reading achievement, reading comprehension, reading instruction, reading levels, reading skills, reading vocabulary, SAT-9, school restructuring, Slosson Oral Reading Test, staff development, Stanford Achievement Test Series, study behaviors, study habits, study skills, study skills assessment, study skills program, surveys, urban education, urban youth, vocabulary development, Washington, DC, workshops
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to measure the effect that a study skills program would have on the reading scores of 4th-grade students at John Burroughs Elementary School, a District of Columbia public school that is located in the northeast quadrant of Washington, DC. The neighborhood was 97% African American and 2% Hispanic. Ninety-eight percent of the students participated in the free breakfast and lunch program.
Through observations and data analysis by the administrators, the Local School Restructuring Team, reading resource teacher, and 4th-grade teachers, it was concluded that it was necessary to develop an intervention program that would improve reading vocabulary and comprehension at the 4th-grade level. For the past 3 years, a large percentage of 4th-grade students had scored below basic or basic in reading according to the Stanford Achievement Test Series, 9th Edition (SAT-9). Both of these standards denoted partial, little, or no skills.
The researcher intervened by implementing an 8-month study skills program to improve reading vocabulary and comprehension with 20 4th-grade students, initially twice a week and by midschool year, once a week in 45-minute sessions. Study skills self-awareness assessments of learning styles and modalities, surveys, and inventories were utilized during the year to allow students and the guidance counselor to chart and profile changes individually in their study behaviors, habits, and reading skills. Staff development was provided for the 4th-grade and reading teachers 4 times during the year. A parent component was also included with workshops conducted 6 times during the year.
An analysis of the data revealed mixed findings. Although 30% of the students in Grade 4 scored at the 50th percentile or better in national curve equivalency (NCE) scores on the SAT-9, their NCE scores decreased from Grade 3 in both vocabulary and comprehension. On the Slosson Oral Reading Test (R. Slosson & C. Nicholson, 1963) pre- and posttests, 18 students increased their reading levels by +.1 to +2.0. The most successful activities related to the students’ work behaviors and attitudes. A study skills inventory was used to measure changes in students’ study behaviors and habits from fall to spring. The percentage of parent participation in workshops was low, and only 1 child of the 7 participating parents showed any increase in test scores.