Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Paul Borthwick
Committee Member
Scherrine Pitts
Committee Member
Maryellen Maher
Keywords
academic achievement, achievement gains, accelerated reader program, academic levels, assistance, benchmarks, education, eighth-grade students, FCAT, Florida, Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, Florida’s Sunshine State Standards, incentive component, interest in reading, lowest performing students, mathematics, norm reference test materials, reading ability, reading achievement, reading intervention, reading material, reading needs, reward component, sample group, school performance, student achievement, student achievement report, student assessment, student performance, study, weaknesses, writing
Abstract
This applied dissertation addressed the issue of improving the reading ability and academic levels of 8th-grade students. A student academic achievement report revealed 8th-grade students continue to show inadequate school performance for the school years 1999-2000 and 2000-2001. This less than acceptable performance is measured each year by the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). The FCAT is part of Florida’s plan to increase student achievement. The test contains two basic components: benchmarks in reading, writing, and math from Florida’s Sunshine State Standards and Norm Reference Test Materials.
The practitioner identified 25% of the lowest performing 8th-grade students to improve their achievement gains in the area of reading using an Accelerated Reader Program (Advantage Learning Systems, 2000). The Accelerated Reader Program identifies areas of weaknesses and poor student achievement while encouraging students to read more books using a reward and incentive component.
An analysis of the data revealed that students performed better in many areas than others. Several students continued to struggle with the reading material and will need assistance. The practitioner used the lowest performing 8th-grade students as a sample group. Utilizing the Accelerated Reader Program improved student’s reading needs and assessed their academic ability. An interest in wanting to read was generated among the students in the study.