Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Patricia Grimes Smith
Committee Member
Anne Joslin
Committee Member
Maryellen Maher
Keywords
achievement, activities, administration, afterschool program, Bonaparte Elementary School, church, classroom environment, community involvement, fluency, functional reading, Georgia, Grades 3-5, informational reading, instructional leadership, media specialist, parent involvement, public library, reading achievement, reading activities, recreational reading, report card grades, sight words, Stanford 9, student achievement, tutoring, vocabulary in context, Warner Robins
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to improve reading achievement at Bonaparte Elementary School in Warner Robins, Georgia. The project was a continuation of a preliminary investigation that was carried out during the 2001-2002 school year. Results from the Stanford 9 in the spring of 2002 showed that 84 (35%) of the 238 students in Grades 3-5 scored below the national average in functional reading, vocabulary in context, and initial understanding.
The solution strategy was the implementation of a support program that was designed to get students involved in recreational and informational reading activities in and beyond the classroom environment. The program focused on increasing access to informational and functional reading to encourage growth in fluency, vocabulary in context, and initial understanding. Activities were conducted through a recreational and informational reading program in an afterschool program at Bonaparte Elementary School, the public library, and a church in the community.
The results were as follows: (a) the number of students in the target group who scored 80 or above in reading as measured by their report card grades in reading increased from 0 to 60 (objective met), (b) the number of informational (nonfiction) books read by target students in Grades 3-5 increased from 178 to 252 (objective not met), (c) the number of hours the media specialist spent assisting teachers in their classrooms increased from 5 to 30 hours per week (objective met), (d) the number of members of the target group who achieve mastery of sight words increased from 22 to 58 (objective met), (e) the number of students who attended tutoring on a regular basis (at least once per week) increased from 0 to 61 (objective met), and (f) parents’ attendance at parent involvement activities increased from 30 to 270, an average of 15 parents per activity (objective met).