Date of Award
1-18-1992
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Child and Youth Care Administration
Advisor
Dr. Madelaine Ramey
Committee Member
Dr. David S. Flight
Committee Member
Dr. Charles Faires
Keywords
achievement, basal reading program, cognitive skills, developmental delay, early literacy, elementary education, first grade, kindergarten, phonics instruction, primary grades, reading achievement, reading improvement, reading instruction, reading readiness, reading skills, rural schools, San Francisco Children's Hospital Test of Kindergarten/First Grade Readiness Skills, second grade, skills-based instruction, student assessment, vocabulary development, word analysis, young learners
Abstract
This report describes a program for improving reading scores in kindergarten through second grade at elementary school located in a small rural community. Sixty to 70% of all kindergarten students left kindergarten with pronounced signs of developmental delay. These students were one and a half to two years behind in cognitive skills as measured by the San Francisco Children's Hospital Test of Kindergarten/First Grade Readiness Skills.
Analysis of the problem through formal and informal methods revealed students were falling behind in reading for three reasons: teachers' heavy reliance on the use of a skills-based, basal approach; students coming to school developmentally delayed; and teachers not adjusting to this change in developmental needs of students.
At the heart of this practicum intervention, the primary teachers used the Baratta Lorton Reading Program. The program utilizes 44 sounds in a very strong phonetic approach to reading. As students gained needed reaching skills, they were transitioned into the basal reading program. The percentage of students in the bottom quartile on the ITBS at the end of first grade decreased from April 1990 to May 1991 as follows: word analysis, 39% to 29%; reading, 34% to 24%. The percentage of students in the bottom quartile on the ITBS in second grade decreased from April 1990 to November 1991 as follows: word analysis, 27% to 11%; vocabulary, 29% to 17%; reading, 29% to 21%.