Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Abraham S. Fischler College of Education
Advisor
Nancy Maushak
Committee Member
John Billings
Committee Member
Ronald P. Kern
Keywords
english language arts, Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, Florida Oral Reading Fluency, Grade 9 students, high school students, intervention, mentoring program, oral reading fluency, quasiexperimental design, reading, reading abilities, reading assessment, reading comprehension, reading strategies, struggling readers, student achievement, vocabulary
Abstract
This applied dissertation compared 50 Grade 9 students’ reading and English language arts performance before and after a mentoring program focused on reading. There were no instructional support programs at this high school that could assist struggling students in the area of reading and English language arts. This high school mentoring program was implemented during the 2008–2009 school year to help students in areas such as oral reading fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension in response to a growing number of Grade 9 students failing the state’s annual reading assessment. Foundational reading skills are needed to succeed in all subject areas. Children who have not acquired a full understanding of basic reading concepts during elementary and middle school years rarely excel in later years.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether a mentoring program was effective in increasing Grade 9 students’ reading abilities and scores as measured by the state’s assessment in reading comprehension. A 2-group, quasi experimental design with a pre and posttest was utilized for this study.
Archived data from the Florida Oral Reading Fluency pre- and posttests and Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test in reading were used to assess student achievement and to inform the design and implementation of future school-based mentoring programs.
An analysis of the findings was consistent with literature on mentorship that highlighted that mentoring as an intervention can help to improve the grades of struggling readers. The results underscored the need for long-term reading-strategies programs to help students to advance and read at their appropriate grade levels.