Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Harvey Sadoff
Committee Member
Dennis Triplett
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
Alabama Reading Initiative Program, comprehension skills, drawing conclusions, following directions, Harcourt Reading Comprehension Test, high schools, literacy, main ideas, motivation, reading, reading comprehension, reading instruction, reading strategies, Stanford Achievement Test 9, strategies, teacher training, vocabulary
Abstract
The setting for this applied dissertation is Springville High School. Twenty percent of the ninth grade students at this school scored below the 30th percentile on norm referenced Stanford Achievement Test 9 in reading comprehension. The test results reflect the lack of reading instruction at the secondary level. The implementation period was for two 18-week periods, which used reading strategies from the researched-based Alabama Reading Initiative Program. An intervention was developed and utilized to improve the reading comprehension of a select group of ninth-grade students. The objectives for this project were to significantly increase the reading comprehension scores of the target group and to increase students’ positive attitudes towards reading. The target group was required to participate in a reading program, which implemented specific strategies in order to increase reading comprehension. Target and control groups were given pre- and posttests using the Harcourt Reading Comprehension test. Results showed significant changes from pre to posttests for the experimental sample. An increase was noticed in weak areas, such as, following direction, identifying main ideas, drawing conclusions, determining meaning of words and determining cause and effect.