Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Fredrick Fishback
Committee Member
Gloria Kuchinshas
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
Chicago, Dvorak Academy, Great Books, Illinois, Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS), literature-based curriculum, literature-based program, parent participation, percentile ranking, reading achievement, reading comprehension, reading improvement, reading instruction, reading scores, reading strategies, recreational reading, student motivation, summer school program, teacher preparation, teaching strategies
Abstract
This applied dissertation describes a reading literature-based program to increase reading achievement of Grade 6 students at Dvorak Academy, public school, located in Chicago, Illinois. Based on the skills analysis report of Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) reading scores from 1999 through 2001, 64% of Grade 6 students averaged below the national 50th percentile.
Possible causes for the problem included (a) inappropriate reading instructional methods, (b) lack of student motivation in reading the required number of recreational reading books, and (c) lack of teacher preparation in teaching reading.
The goal of this applied dissertation was to improve reading by implementing a Great Books literature-based curriculum and improving Grade 6 teachers teaching strategies in reading.
The objectives of this dissertation were to (a) after implementation of the Great Books literature-based program, 40% of Grade 6 students improved their reading standard score, (b) after the implementation of the recreational reading program, there was an increase from 3% to 20% in the number of parents participating, (c) increase by 50% the number of Grade 6 students scoring at or above the 50th percentile ranking, and (d) increase by 50% the number of Grade 6 students promoted to Grade 7 after completion of a literature-based summer school program.