Digital Commons Network^™

Progressive Achievement Tests In Reading : Comprehension, Vocabulary And Spelling, Andrew Stephanou, Prue Anderson, Daniel Urbach

Prue Anderson

The ACER Progressive Achievement Tests in Reading Fourth Edition (PAT Reading Fourth Edition) is a major revision of this Australian test of achievement in reading. The PAT Reading Fourth Edition is a researched and normed test for measuring student achievement in reading comprehension, word knowledge and spelling. It is designed to help teachers assess the pre-reading, reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge and spelling skills of students from the first year of school to Year 10; and it provides teachers with objective information for setting realistic learning goals and planning effective programs. The PAT Reading Fourth Edition contains eleven normed and graded …

The Promise Of Academic Learning Time In A Dose-Response Model Of Early Reading Achievement, Benjamin Heuston

Theses and Dissertations

Reading has long been acknowledged to be a critical skill that is best acquired early in life. According to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reports, American public school children continue to struggle to master the basics of reading. Although federal funding in real dollars has increased consistently over time, reading scores have not followed suit, suggesting that fiscal resources have not been applied successfully to the variables that are directly related to reading acquisition and achievement. The current state of affairs therefore suggests the need for identifying a fiscally-targetable, instructionally-relevant variable with a direct, causal relationship …

The Effect Of A Rural High School Combination Supplemental Literacy Program On Emerging Readers’ Achievement, Engagement, And Behavior Outcomes, Mark L. Adler

Student Work

No abstract provided.

Memory Functioning In Children With Reading Disabilities And/Or Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Clinical Investigation Of Their Working Memory And Long-Term Memory Functioning., Michelle Y. Kibby, Morris J. Cohen

Publications

We examined memory functioning in children with reading disabilities (RD), Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and RD/ADHD using a clinic sample with a clinical instrument: the Children's Memory Scale, enhancing its generalizability. Participants included 23 children with RD, 30 with ADHD, 30 with RD/ADHD, and 30 controls. Children with RD presented with reduced verbal short-term memory (STM) but intact visual STM, central executive (CE), and long-term memory (LTM) functioning. Their deficit in STM appeared specific to tasks requiring phonetic coding of material. Children with ADHD displayed intact CE and LTM functioning but reduced visual-spatial STM, especially when off stimulant medication. Children …

Title I Program Models Of Delivery: The Impact Of Paraeducator Instruction On Idaho Fourth Grade Reading Proficiency, Janet S. Byers-Kirsch

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Under federal law No Child Left Behind (NCLB, 2002), each state must annually increase the percentage of students proficient on their achievement tests. They must also have a plan to ensure school districts adequately train and evaluate paraeducators or possibly face losing them as instructional assistants. The study was a descriptive design using quantitative analysis from information gleaned from Idaho’s school district Title I Directors and principals statewide who responded to Qualtrics web-based survey with data about their elementary schools’ models of Title I program service delivery, instructional staff and their training. It examined the relationship between the five most …

Delighting In The Written Word And Sharing A Love Of Learning, Fay Verburg

Georgia Library Quarterly

A personal narrative is presented which recounts the author's appreciation and interest for reading and learning.

Public Libraries 'Just Buggy' For 2008 Summer Reading Program

Georgia Library Quarterly

The article presents information on the highlights of the 2008 Summer Reading Program, entitled "Catch the Reading Bug," for public libraries in Georgia. The objective of the Worth County Library System (WCLS) is to increase the participation of teenagers. The Houston County Public Library System (HOUPL) has added teenagers as a new component to its Summer Reading Program. Information is given on the reading programs of the Southwest Georgia Regional Library system.

Coweta Encourages 'Reading Olympians'

Georgia Library Quarterly

The article presents information on the 29th Summer Olympiad program of Coweta County Library in Georgia from August 8 to 23, 2008. The public library system has presented two multicultural programs to stimulate interest in cultural diversity, the Olympics and sportsmanship. Its objective of the program is to encourage students to read. The library's other Olympics-themed event was the premiere of its new virtual travel program.

Mcguffey Readers, Samuel J. Smith

Faculty Publications and Presentations

With over 122 million copies sold from 1838 to 1920, the McGuffey Eclectic Readers taught more Americans to read than any other textbook. Initial publication coincided with a unique period in United States history as the West was settled, newly arrived immigrants assimilated, and the common school movement gained momentum. At this time, the nation was at a critical point of forming a distinct identity. These phenomena created a demand for textbooks that would not only meet the practical need for curriculum in developing schools but would also extend prevailing American values both to children new to the frontier and …

What Does Naep Tell Us About Student Achievement In Arkansas?, Sarah B. Kent, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Arkansas Education Reports

Recently, policymakers at the Arkansas Department of Education were pleased to release the results of the 2008 Benchmark exams, which indicate more Arkansas students are becoming proficient each year. This is good news for Arkansas, as the Benchmark exam is an Arkansas developed exam used to compare student performance to state standards. Nevertheless, it is also important to take note of how Arkansas students perform compared to students across the nation, which is where the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) plays an important role. The NAEP, also known as “the Nation’s Report Card,” allows student performance to be compared …

Factors That Are Associated With Students' Standardized Reading Achievement Scores, Cherie Nichole Mothershead

Dissertations

This study examined the factors that are associated with students' standardized reading achievement scores. The participants in this study were obtained from two sources: a national and a regional sample. The national participants were located throughout the United States of America, and the regional participants were from a school district in a southeastern state.

The data for the national sample were provided by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a division of the U.S. Department of Education, and the regional sample was provided by surveying all fifth grade teachers in a school district from a southeastern state. These two …

The Effects Of Singing And Chanting On The Reading Achievement And Attitudes Of First-Graders, Kathy Cochran

All Dissertations

This research involves a mixed-methods case study of the reading instruction in a first grade class taught by Ms. Bing, a veteran of 29 years of first grade teaching. Analyses of classroom field notes and interviews of Ms. Bing provided insights into her methods of teaching reading, which focus largely on the use of song lyrics and chants instead of basal text. Occurring predominantly during the first semester of the school year, the study involved observations of reading instruction given to Ms. Bing's class, which initially numbered 23 students. While the school required all first grade teachers to employ Cunningham's …

Rapid Automatized Naming And Reading Ability, Rebecca Eisenberg Mccartney

Psychology Dissertations

The Rapid Automatized Naming test (RAN) has been shown to be a strong predictor of reading ability (Katzir et al., 2006), however the nature of this relationship remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the underlying components of RAN, and to then determine whether these components partially account for the relationship between RAN and reading ability. The sample consisted of 100 undergraduate students. The underlying components of RAN that were evaluated included, visual search and scanning, auditory and visual sequencing, discrete naming, confrontation naming, executive functioning and phonological processing. The findings suggest that visual search and scanning, …

The German Proficiency Exam At Brigham Young University: A Validation Study, Tina Grahovac Starr

Theses and Dissertations

In order to continuously improve teaching and learning of a language program, it is a crucial part of program evaluation to assure that its assessment instruments have a beneficial influence on the teaching and learning procedures. For that reason, evidence was gathered to investigate the validity of test scores of the German Proficiency Exam (GPE) used by the German Section of the Germanic and Slavic Languages Department at Brigham Young University. The GPE consists of seven exam components: Listening comprehension, reading, writing, speaking, grammar, vocabulary, and strong verbs. The GPE component scores of 179 students were used to conduct the …

Tell Me A Story! Tales From Africa & Other Cultures [4th Grade], Carrie Susong

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

No abstract provided.

Discovery Through Nonfiction [6th Grade], Allison Grant

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit students will read a variety of informative and literary nonfiction texts focusing on the tragedy and discovery of the Titanic. The readings will provide them with the opportunity to uncover the understandings that discovery is the illumination of information, discovery leads us to understand the truth, and discovering types and features of nonfiction makes us more effective readers. Through discussion with their classmates and creation of several graphic organizers, students will answer the question “what is discovery and what is it not?” As students read the nonfiction books 882 ½ Amazing Answers to Your Questions About the …

Discovering Our World [6th Grade], Vanessa Sanchez

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit for 6th graders, students will bridge their understanding between reading for information and reading solely for entertainment. Students will develop an understanding of the connection between discovery and reading as well as understanding that they are discoverers in their own right. Students will construct a fact book that includes information from various sources on the areas we have covered as well as constructing an analysis and explanation of their decisions. The assessments will provide students the framework to adjust perceptions and utilization of resources to match the purpose of their actions. In the end, students will understand …

“Louis Sachar’S Holes: Palimpsestic Use Of The Fairy Tale To Privilege The Reader”, Laura Nicosia

Department of English Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This article explores how readers respond to the multiple timelines and fairy tales in Sachar's novel, Holes.

Latino Middle School Students Read To Learn Critical Literacy: Social Justice Through Action Research, Jennifer Grenardo

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This action research study explored if changes in the reading curriculum, specifically implementation of critical literacy approaches that acknowledge bicultural students, increase student learning as perceived by teachers and students in a Catholic elementary school, where students have been chronically performing at the lowest level in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. By using critical pedagogy (Darder, 1991; Freire, 1970; Giroux, 1983; Macedo, 1994; McLaren, 1988) as a theoretical framework, this action research project investigated the effective elements of critical literacy (Cadiero-Kaplan, 2004; Shor & Pari, 1999) that promote academic learning for Latino middle school students in a low-income Catholic elementary …

My Own Private Library: A Peek Inside The Personal Library Of A Librarian, Angela Thornton

Georgia Library Quarterly

The article reviews several books about multiculturalism, including "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie, "Chanda's Secrets" by Allan Stratton and "Jabberwocky" by Christopher Myers.

What Can You Remember? An Approach To Reading, Laura Lagemann, Allison Schulte

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

Reading comprehension can be affected by the reading method used, whether this is reading silently, aloud, or being read to by another. Our study measures the impact different reading methods has on the overall comprehension of a given passage. Our 90 subjects consisted of 58 women and 35 men. Subjects were randomly placed into three groups, for each of the three reading method variables being measured. Each group read the same passage. Our hypotheses for the study were that subjects reading the passage silently will recall more information about the passage than if they are read aloud to, or if …

A Synthesis Of The Literature On Reading Interventions To Improve Oral Reading Rates, Kelley Douglass

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The traditional model of identification and eligibility assessment in Special Education often is to refer-test-place, which is based on a "wait to fail" procedure. Research has shown positive outcomes for the use of a Response to Intervention (RTI) model of assessment as an alternative method of learning disability identification. However, challenges exist in the selection of high-quality, research-based, effective interventions. A review of the literature was conducted to identify reading intervention options based on Curriculum-Based Measurement outcomes that may be selected for RTI use within the model and the potential barriers of their use. Twenty-one studies were identified examining 31 …

Building Literacy Through Literature, Elvina Tong

Graduate Student Independent Studies

A study of literacy and literature in the early and middle childhood years. Models of teaching literacy are examined and cooperative learning, in place of ability grouping, is recommended.

My Own Private Library: A Peek Inside The Personal Library Of A Librarian, Ru Story-Huffman

Georgia Library Quarterly

A personal narrative is presented which looks back at the author's first personal library experience.

Reading Rainbow: Assessing Effectiveness In Literacy Technology, Liz Russ, Erin Meehan

Leah A. Nillas

“Children’s Television Workshop and the University of Nebraska created a program, ‘Reading Rainbow’ to promote recreational reading in early readers” (Tarnauskas, 1995). Since its creation, this literacy technology has thrilled and delighted first and second grade audiences, but little to no research has been done on the effectiveness of this program. What is the outcome of the Reading Rainbow program on students’ literacy? This research study investigated the effect of the Reading Rainbow program on literacy of 21 diverse first grade students. Data was obtained through qualitative methods including observations and focus group interviews with students, as well as interviews …

Verb Generation In Children With Spina Bifida., Maureen Dennis, Derryn Jewell, Ross Hetherington, Christine Burton, Michael E. Brandt, Susan E. Blaser, Jack M Fletcher

Journal Articles

We investigated verb generation in children with spina bifida meningomyelocele (SBM; n = 55) and in typically developing controls (n = 32). Participants completed 6 blocks (40 trials each) of a task requiring them to produce a semantically related verb in response to a target noun and an additional 40 trials on which they were simply required to read target nouns aloud. After controlling for reading response time, groups did not differ significantly in verb generation response time or learning. Children with SBM produced more non-verb errors than controls and tended to repeat their mistakes over blocks. Verb generation performance …

Do Dibels Nonsense Word Fluency Scores Predict Sat-10 Reading Scores In First Grade? A Comparison Of Boys And Girls In Reading First Schools, Diane E. Napier

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of DIBELS Nonsense Word Fluency Scores in the fall of first grade as a predictor of SAT-10 results. A comparison of boys and girls, three ethnic groups (Caucasian, Hispanic, African-American), and three different reading risk groups were examined using multiple regression analyses. Analysis of data from a total of 27,000 participants from a cohort of Reading First schools in 2003/2004 confirmed Nonsense Word Fluency scores in the fall of first grade to be a significant predictor of the SAT-10 reading scores in the spring. Differences found between and within groups …

The Impact Of Animals With Struggling Readers, Jennifer Heyer

Theses and Graduate Projects

The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate the impact that dogs have with students that struggle with reading. Several programs have been implemented where students spend time reading books to dogs. During these reading sessions, students tend to be more relaxed and confident with their reading. For this thesis, the researcher collected evidence from six students to assess if reading to a dog assists student's reading achievement. Three students met with the researcher for sixteen weeks and worked on their reading skills. The other three students worked with a dog-reading team. Research was collected by using reading assessments, field …

A Guide To Balanced Literacy—Pertaining To Reading—For The Intermediate Elementary Teacher, Meghann Finn Mcdonald Martin

All Graduate Projects

This project is a resource that offers information on how to implement, plan, and assess reading using the instructional strategies of balanced literacy. A review of the literature on all four instructional strategies of balance literacy is included. This guide will aid intermediate elementary teachers in planning effective instruction. The intent of this project is to provide a realistic and useful source for classroom teachers to utilize when planning and assessing reading instruction. Finally in addition to the sample lesson plans are examples of texts used for each lesson.

How Spanish -Speaking Parents Understand Kindergarten And Support Their Children's Education Within The Context Of A School, Phyllis Barton Schlichter

Doctoral Dissertations

The intention of this study was to examine the experiences of nine Spanish-speaking families in a public kindergarten setting during the 2005-2006 school year to understand how individual agency of parents, access to a community's practices and events, and the resulting interrelationship, shape parent understanding of and participation in school practices and events and ultimately impact student achievement outcomes. In a nation that is becoming increasingly diverse, the Hispanic population is the largest minority group in the country. There are more than two million English-language learners in the U.S. K-3 classrooms with Spanish accounting for almost 80% of the non-English …