Education Commons^™

Improving Literacy Outcomes For Adolescent English Language Learners, Grace Diaz-Peterson

Graduate Teacher Education

As the population of English Language Learners in United States public schools has risen significantly in recent years, the unique academic challenges these students faced, particularly in middle and high school, became more apparent. A widening reading and vocabulary gap between English Language Learners and their native English-speaking peers posed particular barriers in secondary content area classes, where many teachers reported feeling ill-prepared to meet the specialized linguistic needs of their English Language Learner students. This paper analyzed a mix of recent, available qualitative and quantitative research on best practices to improve literacy outcomes for adolescent English Language Learners. As …

Teachers As Change Agents: An Investigation Into The Literary Practices Of Effective Tier 2 Charter School Teachers In South Louisiana, Earlisha Jenkins Whitfield

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A Southern Louisiana charter school is in the initial phases of a Response To Intervention (RTI). General education classroom teachers are responsible for all Tier 1 and 2 instruction that included interventions in Tier 2. However, many teachers were unsure about the implementation, of RTI and had negative experiences with RTI, describing the process as frustrating and overwhelming. This case study examines teachers that have been effective in the process as evidenced by an increase in in reading levels and student interest. The research explores the teachers’ perceptions, experience, and knowledge of the current implementation of RTI. This qualitative research …

The Exploration Of Multicultural Pedagogy On Rural Student Global Literacy And College Preparedness, Katelyn E. Kreis

Ed.D. Dissertations

The study of the effectiveness of multicultural pedagogy on student global literacy and college preparedness is a topic of concern for educators and students. Multicultural education is a multifaceted pedagogical approach in which educators provide diverse experiences for students to learn to work within the global society. The purpose of this research study was to explore the influence multicultural pedagogy has on rural student global literacy and college preparedness. The quantitative approach examined: differences between urban and rural samples, multicultural pedagogy, global citizenship, college preparedness, U.S. interconnectedness, and confidence of new literacies between students in a traditional instructional setting (N …

Failure To Launch?: Advancing The Case For Financial Literacy Interventions In Postsecondary Education, Cathleen Snyder

Dissertations, 2014-2019

For college undergraduates, the thought of managing money is often new, exciting, and terrifying in the same breath. Some students have learned well from their parental and prior academic influences, and yet others may be overwhelmed by a lack of those same resources. As postsecondary institutions endeavor to level the proverbial playing field, helping college graduates launch into meaningful, financially independent lives, it begs additional consideration on the intervention methods that might be most impactful.

This study examined a for-credit, curriculum-based intervention specific to personal finance topics. It attempted to answer several key questions: How knowledgeable are students relative to …

Supporting Refugee And Emergent English Learner's Reading Ability Through A Story Dictation-Based Curriculum, Heather Sunday

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

The purpose of this project is to present a literacy curriculum designed specifically for emergent English Learners (ELs) and refugee students. The curriculum utilizes the Language Experience Approach (LEA) to support ELs in their literacy learning as well as capitalize on student strengths in oral language. In order to design this curriculum, literature research was conducted with two questions in mind: 1. How can the strengths of refugee students’ be utilized in a literacy curriculum? 2. In what ways could a Language Experience Approach­based curriculum support emergent ELs in their literacy development? Once these questions were answered through thorough literature …

Where Do We Go From Here? Culturally Responsive Teaching And Literacy Among African American Males, Denise Evelyn Cyrus

Education Dissertations and Projects

Literacy skills impact academic achievement for school-aged children and almost every facet of modern day life thereafter. Low literacy achievement affects college acceptance, college completion, employment, housing, and socioeconomic status to name a few (Ford & Moore, 2013). Regrettably, the literacy skills gap between Black and White students in America has remained virtually the same for the past 20 years. Factors such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, and teacher quality contribute to the sustainability of literacy gaps. Scholars such as Ladson-Billings (1995a), Gay (2010), and Hammond (2015) endorse the use of culturally responsive pedagogy as an approach to reduce achievement …

Impact Of Language Program Model On Third-Grade English Language Learners’ Proficiency In Literacy, Alecia Roberts

Education Dissertations and Projects

Demographics within U.S. public schools have seen a drastic change over the years from the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) which integrated schools to the current increase in English Language Learners (ELLs) within the classroom. The U.S. is known to be a melting pot, and the present-day classrooms are a clear example of this phenomenon; however, with the increase in demographics of the U.S. classrooms, ELLs are falling significantly behind their peers in reading achievement. Thus, this study examined the impact of traditional, dual-language, and full immersion settings on North Carolina third-grade ELLs’ proficiency in …

An Investigation Of On Our Way To English®, A Reading Program For English Learners In A Rural Western Region North Carolina Public School District, Regina King

Education Dissertations and Projects

This study examined how a literacy program, On Our Way to English® (OWE), for English Learners (ELs) was implemented in one North Carolina public school district. The program contained the elements of phonics, vocabulary, reading, and writing instruction. The researcher collected documents from participants as well as conducted observations of teachers implementing the program with ELs while taking field notes. The data collected were analyzed to determine how competent the participants felt in implementing the program with EL students and how it impacted their academic success. The participants’ strengths were with using the vocabulary and writing instruction provided by the …

Teacher Perspectives Of Their Implementation Of Guided Reading Instruction, Kristi Presley

Ed.D. Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of guided reading in the classroom and the perception teachers had related to their own self-efficacy in their implementation of guided reading instruction. Using an interpretative qualitative methodology, this researcher interviewed twelve teachers in Tennessee concerning their implementation of guided reading instruction in their classrooms. This researcher designed and utilized a Guided Reading Fidelity Checklist for the purpose of analyzing the collected data. This researcher identified misalignments regarding the fidelity of the implementation of guided reading instruction. The findings of this study demonstrate a need for teachers to have further …