Education Commons^™

An Investigation Of Reading Instruction In Northeast Tennessee., Karen Pierson Reach

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine specific prekindergarten- through 8th-grade reading programs, instructional best practices, academic interventions, and educational activities that are perceived as successful practices in four high achieving schools within the parameters of Northeast Tennessee. This study was accomplished through a protocol of open-ended interviews with 15 participants comprised of 4 school principals, 4 primary reading teachers, 4 intermediate reading teachers, 2 Title I reading specialists, and 1 district language arts coordinator. Additionally, school-specific documentation and basal reading programs were reviewed to triangulate the findings of this investigation.

The findings from this study suggested that …

Teachers' And Principals' Perspectives Of Literacy Coaching In An Elementary School., Barbara Jane Anderson Hull

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover the literacy coach's tasks and qualities teachers valued the most and which qualities they valued the least. Knowing those precepts might help one to become a more efficient and valuable resource for both classroom teachers and principals. School visits, focus group interviews, individual interviews, interviews with each principal, and documents from the 3 southwest Virginia schools in 2 districts provided the data for analysis. Teachers' and principals' perspectives of literacy coaching explained both the desirable and undesirable practices and techniques.

The 3 schools had been swept into a change process when …

Emergent Writing Skills In Preschool Children With Language Impairment, Stacey Lynne Pavelko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Much research demonstrates that alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, and emergent writing are all significant predictors of later reading and writing outcomes, and that children with language impairments (LI) are particularly at risk for later literacy difficulties. Further, children with LI consistently demonstrate depressed emergent literacy skills in the areas of phonological awareness, print concepts, and alphabet knowledge; however, little is known about their emergent writing skills. Therefore, the purposes of this study were twofold: (1) to compare the emergent writing skills of preschool children with language impairment to their typically developing peers using a range of writing tasks and a …