Education Commons^™

Race, Dis/Ability, And The Potential Of The Co-Taught Classroom: Exploring Co-Teachers' Interruptions Of Inequity, Mallory A. Locke

Theses and Dissertations

Although the co-taught classroom is the fastest-growing inclusion model in U.S. public schools, an increasingly-diverse student population coupled with the continued overrepresentation of students of color in special education threatens to undermine its potential as an inclusive space that ensures success for all students. This multiphase, critical qualitative study explored how three pairs of co-teachers navigated race and dis/ability within co-taught classroom spaces serving students with multiple, intersecting identities. Informed by Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit), Critical Race Spatial Analysis, and the DisCrit Classroom Ecology framework, this study sought to examine how co-teachers’ own educational histories and beliefs about race …

Teacher Knowledge, Perceptions, And Language Orientations Towards Oral Language Instruction In A Dual Language Classroom, Lucy A. Montalvo

Theses and Dissertations

Dual language (DL) schools provide literacy in students’ native languages; however, it is unknown if there is a focus on oral language (OL) development, an essential component for emergent bilinguals’(EB) literacy development. The purpose of this mixed-methods case study is to understand what DL teachers in Virginia know about OL instruction when providing literacy instruction to EB students. This study also explored DL teachers’ perceptions and language orientations towards OL instruction in a DL classroom. The Holistic Biliteracy Framework by Escamilla et al. (2014) provided a research-based pedagogical model to compare teachers’ knowledge on OL instruction. The Language Orientation Framework …

Integrating The Funds Of Knowledge To Impact The Literacy Learning Experience For Students With Disabilities, Stephanie Lyn Losasso

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact on the literacy learning experience for students with disabilities when integrating the funds of knowledge into the curriculum. Prior to this research, students were given books with no relevance to their at home literacy. The curriculum was missing components of a framework that included the sociocultural perspectives of diverse learners. The participants for this study were three eight year old students. Two of the students were males and the one student was a female. The study was conducted during a 30-minute pull-out reading support. The students were interviewed to gain …

The Implementation And Impact Of The Leveled Literacy Intervention System On Middle School Students In Special Education, Krystin Mccormick Williams

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-methods action research study was to determine the effects of a direct, individualized, and intensive reading intervention on middle school students with identified learning disabilities in the area of reading. The Leveled Literacy Intervention System was used as the reading intervention in this study. Oral reading fluency and reading comprehension skills were measured, as well as the student participants’ attitude toward reading. Data collection methods included LLI system assessments, district level benchmark reading assessments, and student questionnaires. The teacher-researcher analyzed the data and determined the 18-week LLI intervention had positive impacts on the student participants’ oral …

Exploring Teacher Agency And Literacy Practices In A Border-Region Secondary English Language Arts Classroom, Monica Sifuentes

Theses and Dissertations

Teachers in the 21st century public school classroom are often faced with systemic pressures—from the state and district level—that may influence their instructional practice. With the increasingly globalized country and exponential increase in emergent bilingual students, it has become imperative that teachers reflect on the types of literacy pedagogy employed with their students, especially those teaching in border regions. Teachers must begin to view themselves as agents of change and as facilitators of learning.

This case study takes place in two high school settings that are in the same district and are located roughly 10 minutes from the US Mexico …

A Pulse On Language Equity In First-Grade Urban Classrooms, Deborah N. Kuether

Theses and Dissertations

Students of color are the majority in many U.S. urban public schools, yet U.S. education policy and practice continue to be centered largely on White, middle-class, monocultural, and monolingual norms of educational achievement (Alim & Paris, 2017). The purpose of this phenomenological study was to learn more about the teacher decision-making process and the extent to which first-grade mainstream teachers include culturally and linguistically sustaining practices during literacy instruction. Evidence using the foundations of the critically conscious teacher framework (Joseph & Evans, 2018) and of the role of language and culture as a medium in teaching and learning (de Jong …

Exploring Elementary Pre - Service Teachers Technological Knowledge For Teaching Literacy: A Phenomenological Study, Christy Nicole Grigsby

Theses and Dissertations

As a result of the fundamental changes to education due to COVID-19, this study focuses on the readiness of pre-service teachers to meet the literacy needs necessary in this technology mediated world by utilizing a theoretical framework that consists of a learning framework: Transformative Learning, a literacy framework: Multi literacies, and a technological framework: Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) to include the 2019 addition of another knowledge base: ConteXtual Knowledge (XK). It is this context component of TPACK that is so frequently overlooked that may encompass the cultural aspects of teaching and learning including the primary and secondary Discourses, the …

The Impact Of Prioritization Of Independent Reading On Male, Struggling Adolescent Readers’ Engagement, Motivation, And Achievement, Meagan Wagner

Theses and Dissertations

To become better readers, students must read more and more, increasing the volume, complexity, and variety of books chosen. While independent reading is the best avenue by which to do this, many teachers still struggle to devote their limited instructional time to independent reading. Specifically addressing the context of my school, there was a clear distinction in gender and reading: boys were falling behind, less engaged, less motivated to read than girls. This research aimed to address the gender gap in reading by making independent reading a priority in the classroom. As a case study, five male eighth graders were …

Tenured Teacher Motivation For Self-Directed Professional Development In Literacy, Jennifer Lynn Brady

Theses and Dissertations

After receiving tenure, experienced teachers may choose to not participate in professional development opportunities. In fact, tenured teachers may only complete the minimum professional development hours required by their school districts. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the factors that motivated tenured elementary school teachers (grades 3-6) to participate in self-directed professional development (SD-PD) in literacy. This study consisted of six tenured teachers (grades 3-6) who were recruited from three different schools in a suburban elementary school district in Nassau County, New York. Data were collected through one-on-one online interviews, a collection of participants’ written …

Reading Builds Empathy: Piloting A Literacy Tool To Measure Reading's Impact On Kids' Empathy Development, Valerie Lorene Williams-Sanchez

Theses and Dissertations

Culturally Relevant Pedagogical (CRP; Ladson-Billings, 1995) and textual strategic approaches to reading development are gaining acceptance and broader usage among students of all ages and walks of life. With this shift, quantitative measures of efficacy can confirm, bolster, and source new policies and strategies for implementation in new and existing learning frontiers that engage at-home reading and family literacy practices. To this end, the Reading Builds Empathy literacy study seeks to develop and pilot a new instrument to be used in future intervention studies. Focusing on the active ingredient of culturally relevant pedagogy, empathy, and its three dimensions (affective, cognitive, …

Theory And Practice: Phonological Awareness Instructional Methods Used In Deaf Education, Mary Cantino

Theses and Dissertations

An inequality in literacy rates exists between deaf children and their hearing peers. Research indicates that visual phonic interventions such as Visual Phonics used alongside a phonics program enhances grapheme-phoneme correspondence. That practice in turn improves overall literacy achievement. However, as rates deaf literacy continue to lag ongoing research indicates that teachers may be ill prepared to use research-based interventions. This study seeks to identify the frequency of teacher implementation of Visual Phonics interventions as well as their exposure to these interventions via teacher education and professional development. This study will investigate if the presence of these elements by using …

Examining The Perceptions Of Early Elementary Classroom Teachers With Supplementary Literacy Certification, Theresa Boehm Marsicek

Theses and Dissertations

Teacher expertise can have a large influence on student experiences and achievement. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences, practices, and beliefs of early elementary classroom teachers who have supplementary literacy certification. Although characteristics of effective literacy teachers have been identified in previous research, a literature review indicated the current literature is lacking information regarding teachers with this additional literacy certification. In this phenomenological study, data was collected through semi-structured one-on-one interviews and analyzed using the interpretative phenomenological analysis procedure. The sixteen participants taught kindergarten, first, or second grade in Wisconsin (WI) and held a WI Reading …

Examining The Relationship Between Automaticity And Oral Reading Comprehension In English Learners, Annamaria M. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

This doctoral dissertation examined the relationship between automaticity and oral reading comprehension in English Learners (ELs) by comparing outcomes with non-English Learners. High fluency rate, or automaticity, is often used as a predictor of reading comprehension in students. Much of the prior research conducted on the relationship between reading rates and oral reading comprehension involved monolingual populations. Few studies have investigated this correlation among EL populations. In this present study, secondary assessment data were retrieved for third-grade students (N = 1,583) across 13 public schools within a single diverse school district in southern Colorado during the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school …

Effects Of Scripted And Teacher Generated Literacy Program On Middle School Students, Lindsay Blaszcyk

Theses and Dissertations

Will a teacher generated literacy curriculum be more effective for student literacy growth more than a scripted literacy curriculum? Archived data of pre- and post-testing of 535 public middle school students were analyzed to examine the effectiveness of these two approaches over a two-year time span. The data were gathered using the Benchmark Assessment System, second edition (BAS-2). Data were analyzed using an ANCOVA to determine the significance of difference in students’ literacy growth by two literacy programs. A series of ANOVAs were used to see any significant differences in literacy growth between groups based on students’ characteristics. Regression analysis …

Effect Of Increasing Literacy Skills To Improve Inmate Behavior: A Quantitative Study, Katie Lynn Millsap

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the effect of increasing literacy skills during incarceration to improve adult inmate behavior, defined as a reduction in disciplinary reports received by participants. Male offenders, 18 years or older, housed in the Iowa Department of Corrections between July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2019 who completed two or more TABE Reading assessments met the inclusion criteria of the study. Multiple regression analyses were run to predict the correlation between the number of disciplinary infraction reports (dependent variable) each inmate received in a correlating timeframe of a TABE Reading assessment (independent variable). The results show that improved literacy …

A Mixed Methods Approach To Initiating A Critical Global Literacy Curriculum In The Rural High School English/Language Arts Classroom, Amy Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary society consists of emerging globalization where students will face global issues and will be expected to think critically in the professional realm. However, critical literacy and global literacy are often largely ignored in the rural high school ELA classroom where fewer cultural opportunities exist and less diversity is evident (Riley, 2015). The purpose of this study was to address a significant need for understanding the strengths and weaknesses of implementing a critical global curricular framework in a rural high school ELA classroom. Additionally, this study aimed to uncover both student and teacher perspectives regarding this implementation as well as …

Literacy Development Practices For English Learners With Interrupted Formal Education, Javier Francisco Oaxaca

Theses and Dissertations

English language learners (ELLs) are a diverse student group that continues to grow within schools all throughout the United States and those students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) continue to lag behind their peers in academic achievement, particularly in literacy. Although there have been several studies to explore this complex phenomenon, a gap in the research continues to exist on specific conditions needed for academic success for SLIFE such as beginning/basic literacy instruction in secondary educational contexts. The purpose of this research study was to determine the extent to which teachers’ perception and knowledge of basic literacy skills …