Language and Literacy Education Commons^™

Black Genius: An Achievement Distortion, Brenda Burgo

Dissertations

Is the achievement gap real? Using a mixed-methods approach, this study reframed standardized testing through a Quantitative Critical and Black Critical lens. It interrogated the deficit framing of Black student achievement by asking the following questions: (1) To what extent do the aggregated standardized test scores for Black students in California correlate with other measures of achievement? Included in this analysis are: (a) To what degree does the ratio of Black students relate to the achievement variables? and (b) To what extent did COVID impact this correlation? (2) What beliefs do Black educators have regarding the standardized test scores of …

Culturally Sustaining Pedagogical Practices In Early Literacy Classrooms: A Qualitative Case Study Of Two Kindergarten Classrooms, Elizabeth Carlton Phd

Dissertations

Students who attend school possess their own “funds of knowledge” from their home life and prior experiences (Moll et al., 1992). Yet, learners from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds are not viewed from a strengths-based perspective but rather a deficit perspective. The deficit perspective perpetuates the oppression and marginalization of students of color and multilingual students. Using a qualitative comparative case study research design, the study is rooted in the tenets of Critical Pedagogy (Freire, 2000), Critical Literacy, and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy as it sought to uncover insights into asset-based instructional strategies that allow multilingual learners opportunities to participate equitably …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Impact Of Iready On Student Reading Achievement For Students In Response To Intervention, Althia Gates

Dissertations

This qualitative case study aimed to explore teachers’ perceptions of the impact of i-Ready on student reading achievement for students in Response to Intervention (RTI). In this qualitative case study, participants were given an opportunity to voice their point of view and perceptions of the impact of i-Ready, including the benefits and barriers they experience when implementing i-Ready as an intervention tool for struggling readers. The need to hear teacher voices and perspectives on an RTI intervention tool is essential to providing students with the best learning experience and growth results. The study included five elementary teachers who implement i-Ready …

Adaptive Instruction Through Reflection: How Preservice Teachers Create And Implement Individualized Literacy Lessons In A University Reading Center, Jennifer Marie Lennon

Dissertations

Modern classrooms are increasingly diverse. Students vary in their academic abilities, personal interests, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and previous experiences (Allen et al., 2013). To meet the varied needs of students, educators must adapt their instruction so all are able to find success. Modifying lesson plans and changing instruction based on student needs are forms of adaptive instruction (Hoffman & Duffy, 2016; Vaughn, 2019). This study explored the metacognitive processes of preservice teachers (PSTs) as they implemented adaptive instruction within their literacy lessons in a university reading center tutoring program. Adaptive instruction was examined through two lenses: first, as PSTs …

Improving Second Language Learning Through Performance-Based Assessment Practices, Maria Granados

Dissertations

From the time of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) to the present day, standardized testing has become the benchmark measure for student assessment and school accountability in the United States. Multilingual learners are a vulnerable population with more testing and accountability requirements than mainstream students. Not only are they required to learn a second language, but they are also assessed within the same standardized testing paradigms as their peers - native speakers of the English language. This study aimed to examine and evaluate the benefits of instructional practices and assessments that provide multilingual students and teachers prompt and …

A Program Evaluation Of Prekindergarten Program In One School District, Alicia Eubank

Dissertations

I explored the potential impact of position and salary change on prekindergarten teachers in a public-school district in a southern state. I provided an educational, economic, political and moral/ethical analysis in partial support of this change for the district.

The current policy in the district is that the school year prekindergarten teaching positions are considered non-instructional. However, the summer prekindergarten program teachers are certified teachers as per state requirements. The new policy will make all prekindergarten teaching positions require state certification. This change would give them the financial pay and benefits included with the position change and keep them in …

An Evaluation Of Educator Preparedness In Content Area And Disciplinary Literacies In The High School Classroom, Lauren E. Bernat

Dissertations

A secondary education debate that currently exists between the content area and disciplinary literacy is how content area and disciplinary literacy strategies and educator preparedness to teach those components to fit together to further student achievement. The purpose of my study was to evaluate if educators are prepared to teach content area and disciplinary literacy in high school content area classrooms. The context of this evaluation was to seek information from teachers and administrators about how literacy is integrated within high school classrooms in various communities across the United States. My study demonstrated both quantitative and qualitative data that reflect …

The Lived Experiences Of Latinx Parents And Their Perception Of Bilingual Programs: A Phenomenological Reflection, Manuel O. Adrianzen

Dissertations

The aim of this study is two-fold. First, to better understand and capture the lived experiences of Latinx parents as they navigate the registration/enrollment process at the school and select a language program for their Pre-kindergarten child. Second, to understand what lived experiences influence their perception about bilingual education programs. Using Van Manen’s (2016) concept of human sciences and phenomenology, data was collected through the use of conversational interviews. The responses provided by the parents and school clerk revealed five themes, fear & anxiousness, hope for things to come & for a brighter future, use of social networks to understand …

An Evaluation Of One School's Reading Program To Support Struggling Readers Through The Use Of Data, Gabrielle Jones

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of one school’s reading intervention program, and its impact on struggling readers reading performance. Participants in this study included administrators, Grades 3 through 5instructional staff that directly impact student learning in reading through reading instruction. I collected survey data and analyzed it to determine teachers’ ability to instruct struggling readers with high expectations for student learning. As a result, this evaluation exhibit teachers require more quality planning time to prepare effective reading intervention lessons that includes strategies attained from strategically designed professional development structured to increase students’ reading ability. …

Cuban Immigrants’ Experience With Acculturation And How They Cope In The United States, Lourdes Araujo

Dissertations

Objective: This research examines how Cuban immigrants experience cope and adapt to the United States. Cuban immigration is associated with specific stressors related to the immigration experience and the necessary process of acculturation and assimilation. These major stressors can result in mental health concerns among Cuban immigrants; however, no studies have examined how acculturation may influence Cuban immigrants’ coping skills and resultant mental health concerns. This unique study is the first to examine the coping skills Cuban immigrants use during acculturation and the effects of these skills on Cuban immigrants’ mental health. Methods: Seventeen participants completed a semistructured interview and …

The Relationship Between The Next Generation Content Area Reading Professional Development Program On The Effectiveness Of Teaching Literacy Strategies In High School Biology Classes, Tia Pridgen Brown

Dissertations

The need for effective content area reading teachers have continued to increase since the introduction of one public school districts’ Content Area Reading Professional Development (CAR-PD) in 2006. In 2011, modifications were made to improve the program, and it became known as the Next Generation Content Area Reading Professional Development (NGCAR-PD). The purpose of this program evaluation is to investigate the relationship between NGCAR-PD certified Biology teachers and their ability to implement reading strategies with science content effectively. The context of this inquiry is a mid-sized public school district that has implemented the program since 2006 at the middle and …

Innovative Teaching Practices To Accelerate Student Learning In The Areas Of Literacy And Science, Michelle Simmons, Paris Bouchard

Dissertations

The researchers of this joint dissertation aspired to create and implement innovative instructional practices that would accelerate student learning. Both researchers believed in the importance of experimenting with structures and processes that lead to instructional impact. They were both passionate about developing an instructional model that would accelerate student learning by focusing on student transfer of skills. They sought to answer the question, Can learning be accelerated when teachers are supported and encouraged to create and implement instructional practices grounded in research? One researcher studied a practice that would potentially increase students’ ability to think critically and problem solve using …

Sources Of Missed Understanding: A Framework For Diagnosing Comprehension Breakdown, Tarr Jennifer

Dissertations

This research sought to understand how a formative assessment framework created by the researcher (called the Sources of Missed Understanding construct) would be used by teachers to diagnose students’ reading comprehension challenges during authentic reading instruction, and to understand the context and supports teachers needed to use the tool effectively. A design experiment methodology was used to follow the diagnostic processes of five reading specialist candidates, each working one-to-one with an upper elementary or middle school reader during a five week summer university-based tutoring setting, resulting in five case studies and cross case analysis. This study shows that teachers who …

Validation Of A Scale To Measure Phonological And Morphological Knowledge And Skill Of Speech-Language Pathologists And Elementary Teachers, Susan S. Perry

Dissertations

Phonological and morphological skills are crucial to the process of reading. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have received advanced trained in these basic foundations of language and could be an untapped resource in our school systems for teaching beginning reading skills. The purposes of this research were to examine SLPs’ and general education elementary (K-6) teachers’ attitudes toward SLPs taking part in reading instruction, to compare the differences in phonological and morphological knowledge and skill among SLPs and teachers, and to assess the performance of the Revised Basic Language Constructs Surveywhen administered to SLPs and teachers.

Results indicated that, although fewer …

The Cultural Adaptation Experiences Of Chinese Higher Education Students In The American Deep South: A Comparison Across Disciplines, Xiaonan Song

Dissertations

In the past decade, Chinese international students have been found as one of the largest international student groups at American institutions across the country. However, the American Deep South was not less frequently studied in the past. Due to the distinctiveness of the Deep South, the researcher conducted this qualitative research on Chinese international students studying in this historically and culturally distinctive region. Mississippi was chosen as a representative state of the Deep South in the current study. The researcher collected data from in-depth interviews from three publicly funded institutions in Mississippi. Besides reporting many common issues regarding to cultural …

Best Practices For The Development Of English Language In Rural Elementary Schools In Prevention Of Long Term English Learners, Heather Christine Gomez

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the best practices of English language development programs in rural South San Joaquin Valley elementary schools in the targeted areas of reading, writing, listening and speaking and best practices in teacher professional development to prevent Long Term English Learners from the perspective of principals. An additional purpose was to identify and describe obstacles to the implementation of best practices of English language development in rural South San Joaquin Valley elementary schools from the perspective of principals.

Methodology: Through data analysis, rural elementary schools in South San Joaquin Valley were identified …

Linguistic Interactions Of Spanish Speaking Mexican American Families, Adelfio J. Garcia

Dissertations

This study explored the bilingual linguistic interactions in Mexican families and their impact on children’s language and literacy development. This qualitative study gathered data using different methods, namely, interviews, direct observations, participant observation, and physical artifacts to examine parents’ perceptions of their own educational path in comparison to their children’s educational path in an American school system, together with their daily linguistic interactions in various social contexts, and the features, themes and roles of linguistic interactions participants. Study results assisted in gaining deeper understanding of daily conversations happening in different social contexts and their impact on the language and literacy …

Re-Reading, Re-Writing, And Re-Imagining Texts: Critical Literacy In A Kindergarten Classroom, Meredith Labadie

Dissertations

This qualitative action research study focuses on the integration of critical literacy practices in a kindergarten classroom. Critical literacy recognizes that no texts are neutral, and that authors position their readers in particular ways. Thus critical literacy practices are those concerned with positioning readers to inquire into issues of language and power, and to disrupt, critique, and challenge texts. In this study, critical literacy was brought to life through a curriculum of rereading and revisiting texts over time. The study took place in the researcher’s kindergarten classroom, and follows students’ discussion, written responses, and dramatizations around texts read aloud in …

Preparing Teachers In English Language Arts: Mentor Teachers Speak, Lindsay J. Jeffers

Dissertations

This narrative inquiry case study brings the voices of mentor teachers into the discourse of English language arts teacher preparation. In a series of interviews, mentor teachers discuss the challenges faced by student teachers, the pedagogical content knowledge needed to teach secondary ELA, and the relationship between secondary schools and universities.

The first theme explores the challenges that are faced by student teachers. Mentor teachers spoke about the difficulty of making the transition from student to secondary teacher and learning how to put theory into practice in their classrooms. They also considered the challenge of student teachers engaging diverse groups …

Differences In Mathematics And Literacy Achievement Between African American Males And Other 11th-Grade Students, Jeffery Flanigan

Dissertations

The gap in school performance between African American students and students of other subpopulations has shown up in a range of academic success measures including course grades, test scores, course selection, and college graduation rates (Johnston & Viadero 2000); college and high school grade point averages [GPAs] (Banks & Banks, 2004); and dropout rates (Gordon, 1999; Green, 2001; Irvine & Armento, 2001; Jencks & Phillips, 1998; Kober, 2001; Lee, 2002). These indicators all point to a disturbing pattern in the educational system and beg the question: What is going on with the education of African American males in the United …