Digital Commons Network^™

Implementation Of A Response To Intervention Block, Amy Roberts Mcglohorn

Theses and Dissertations

The location of this study is Bulldog Elementary School (BES) (pseudonym) in Suburban School District (SSD) (pseudonym). According to the Read to Succeed Act (2016), students must read on grade level by the end of third grade. Therefore, the students reading achievement level is the problem of practice. This action research study describes the impact of the Response to Intervention (RtI) model within an instructional framework for English Language Arts (ELA) in an elementary level classroom and its impact on student growth in reading by reviewing student universal screening assessment data and progress monitoring using a pre-test/post-test model as well …

The Effects Of Academic Parent Teacher Teams On Latino Student Achievement, Barbara Dee Bench

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Decades of research have noted the importance of parent involvement in students' academic success. Less is known about parent engagement models that aim to increase Latino students' reading achievement. This project study examined the effectiveness of a 2-year parent engagement program implemented to address poor reading achievement of Latino elementary school students in a small urban district. The purpose of this study was to determine disparities in student scores between those parents who participated in the program and those parents who did not participate. The research questions examined parent engagement levels in comparison to increased summative reading scores. Based on …

Reading Across Different Orthographies: Urdu, Arabic, Hindi And English, Amna Mirza

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Research on relationships across literacy skills for multiple languages suggests the need for a complex framework that includes linguistic typology as well as cognitive and cultural variables (Schwartz, Geva, Share, & Leikin, 2007). Literature shows that bilinguals activate both languages they know for all linguistic tasks regardless of which language is being used at the time (Kroll & Bialystok, 2013). In that case, learning a third or any additional language is qualitatively different than second language (L2) acquisition. Findings for readers of Roman scripts demonstrate that L1 reading and L2 proficiency influences L2 reading (Cummins, 1979). The current research examined …

The Effects Of An Afrocentric Curriculum On Reading Scores Of African American Third, Fourth, And Fifth Graders, Trisha J. Baker

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this applied research study was to determine the extent to which reading scores on the Diagnostic Reading Assessment (DRA-2) and Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) were impacted across the school years for students enrolled in Afrocentric curriculum (ACC) and non-ACC classrooms, excluding students enrolled in the two-way immersion classrooms, controlling for the test scores from the previous school year, during the 2012-2013, 2013-2014, 2014-2015, and 2015-2016 school years.

The research study followed a correlational research design to determine whether the size of the two reading-assessment scores varied across school years in efforts to determine whether the ACC …

Empowering Parents To Encourage Children To Read Beyond The Early Years, Margaret K. Merga, Saiyidi Mat Roni

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Enjoyment of reading books is related to reading proficiency, and fostering students’ enjoyment of reading is imperative to support continued reading engagement. However, not all students understand that reading is important, and not all students are regularly engaged in recreational reading. Children typically read for pleasure less often as they age, leading researchers to seek effective ways that social influences can support them to be lifelong readers beyond the early years. Parents can play an important role in communicating the continued importance of reading and fostering positive attitudes toward reading. However, after independent reading skill acquisition, parents may become a …

Relations Between Reading Motivation And Reading Skills In Students With A Reading Disability, Jennifer Maria Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of the present study was to examine the short-term longitudinal relations between two constructs of reading motivation (reading self-concept and value of reading) and two aspects of reading (reading fluency and reading comprehension) in a clinical sample of elementary school students diagnosed with a SLD in reading. Skills in reading fluency and comprehension were assessed by the Gray Oral Reading Tests, Fifth Edition (GORT-5; Wiederholt & Bryant, 2012) and reading motivation was assessed by the Motivation to Read Profile- Revised (MRP-R; Malloy, Marinak, Gambrell, & Mazzoni, 2013). A cross-lag panel analysis was used to examine autoregressive paths (the …

Pixel: Building A Dyslexic Child's Mind, Aparna Natraj

Theses

One in five students, or 15-20% of the population, has a language based learning disability. Dyslexia is the most common of the language based learning disabilities. Dyslexia is mainly a problem with reading accurately and fluently — Accuracy being identified as Letter Recognition and Fluency as Word Recognition.

This thesis looked into various educational applications that help dyslexic children and identified that they rely heavily on intensive instruction in phonetic code and the learning method employed by these applications do not create a lasting impact. The proposed solution integrated the symbol mastery method of learning to create a new digital …

Parental Workshops And Student Academic Success, Dwain C. Thompson Jr.

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

This qualitative participatory action research study analyzed the perceptions and experiences of parents regarding the effectiveness of their involvement in parental workshops along with their perceptions of their engagement in parent involvement activities and their impact on student behavior and academic achievement. The study took place in a local church. The targeted population was low socioeconomic status (SES) and African American parents. Twenty parents with children attending grades K-12 participated in the study. The results of the study paralleled with the review of literature, in researchers suggested that there is a lack of opportunities for parent involvement among low SES …

The Effectiveness Of High Frequency Word List Instruction On Star Reading Test Scores, Michael Foster

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study was to test the theory of using high frequency word list (HFWL)-based instruction when teaching beginning reading instruction. This study compared the reading fluency changes of eight classes across three different grades containing 115 students over 5 months as measured by the Standardized Test for the Assessment in Reading (STAR) when intervention students are given identical instruction using different popular HFWLs. One control group received no such intervention. The Fry HFWL was used. The resulting scores were analyzed using an independent-samples t test. The comparisons determined the effectiveness of teaching beginning reading using …

Print Exposure Modulates The Effects Of Repetition Priming During Sentence Reading, Matthew W. Lowder, Peter C. Gordon

Psychology Faculty Publications

Individual readers vary greatly in the quality of their lexical representations and consequently in how quickly and efficiently they can access orthographic and lexical knowledge. This variability may be explained, at least in part, by individual differences in exposure to printed language, as practice at reading promotes the development of stronger reading skills. The current eye-tracking experiment tests the hypothesis that the efficiency of word recognition during reading improves with increases in print exposure by determining whether the magnitude of the repetition priming effect is modulated by individual differences in scores on the Author Recognition Test (ART). Lexical repetition of …

What's In A Typeface? Evidence Of The Existence Of Print Personalities In Arabic, Timothy R. Jordan, Alya S. Al Shamsi, Hajar A.K. Yekani, Maryam Al Jassmi, Nada Al Dosari, Ehab W. Hermena, Mercedes Sheen

All Works

© 2017 Jordan, AlShamsi, Yekani, AlJassmi, Al Dosari, Hermena and Sheen. Previous research suggests that different typefaces can be perceived as having distinct personality characteristics (such as strength, elegance, friendliness, romance, and humor) and that these "print personalities" elicit information in the reader that is in addition to the meaning conveyed linguistically by words. However, research in this area has previously been conducted using only English stimuli and so it may be that typefaces in English, and other languages using the Latinate alphabet, lend themselves unusually well to eliciting perception of print personalities, and the phenomenon is not a language …

The N170 Erp Component Differs In Laterality, Distribution, And Association With Continuous Reading Measures For Deaf And Hearing Readers, Karen Emmorey, Katherine J. Midgley, Casey B. Kohen, Zed Sevcikova Sehyr, Phillipp J. Holcomb

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

The temporo-occipitally distributed N170 ERP component is hypothesized to reflect print-tuning in skilled readers. This study investigated whether skilled deaf and hearing readers (matched on reading ability, but not phonological awareness) exhibit similar N170 patterns, given their distinct experiences learning to read. Thirty-two deaf and 32 hearing adults viewed words and symbol strings in a familiarity judgment task. In the N170 epoch (120–240 ms) hearing readers produced greater negativity for words than symbols at left hemisphere (LH) temporo-parietal and occipital sites, while deaf readers only showed this asymmetry at occipital sites. Linear mixed effects regression was used to examine the …

How To Integrate Vocabulary In A Fourth Grade Classroom Of English Language Learners To Accelerate Reading Achievement, Randi Kay Weiland

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

English language learners are prevalent in modern American schools, yet educators are often still grappling with how to best teach these unique students. Unsurprisingly, vocabulary plays a fundamental role in reading comprehension. This capstone presents the existing research on the foundational relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension as well as effective vocabulary instruction for English language learners. The research was then used to design a vocabulary curriculum for a fourth grade thematic literacy unit on Mexican Heritage. The curriculum focuses on four major aspects of vocabulary instruction: 1) the direct instruction of Tier II words, as defined by Isabel Beck; …

Transitioning From Teachers' Words To Students' Words: Strategies To Promote Comprehension During Literature Circles, Tiffany Tozke Brian

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Literature circles can be a powerful tool for motivating students to take part in discussions around text. The power of these literature circles lies in the success of the conversations students have. Those conversations are shaped by the words the teacher uses to facilitate them, and by the words students use within them. This capstone addresses how teachers can focus on words in a student-focused manner that supports students in having in conversations that deepen their understanding and connection to novels.

A Cross-Curricular, Reading-Focused Learning Program And School Culture, James Maclachlan

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this capstone project was how does a reading-centered academic program and culture affect achievement throughout content areas? The paper documents the development and implementation of a school-wide, cross-curricular reading program by a team of teachers at a small “Teacher-Powered” charter public school in the Metro Area of Minnesota serving an at-risk population of students. The author documents the details of the reading program as it pertains to the unique learning program of the school and references relevant research literature to provide context and justification for the tools and strategies used in the program. Description of …

Discovering The Learner Profile: An Interactive Read-Aloud Curriculum For K-2 Students In The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme, Dannika Wright

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Interaction with quality picture books is a powerful way for young students in the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (IB PYP) to develop understanding of the Learner Profile. The Learner Profile is a set of ten attributes that define the “internationally minded learner” and is an integral part of the PYP curriculum framework. The author of this capstone examines existing literature on the history and structure of the IB and PYP, character education, and interactive read-alouds to create a curriculum that focus on attributes of the Learner Profile. Using the PYP curriculum framework and elements of the Fountas and Pinnell …

Effective Curriculum To Accelerate Academic Reading Comprehension For High School English Language Learners, Lisa Menke Johnson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this project was, what is an effective curriculum for accelerating reading comprehension skills in secondary English Language Learner students. It documents one teacher’s creation of a unit that combined research based strategies for increasing reading comprehension skills in older students as well as second language acquisition strategies. It integrated vocabulary development, grammar forms and functions and intervention strategies proven to be successful with high school students. The author documents the details of the unit and uses related research literature to construct meaning and validate the study. The project provides a quarter long unit focused on …

Independently Implementing Best Practices In Flexible Guided Reading At The Elementary School Level, Ashley Teare

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Guided reading is a vital part of a balanced reading program in the elementary classroom. Guided reading should be flexible to meet readers where they are. Unfortunately implementation of differentiated guided reading varies from district to district, leaving learning and understanding of the reading processes of children up to the teacher. This project examines the question: How can best practices in flexible guided reading be independently implemented at the elementary school level? The literature review emphasizes the importance of guided reading and how flexible grouping can be implemented to accommodate readers strengths and needs. Research shows that guided reading can …

Tier Two Reading Interventions For Elementary English Learners, Katherine M. Little

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The guiding question for this Capstone project is What curriculum guide can be developed for Tier 2 Interventions within the RtI framework for elementary-level ELs with reading difficulties? The literature was examined for sources of EL reading difficulties, evidence-based practices for implementing Response to Intervention (RtI), for teaching reading, and for teaching ELs. The intersections of this research led to the formulation of several guiding principles that can be used in the development of curricula for Tier 2 reading interventions for ELs: Instruction and materials should be (a) scaffolded; (b) culturally and linguistically responsive; (c) focused on improving reading comprehension …

A Qualitative Study Of Learning Spaces At A Midwest Elementary School And Its Relationship To Student Attitudes About Reading, Stephanie Marie Limpert

Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship between flexible learning environments and student attitudes about reading. Flexible learning environments are spaces wherein learners can choose from different seating or standing options, locations within the learning space, and the size group with which to work. This allows the learner to find the environment that he or she learns best in. The researcher sought to understand if flexible learning environments and the autonomy to choose from the aforementioned criteria improved student attitudes about reading. To evaluate the relationship between flexible learning environments and student attitudes about reading, the researcher interviewed and surveyed teachers, and …

Academy Of Reading® Impact On Student Achievement In Extended Learning Program, Latrasha Palmer

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this casual-comparative study was to assess the effectiveness of Academy of READING® (AOR) on eighth grade Response to Intervention students using third nine-week benchmark scaled score and Criterion Reference Competency Test scaled score. The data collected from a public middle-school in rural Georgia revealed how student achievement, gender, and socioeconomic status were impacted by AOR. AOR participants, the treatment group, received 45 minutes of research-based computer intervention while the control, non-participating AOR, did not receive computer-based instruction during extended learning. This study compared differences in the mean scaled scores for at-risk students using an independent samples t-test. …

Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition In Middle School: An Examination Of Three Instructional Conditions, David B. Lee

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The importance of vocabulary knowledge gained through incidental learning is well documented. The growth of incidental vocabulary knowledge is especially crucial for middle school students due to the complex words encountered in their studies. However, research on incidental vocabulary acquisition for middle school students is lacking. The purpose of this study was to compare the relative effectiveness of three instructional conditions (reading, writing, and reading and writing) on incidental vocabulary acquisition and retention with middle school students in an English as a first language (L1) environment.

In this within subjects repeated measure study, 263 eighth-grade participants received treatment in three …

From "Struggling" To "Example": How Cross-Age Tutoring Impacts Latina Adolescents' Reader Identities, Dustin H. Drake

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Educators and policy makers have shown a consistent concern over the achievement gap. In academic assessments, Latino students have demonstrated lower achievement than their peers, particularly in reading scores. Many researchers attribute the existence of the achievement gap to a school system that ignores Latino culture or perpetuates struggles in Latino students’ reading by being culturally insensitive. Multiple theorists suggest that school systems that better understand Latino identities will be better at instructing Latino students. Many programs, including Latinos in Action, have been implemented in attempts to close this gap. The Latinos in Action program utilizes Latino adolescents as peer …

Investigating The Effectiveness Of Spatial Frequencies To The Left And Right Of Central Vision During Reading: Evidence From Reading Times And Eye Movements, Timothy R. Jordan, Victoria A. Mcgowan, Stoyan Kurtev, Kevin B. Paterson

All Works

© 2017 Jordan, McGowan, Kurtev and Paterson. Printed words are complex visual stimuli containing a range of different spatial frequencies, and several studies have suggested that various spatial frequencies are effective for skilled adult reading. But while it is well known that the area of text from which information is acquired during reading extends to the left and right of each fixation, the effectiveness of spatial frequencies falling each side of fixation has yet to be determined. To investigate this issue, we used a spatial frequency adaptation of the gaze-contingent moving-window paradigm in which sentences were shown to skilled adult …

Do The Wj-Iv Tests Of Cognitive Abilities Predict Reading Equally Across Groups?, Isaac L. Woods Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Reading and intelligence tests are commonly used as instruments to decide on special educational services for students. The construct validity and predictive validity of the Woodcock Johnson IV Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ IV; Schrank, McGrew, & Mather,2014) has not been examined for bias across racial/ethnic groups. This study extends Keith's (199) examination of bias for general and specific cognitive ability latent variables predicting basic reading skills, reading comprehension, and reading rate using a cognitive model and a reading achievment model adapted from Niileksela, Reynolds, Keith, and McGrew (2016). Using Black, Hispanic, and White samples of 9- to 13-year-olds from …

Translanguaging Supports Reading With Deaf Adult Bilinguals: A Qualitative Approach, Dan Hoffman, Ju-Lee Wolsey, Jean Andrews, Diane Clark

The Qualitative Report

Translanguaging is a pedagogical theory and an approach to teaching language. It conceptualizes the dynamic ways in which bilinguals use their linguistic repertoire and language practices in both languages for learning, meaning-making, reading, and writing. This study reports on the results of a qualitative study using Grounded Theory. The research question posed was, “what insights do bilingual Deaf readers provide regarding their metalinguistic processes and reading strategies used during translanguaging? To answer this question, responses were gathered from Deaf adults who were interviewed on their language and literacy histories. Further, they were queried about their reading comprehension practices using translanguaging. …

Texts In Reading Intervention Programs: Are They Culturally Representative Of English Learner Populations?, Lisa N. Marquardt

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

In this study, a total of 52 reading intervention texts were examined for cultural representation and authenticity; the texts under analysis were from Fountas and Pinnell’s Leveled Literacy Intervention and Hasselbring’s Read 180. There were four major, interrelated research questions addressed by this work, two of which dealt with cultural representation in the texts and the extent to which they aligned to the regional population and national publishing statistics. The second set of research questions addressed the level of cultural authenticity through a comparative analysis of each program’s texts. The author concludes that, in this sample of texts, Read 180 …

How Can The Orton-Gillingham Approach Be Used As An Effective Tool To Receive A Deeper Understanding Of Syllables And Word Spelling For Students Who Are Hard Of Hearing?, James D. Grota

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Students who are deaf or hard of hearing come to school with limitations to learning that the average student does not have. Being able to hear words and sounds is an important part of learning to spell those words. This paper will identify some characteristics in the development of learning word syllable recognition and phonics, as well as, strategies to help improve learning for students who are deaf and hard of hearing by using the Orton-Gillingham Approach. The OrtonGillingham Approach uses a multisensory strategy that includes audio, visual, and feeling to help solidify word recognition and spelling. Although the approach …

How Reading Through Literary Lenses Impacts The Quality Of High School Students’ Arguments, Craig D. Zimanske

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this study was: how does teaching high school students to analyze text through literary lenses impact the quality of students’ arguments? Topics explored in the review of the literature include the context of struggling readers, literary theory and literary lenses, teaching literary theory to secondary students, and argument writing. A cohort of 18 struggling readers in a co-taught high school English class were instructed to shift their reading focus from finding meaning to constructing meaning. To accomplish this, students were familiarized with the tenets of three literary lenses (social-class, gender/feminist, and psychological) and guided through …

Do Spellings Of Words And Phonemic Awareness Training Facilitate Vocabulary Learning In Preschoolers?, Robin O'Leary

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of phoneme awareness training and orthography to the learning of new vocabulary words by partial alphabetic phase readers. We hypothesized that four and five year old children taught to segment words with letters would outperform those trained with shape markers and those that received no segmentation training on an invented spelling task. We also hypothesized that students seeing the spellings of new vocabulary words (names) would learn the words in fewer trials, remember the names and features better and would be able to better recognize letter labels when presented alone. …