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The Influence Of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy In Mississippi Public Schools To Improve Adolescent African American Males' Literacy Achievement, Shawnese Davis

Dissertations

This study used a quantitative approach to measure Mississippi secondary teachers’ understanding and their extent of using culturally relevant pedagogy to increase students’ literacy performance, specifically African American males. The researcher identified school districts with 50% or more African American students. The data collected in this study was used to compare reading high growth (40%) school teachers’ use of culturally relevant pedagogical teaching approaches to determine if there was a statistically significant difference in their understanding and frequency of using culturally relevant pedagogy to increase students’ reading performance. A 38-statement survey instrument was adapted from McKinley’s Strategies and Behaviors of …

Grade Point Level, Reading Fluency, And Perceived Digital Reading Ability Of Video Game Players And Nonplayers, Soonhwa Seok, Boaventura Dacosta

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

This study compared grade point level, silent contextual reading fluency, and perceived digital reading ability of 1,206 South Korean video game players and nonplayers in grades 9 through 12. The findings strengthen results reported in the literature while also contributing new information. Nonplayers had better grades, a finding that supports previous research showing that gameplay can negatively influence academic performance. Nonplayers were better readers, a finding in disagreement with studies showing that Internet use, to include video game play, can help with reading performance. While players held higher views of themselves regarding their digital reading ability, these perceptions were not …

The Influence Of Administrators On Literacy Instruction Through The Promotion And Selection Of Professional Development, Lucy K. Johnston-Josey

Dissertations

Literacy is a key component to success in school and in life. Literacy has been a focus of education since 1965 when President Jimmy Carter announced a “war on poverty.” Since then, history has shown that educators should place an emphasis on literacy within schools. Because literacy is so important, I set out to explore how administrators influence literacy through the promotion and selection of professional development.

Mississippi was chosen as a basis for the study because it falls below the nation in terms of literacy rates on the National Assessment for Educational Progress assessment. Nineteen participants from four school …