This thesis examines the effects of phonics-emphasis Direct Instruction reading programs on the phonological processes of students with teacher-identified reading problems in nine northern and western Melbourne primary schools. The students (131 males and 75 females, mean age 9.7 years, standard deviation 1.2 years) were assigned to the treatment condition or to wait-list comparison groups. Based on the results of a program placement test of rate and accuracy, students were assigned to one of two entry points into the Corrective Reading program (A, B1). The students in the intervention group received 60-65 lessons (in groups of five to ten students) from teachers at their schools, or, for some students, at a resource centre for surrounding schools. An additional study, with younger (mean age 8.8 years) less advanced readers involved a similar design and teaching approach. The program, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, was presented to thirteen student s in two settings. When compared with a similar cohort of wait-list students, the students in each program made statistically significant and educationally important gains in such phonologically-based processes as word attack, phonemic awareness, and spelling; and, statistically significant gains, of at least moderate effect size, in phonological recoding in lexical access and phonological recoding in working memory. A further question involved the prediction (from pretest scores) of those students who would not make progress in word attack solely from the reading programs. In this thesis, only the presence or absence of the reading programs predicted improvement in word attack. The studies in this thesis contribute to the long-standing debate on how best to ensure that children learn to read; to the understanding of the relationship between phonemic awareness and reading; to an understanding of the effects of the current system on at-risk children; and, how additional or alternative approaches more attuned to the findings of reading research may improve the effectiveness of the system.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2010. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 126 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-126).

Thesis (M.S. in Education)--Shenandoah University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iii, 60 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 33-36).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Bowling Green State University, 2009. / Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 68 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Education is the foundation for the future, and a successful education begins with strong literacy skills. The 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that only 36% of eighth-grade students in the United States were classified as reading on a proficient level, and 22% of eighth-grade students were unable to read and comprehend text at the basic level. The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental, post hoc analysis was to determine whether a difference existed in the change in test scores of the reading portion of the Criterion Referenced Competency Test from the 2011-2012 academic year to the 2012-2013 academic year for eighth-grade students who received differentiated instruction compared with those who received direct instruction. Using Vygotsky's constructivist learning theory as the framework, this study was built on existing research regarding adolescence and literacy, cooperative learning, scaffolding, direct instruction, and differentiated instruction. Archival CRCT data was collected for sixty-four students. 32 that were instructed with differentiated instruction and thirty-two that were instructed with direct instruction for the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 academic years. A one-way ANOVA was conducted to determine which instructional pedagogy yielded higher academic results. Overall results revealed no significant difference in academic achievement when differentiated instructional pedagogy or direct instructional pedagogy was used for instruction. Implications for positive social change include providing research results to administrators at the local site to better inform pedagogical decisions at the school level. Recommendations to the local site include further research on other strategies to improve literacy achievement in secondary classrooms.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to determine if an individualized reading program, Accelerated Reader combined with the core reading program, Reading Mastery would produce a greater increase in oral reading fluency and grade level performance, than relying solely on the core reading program to accomplish this. Furthermore, this study sought to determine whether students with learning disabilities who were provided reading instruction through the Reading Mastery program and the Accelerated Reader program would demonstrate comparable growth in oral reading fluency and grade level performance on selected reading assessments (DIBELS and STAR Reading). This study looked at the differences in student performance between those who had been using Accelerated Reader since August 2014 versus those who began in January 2015. In this longitudinal study, 85 first grade students in a rural, southeastern state were assessed with the DIBELS (oral reading fluency) and STAR Reading (grade level equivalency) assessment during the fall, winter, and spring screenings. Two-way repeated measures analysis of variance determined if there was a statistically significant difference between the fall and spring screenings of the STAR Reading assessment and the winter and spring screenings of the DIBELS assessment. Additionally, it determined if the oral reading fluency and grade level performance was statistically significantly different for students depending on whether they received special education services. The findings of this study revealed that when the Accelerated Reader program, is used with the Reading Mastery program, students statistically increase their oral reading fluency and grade level performance scores when instructed for 17 weeks and 34 weeks. However, the scores of the students who received 34 weeks improved more than the scores of students who only received it for 17 weeks. Additionally, scores of the students who did not receive special education services improved more than the scores of students who received special education services. Although the students who received special education services did not make the same increase in reading fluency and grade level performance, statistically significant within-person gains were still made for this student population, which increased their reading fluency and grade level performance.

No description available.