<p> The purpose of this research project was to determine the effects of literature categories on student engagement. The participants of this research project were selected from a third grade elementary class. They were selected at random. The class was heterogeneous containing twenty-one students. The dependent variable in this project was the student engagement while the independent variable was the literature category. Data was collected for two weeks in each category on student engagement and observational notes were also recorded. This research project determined that the literature category of nonfiction produced a high student engagement when texts were selected based on student&rsquo;s interests. This study was and is important because educators can use this information to help with classroom lessons and to reach students through literature. </p>

<p> Literacy is a national concern in the United States. Many students are graduating from high school across the U.S. lacking the skills needed to be a proficient reader. The lack of college readiness skills in reading causes these students to be placed in remedial classes on the collegiate level. School systems that recognize the high percentage of students entering high school who cannot read at their grade level can implement early interventions and provide professional development opportunities for teachers in order to increase reading achievement. Due to the culture created at the secondary level that held teachers responsible for teaching content, covering the mandated curriculum, and making adequate yearly progress, instructing students while utilizing best practices in reading instruction often was not a practical consideration. The traditional approach to literacy is not enough. It is time for teachers to acknowledge that literacy in middle and high school must be taught across all contents to lay the groundwork for literacy skills that students need to thrive in college. This study explored the effect of implementing Literature Circles in a secondary Communication Arts classroom on reading comprehension. While extensive research on Literature Circles exists, most of it focuses on their use at the elementary and middle school levels, with few studies investigating their implementation at the secondary level. However, the research establishes Literature Circles as a proven practice to assist students in making gains in reading skills. The sample population consisted of five 10th grade classes participating in Literature Circles and one 10th grade class as a control group. By implementing Literature Circles at the secondary level, the results of the data did not support the hypothesis that secondary students reading comprehension increased through participation in Literature Circles. While this study did not prove statistically any significant gains from participation in Literature Circles, observable gains occurred through the higher level of student questioning and students responding with evidence cited from the text. By implementing a classroom infrastructure that supported Literature Circles, students collaborated effectively about a text and used textual support to justify their responses to questions and to derive meaning from the text. The research from this study will add to the current body of knowledge regarding the use of Literature Circles at the secondary level.</p>

<p> This mixed-methods study included an in-depth look at the perceptions of first-grade teachers in southwest Missouri to gain insight into the knowledge, understanding, and perceptions of teachers when considering reading achievement and how it relates to Reading Recovery, student engagement, professional development, and socioeconomic status. A second piece to the study included a quantitative examination of the correlation between reading achievement and attendance. Focus groups were formed and an 11-question interview was conducted to gather insight into the perceptions of first-grade teachers across five different counties. Additionally, reading data and attendance from 249 students in those schools were used to determine if a correlation exists between reading achievement and student attendance. After completion of all focus groups, it was evident many commonalities exist among first-grade teachers across multiple districts. Most teachers find value in Reading Recovery, understand the importance of student engagement, see the disadvantages of those students who arrive from lower socioeconomic status families, and value professional development. Reading and attendance data revealed students with attendance greater than 94% have improved reading achievement over those with attendance below 94%. The results of this study can provide insight for administrators and district leaders when considering appropriate professional development in the area of reading achievement.</p>

<p> Delays in the development of early literacy skills are associated with a wrath of negative educational outcomes and so addressing such delays is one of the most pressing challenges in education. This study examines the effectiveness of the Orton-Gillingham (OG) Method, a multisensory reading program where instruction utilizes two or more senses simultaneously. Originally developed in the 1930s as a program for dyslexic students, OG has seen continual use since its creation and is endorsed by the American Dyslexic Foundation and the International Dyslexic Foundation. Over the past two decades OG has increasingly been incorporated into general education settings in the primary grades as a reading intervention for struggling readers regardless of whether they have dyslexia. However, there is a dearth of research demonstrating its causal effect as a reading intervention for children with dyslexia or who are experiencing reading delays for other reasons. Two quasi-experimental methods, Regression Discontinuity Design and Nonequivalent Comparison Group Design with propensity scores, are used to test the efficacy of an OG-based, general education reading intervention on a sample of over 700 kindergarten and first grade students who are experiencing reading delays from a large district in California. The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) assessments were used to assign students to the intervention and measure their end-of-year reading outcomes. The results of both analyses revealed no effect for students enrolled in the intervention in either kindergarten or first grade. Within the year that students received the intervention, a small but non-significant gain on end-of-year DIBELS composite scores was found. Long-term outcomes showed that over half of the students in the intervention were still not meeting reading targets by the end of second grade. Moreover, while the treatment effect was found to vary significantly across classrooms and across schools, no available measures classroom or school characteristics where associated with that variation. These findings suggest that certain applications of the OG methodologies may not be effective in general education settings.</p>

<p> No Child Left Behind (NCLB) along with the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA) have provided students with the opportunity to receive remedial services without having to be referred for diagnostic testing through a process referred to as Response to Intervention (RtI). While this process can prove to be beneficial for the student, the extra work that is being placed on teachers can cause teachers to form a negative perception of this process. In addition to the extra work, there is little research to support RtI in the secondary schools. Secondary school administrators are trying to implement RtI programs that were designed for self-contained elementary schools into a secondary setting and the results have not been favorable. This study aims to measure middle school teachers&rsquo; self-perceptions of RTI and how these perceptions affect their implementation of RtI with fidelity. </p>

<p> This dissertation reports design-based research that determined the characteristics of an effective intervention to improve adolescent historical argumentative writing. This study involved 89 diverse 11th grade students, including approximately 50% Hispanic students and 12% students with disabilities. It compared a treatment that taught students to write warrants using historical thinking to explain how evidence supports a claim, and a comparison treatment that taught students to find and evaluate evidence for particular claims and sides. Both groups read a text set about the controversy surrounding the explosion of the battleship U.S.S. Maine at the start of the Spanish-American War. The intervention was designed to improve student ability to 1) select effective warrants reflecting different types of historical thinking, 2) generate their own warrants when given a claim and evidence, and 3) write more effective warrants in their own argumentative essays. When the most reliable study measures were combined and analyzed using MANOVA, there was a significant overall treatment effect. Follow up ANOVAs indicated a statistically significant effect for selecting warrants, but not writing warrants. The mean difference was greatest in items reflecting corroboration, a heuristic that requires reading several documents and giving more weight to evidence found in common across accounts. Both conditions struggled to differentiate between more and less effective warrants. These findings matter because historical argumentative writing involves advanced literacy skills similar to those needed for online reading and engaged citizenship. Based on these findings, the intervention was refined to include additional scaffolding for collecting evidence across texts and explicit instruction in differentiating between more and less effective warrants. The findings were used to develop a theory of teaching argumentative writing to inform work in similar contexts. This theory emphasizes backwards planning of units centered around a historical controversy from the writing students will do at unit&rsquo;s end. It emphasizes the importance of teachers reading historical texts closely themselves and identifying where students can use historical thinking heuristics to warrant claims about the historical controversy. Through this approach, students build understanding of content and disciplinary literacy skills simultaneously through reading, reasoning, and writing across texts. </p>

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of modeling by the teacher of proper oral reading and tutorial behaviors, repetitive oral reading on storybooks appropriate to second grade students, and the participation in a cross-age reading tutorial program on the reading fluency and comprehension of low ability high school students. Though not the primary focus of the study, self concept and attitude toward reading were investigated as well. / The subjects were randomly selected high school students at one local high school who were between the ages of 14 and 18, who had been retained at least once, and were reading below the ninth grade level. / The treatment in this study consisted of: (1) modeling by the teacher in proper reading aloud and tutoring behaviors; (2) repetitive oral reading of storybooks appropriate to second grade students; and (3) reading storybooks to second grade students. / Pretest and posttest data consisted of scaled scores on the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test, Blue Level, Forms G and H, in addition to a reading attitude survey and self concept survey designed by the researcher. / The research was experimental in nature with a pretest-posttest control group design utilized. Data analysis was interpreted using independent and paired sample t-tests comparing pre and post scores for each student and gain scores for the two groups. / The findings indicated that the students who participated in the experimental group scored significantly higher in reading fluency and evidenced a more positive self-concept than those of the control group. There were no significant differences between the two groups on the comprehension and attitude toward reading measurements. / There were five possible explanations offered for the findings on comprehension and four offered for the findings on attitude toward reading. Seven recommendations for practice and eight recommendations for further study were also offered. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-09, Section: A, page: 2786. / Major Professor: John S. Simmons. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.

The purpose of this study was to examine and improve the reading program at Hutto Middle School in Decatur County, Georgia. Answers were sought to six research questions: (1) Are instructional practices that increase comprehension evident? (2) Are characteristics of successful programs present? (3) Are teacher-made reading assessments valid for measuring comprehension? (4) Do students have favorable attitudes toward reading? (5) Are students applying skills learned in reading class to other courses? and (6) Has reading comprehension improved since the introduction of the literature-based program? This was accomplished by critiquing the program based on current theories and research, by measuring student attitude toward reading, and by monitoring reading achievement using the Degrees of Reading Power and the reading subtest of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. / The procedure used was the single site case study approach. Decision Oriented Educational Research (DOER) (Cooley & Bickel, 1986) was the quantitative method selected. Given that the intention of the research was to improve the reading program, the researcher directly and quite intentionally affected the program. Strategies were used to control for researcher bias and to increase credibility of findings. / Findings, conclusions and recommendations were that teachers at Hutto utilized instructional practices known to increase comprehension with additional emphasis needed on metacognitive strategy use. Characteristics of successful programs, as noted in the literature, were present. Although the majority of teacher-made tests for measuring comprehension were valid, specific weaknesses were found and use of alternative authentic measures was recommended. Data on student attitude supported a meaningful increase in favorable attitudes toward reading. Although data from the DRP was less clear, analysis indicated that reading comprehension had improved for many students. The students of Teacher A made more progress than the students of Teacher B on four of six comparisons, with the greatest gains posted by the lowest ability group and by female students. Recommendations were made for further investigation to determine why some groups were outperforming others. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-12, Section: A, page: 4312. / Major Professor: Robert Stakenas. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

The purpose of this research was to examine whether individualized student's learning as measured by posttest scores could be increased by presenting information in sequenced captioned illustrations as compared to equivalent all-text print information. The subjects were sixty high school vocational students with low level reading skills. Three treatments were compared for effectiveness: a tenth grade reading level textual passage, a sixth grade reading level textual passage, and a captioned illustration sequence. The second and third treatments were re-writes of the first with identical content matter. There were three separate replicated experiments using the three treatment posttest only design analyzed by a one-way analysis of variance with $\alpha$ =.05. / It was predicted that sequenced captioned illustrations would aid the learner in greater recall of information as demonstrated on the multiple choice posttest. According to Paivio (1971) and Anderson (1973), this would increase elaboration and networking in long term memory. It was also hypothesized that the lower (sixth grade) level reading all-text would present an advantage for the low reading ability students over the higher (tenth grade) level all-text instruction. / The one-way analysis of variance yielded no significant results. Further research is recommended in the use of captioned illustrations with low level readers in the individualized vocational classroom setting. A captioned picture multiple-choice test for the students using the captioned illustration instruction may improve learning as evidenced by posttest scores. Also, variations in experimental circumstances to determine whether the illustrations need change in size, number, clarity, or type (drawing or photo) may be necessary. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: A, page: 0893. / Major Professor: W. Hugh Hinely. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of a comprehension strategy for teaching fourth grade students to locate key words which carry the meaning in sentences would have a significant effect on their reading comprehension. Differential effects on three types of comprehenders were explored following forty MRM strategy lessons. / This eight week study involved ninety-three subjects from five intact classrooms at two elementary schools in Tallahassee, Florida. Two classrooms from one of the elementary schools served as the experimental group and three classrooms from the other elementary school comprised the control group. Existing data from the Reading Comprehension subtest of the Comprehensive Assessment Program (CAP) test were utilized to differentiate the subjects as good or poor comprehenders. The poor comprehenders were then classified as one of two types of poor comprehenders, difference-poor or deficit-poor, based on CAP Vocabulary subtest scores. Because differences were likely to exist between the intact groups, Analysis of Covariance, utilizing CAP Spelling subtest scores as the covariate, was applied to predict posttest scores on the dependent variable, reading comprehension. The Reading Comprehension subtest of the Metropolitan Reading Instructional Tests was the posttest in this study. Analysis of Covariance was applied to determine whether the experimental treatment had a statistically significant effect on the posttest reading comprehension scores of the experimental group. It was hypothesized that the treatment would be more beneficial for a group of difference-poor comprehenders who fail to comprehend despite adequate vocabulary skills. However, the analyses indicated no statistically significant effects of treatment for any of the three types of comprehenders. / Further research is recommended, particularly with comprehension strategies geared to the needs of the difference-poor comprehender. Further research utilizing the MRM strategy is also recommended, as the treatment accounted for much student-teacher interaction and pupil interest. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-05, Section: A, page: 1564. / Major Professor: Lawrence E. Hafner. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.