The consequences of less than proficient reading skills are well documented. In educational settings, as children progress through the grades, the expectation that they acquire content knowledge through reading continually increases. However, many children lack the proficient reading skills that would enable them to acquire content knowledge through reading. Consequently, less than proficient reading skills are associated with academic failure and academic avoidance behaviors such as absenteeism and discipline problems. This study examined the effects of sheltered instruction on the academic and non-academic behaviors of a group of struggling readers. A causal-comparative research design was used to compare MCT2 Language Arts scores, attendance, and number of discipline referrals of 28 sixth grade struggling readers attending a rural school in northern Mississippi. Paired-samples t tests were used to compare measures of the dependent variables of students when they were in a traditional classroom setting to when they were in a sheltered instruction classroom setting. The results of the data analysis failed to detect any statistically significant differences between the measures of the dependent variables under the two conditions. Therefore, it appears that sheltered instruction did not have an effect on the academic and nonacademic behaviors of struggling readers. However, there are limitations to the findings of this study. The two most serious limitations are the small sample size and the incomplete data sets. With this small sample size, the t tests may not have been robust enough to detect statistically significant differences. In addition to the small sample size, each of the dependent variables had cases where data were missing. Consequently, a replication of this study is one of the recommendations of this study. Another recommendation is that the effects of sheltered instruction on student achievement be examined after students have been exposed to the treatment for multiple years.

This study investigated the cognitive, linguistic, and reading skills of 79 Russian-speaking first and second graders to determine the strongest concurrent predictors of reading achievement. The children were administered a battery of 15 tests from which nine objective, interval-scale measures were derived: phonological awareness, verbal short-term memory, decoding accuracy, listening comprehension, reading comprehension, nonverbal ability (IQ), vocabulary, decoding rate, and rapid naming. In a series of multiple regression analyses, phonological awareness accounted for a small amount of unique variance in both decoding accuracy and decoding rate whereas rapid naming was a unique predictor of decoding rate only. Neither verbal short-term memory nor IQ accounted for any variance in decoding. For reading comprehension, IQ and linguistic comprehension contributed a substantial amount of variance to the prediction of achievement whereas decoding rate did not. However, in a series of direct discriminant function analyses, reliable differences emerged between good and poor decoders on reading comprehension, indicating that decoding <italic> is / CITE/Language Arts

A local and national concern in education is the persistent achievement gap between African American and Caucasian middle school students. Despite numerous reforms, the gap continues to show African American middle school students performing lower in reading. The purpose of this mixed methods study, framed in the theoretical perspective of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, was to examine teachers' expectations and the relationship between those expectations and the educational outcomes of African American middle school children. Data were collected to identify pedagogical practices, examine teacher expectations, and determine the relationship between those expectations and student Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) scores. Nineteen middle school teachers volunteered to take the Regalla Adaptive Teachers' Expectation Survey, which quantified teachers' expectations for student achievement using items rated on a 5-point Likert scale (5 = strongly agree with high expectation statement). Pedagogy was examined through 12 classroom observations and archival data provided CRCT scores for 650 African American students. Based on survey results, the mean score for teacher expectations was 4.47 out of 5.00. Observations established that 8 out of 12 teachers were rated proficient in terms of instructional plans. Correlation analysis determined a significant and direct relationship between teachers' expectation scores and middle school students' scores on the CRCT (p < .05). The results highlight the importance of teacher expectations for student achievement. The implications for social change include using the findings at the local site to communicate to teachers the importance of having high expectations for all students to improve the achievement levels of all middle school students and close the achievement gap.

Assessment scores indicated students with severe disabilities (SWSD) have not been performing to their maximum potential, which may lead to lower quality of life after graduation. Teacher efficacy has been shown to impact student achievement; thus, this study involved exploring the teacher efficacy of the teachers of SWSD. Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, and Hoy's teacher efficacy conceptual framework guided this nonexperimental correlation study to investigate if levels of self-efficacy, years of overall teaching experience, and years of teaching experience with Grade 3 to 8 SWSD were predictors of student reading achievement in a New York City school district. Two open-ended questions were added to explore challenges teachers of SWSD encounter. Student New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSAA) scores were collected from all classroom teachers of students who participated in the 2014-2015 NYSAA at the study site. A regression analysis indicated no significant relationship between teachers' sense of efficacy and the achievement of SWSD in the area of literacy. TSES responses were triangulated using data from 2 open-ended questions, which revealed that teachers face specific challenges when educating students with severe disabilities. At the organizational level, changes to address the needs of teachers could be made to address the challenges found in this study. Positive social change will occur by helping to inform new policies that will reduce challenges indicated by teachers of SWSD and address the needs of teachers to improve the education of SWSD.

Regardless of age, background, or socioeconomic status, children must learn to read in order to be successful in school and in their future careers. Reading is an essential skill necessary to be successful in all other academic content areas. Despite the importance of this skill, American Indian children consistently score below the national average on tests of reading ability and reading comprehension. During recent years, many schools in the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) system requested funding through the Reading First initiative. Schools used the funding and support provided by the BIE Reading First grant to attempt system-wide change at the school level in order to refocus efforts on increasing reading achievement. The current study investigated the impact of the Reading First Initiative on American Indian students in kindergarten through third grade. Results suggest that the models and methods employed using funding from the Reading First grant had a positive impact on certain aspects of reading achievement in students. Instructional Leadership Changes had a negative impact on student achievement while certain reading programs were found to have a more positive impact on some students than others. Furthermore, regardless of beginning of year reading level, all students showed increased gain in end-of-year outcome scores over time. Same grade cohort groups of students in kindergarten, second, and third grades demonstrated increased average scores over time as schools continued to implement Reading First models. Finally, while the gap between students with intensive needs and their peers was not erased, it also did not widen. Based on research indicating gain for these students is often below that of their peers, this is an important finding. Thus, it appears that the impact of Reading First in relation to teaching younger students the basic building blocks needed to read with fluency in the later grades was positive in the current sample.

abstract: The federal No Child Left Behind Act has set the goal that all students in every state shall be proficient in reading by 2014. Arizona teachers face the challenge of having 100 percent of their students meeting or exceeding grade level reading standards assessed by Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS). One of my goals as a reading teacher is to widen the range of options my students will have. My goal every year is to have my students read at or above grade level. I also am committed to inspiring students to become motivated to love literacy because voluntary lifelong reading is important in peoples' lives. The purpose of this study was to investigate conducting brief, interactive, weekly reading conferences during daily Scaffolded Self-Selected Reading (ScS-SR) sessions while incorporating Transactional Strategy Instruction with a pair-share with a partner, and to see if it would improve my students' reading motivation and comprehension. Data were collected via the Motivation to Read Profile Survey and Interview, informal observations, Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills Oral Reading Fluency Test (DIBELS: ORF), and Oral Reading Records used by my school district. Findings concluded that students tended to become more willing readers, with several of them explicitly attributing their newfound willingness to read to my efforts. Most students became somewhat more aware of their reading experiences, explaining how different types of books in ScS-SR affected them. All students' reading comprehension performance improved, with measureable increases in students' instructional reading levels, retellings, and meaningful miscues that students attributed to leveled books, strategy instruction, and retellings. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Leadership and Innovation 2011

This dissertation provides research and data based on a study of cross-age tutoring and its effects on English language proficiency and English reading achievement of English language learners. The subjects for the study included native Spanish-speakers enrolled in third-grade bilingual classrooms in four elementary schools. The research study focused on the implementation of Reading Together™, a cross-age tutoring program published by The Learning Together Company. The 30-session tutoring program is designed to help English-speaking students progress from decoding words to reading with fluency and comprehension through older students tutoring younger students in a one-to-one setting. This highly structured program is used to provide supplemental instruction to second and/or third-grade students. This study utilized a quantitative approach to compare the results of English language learners who participated in the Reading Together cross-age tutoring program and English language learners who did not participate in the program. A quasi-experimental design was used in the research study. In this design, the treatment group and the control group were selected using specific criteria. Both groups took a pretest and posttest, but only the treatment group received the intervention. The study also determined if there was a relationship between initial language levels and reading gains. The study concluded the following: 1. Cross-age tutoring might possibly be an effective instructional strategy to assist English language learners in improving their oral language proficiency in English. 2. Even though third-grade participants in the cross-age tutoring program did not demonstrate significantly different reading levels from students not participating in the program, cross-age tutoring may still be an instructional strategy to be used with English language learners to assist them in second language reading. 3. Students' initial English oral language proficiency level does correlate to the students' English reading level.

This study examined an urban school district in the southern United States that continued to experience student achievement gaps despite the implementation of initiatives as the African American Success Initiative. The school leadership needed a deeper understanding regarding what strategies were successful with closing the achievement gap. Using Gay's theory of cultural responsive pedagogy, the purpose of this study was to identify inward attributes, outward strategies, and professional development perceptions of teachers with no achievement gap among ethnically diverse students. Employing an instrumental case study design, 8 middle school reading teachers who closed the reading achievement gap were interviewed; these narratives were supplemented with classroom observations and archival data of district-administered students' surveys for the teachers, professional development plans, and teacher lesson plans. Data were analyzed using comparative and inductive analysis and were thematically coded. Findings indicated that teachers who closed the achievement gap shared culturally responsive characteristics and behaviors, including a caring attitude, high expectations, content relevance, and a belief that their existing Professional Development (PD) was not specific to the needs of teachers working in high-minority, low-socioeconomic urban school environments. A 3-day PD was designed to produce positive social change by reframing the beliefs, responses, and approaches to teaching minority students, allowing teachers to develop stronger teacher-student relationships, tolerance, and strategies, to ultimately increase student motivation and achievement.

This study was designed with two goals in mind. The first goal was to describe the formal and practical knowledge of intensive reading intervention teachers related to beginning reading instruction with at-risk first graders. A second goal was to understand any potential relationships between intensive reading teachers’ practical knowledge and formal knowledge. These two goals framed the study’s three research questions. To answer these three questions, the study was conducted in two phases. Phase one included 32 participants, all of whom worked in the role of a K-2 intensive reading intervention teacher. Each of these 32 participants completed a background questionnaire and a paper/pencil Teacher Knowledge Assessment (TKA). The TKA measured participants’ formal knowledge of beginning reading concepts. Participants’ scores on the TKA were then rank-ordered from lowest to highest to help guide the selection of phase two participants. Eight teachers in all participated in phase two of the study dedicated to the study of teachers’ practical knowledge of reading. Participants’ practical knowledge of reading was explored through three activities including a semi-structured interview, a concept-mapping activity and a videotaped reading lesson. Data analysis revealed several important findings. Intensive reading intervention teachers in this study’s sample differed in their formal knowledge of reading, measured by the TKA, and in their practical knowledge of reading, explored through interviews, concept-maps and reading lessons. The TKA revealed that study participants’ held more formal knowledge of concepts related to phonology and phonics and less formal knowledge of concepts related to morphology and syllable types. Related to practical knowledge, data analysis revealed that the teachers in this sample differed in their knowledge of beginning reading with subject-matter knowledge iv accounting for most of the differences. These gaps in subject-matter knowledge also impacted this sample of teachers’ use of instructional strategies and purposes of instruction. Data analysis also revealed insight into the relationships between this sample of teachers’ formal and practical reading knowledge. In this sample, intensive reading intervention teachers with more formal knowledge of reading concepts as measured on the TKA demonstrated more evidence of these concepts within their instruction provided to at-risk first grade readers. The participants in this sample who had less formal knowledge of beginning reading as measured by the TKA demonstrated less evidence of these concepts within their instruction provided to at-risk first grade readers. Participants with less formal knowledge did accurately calibrate their knowledge of the concepts tested on the TKA but did not equate the lower scores to their practical knowledge and overall teaching efficacy. The findings from this study added several important contributions to the literature on teacher knowledge and beginning reading instruction. First, the study was unique in its focus on intensive reading intervention teachers, thus contributing new findings related to a specialized group of teachers. Secondly, this study contributed descriptions of teachers’ practical knowledge with regards to beginning reading instruction. These descriptions are relatively absent in the current literature on teacher knowledge. Thirdly, the results from this study supported earlier findings in favor of a specialized body of subject-matter knowledge, especially related to beginning reading skills and concepts. Finally, the results contributed insight into the relationships between teachers’ formal reading knowledge and practical reading knowledge

The purpose of this two year study was to investigate the implications of a high academic ability learning environment on the achievement scores of third grade gifted students who attended the Florida Brevard County Public School System. Learning environment was defined by the students’ academic ability level, whether high academic ability or heterogeneous academic ability, and for this study was the independent variable. Academic achievement, as measured by the 2011 and the 2012 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test® 2.0 (FCAT 2.0) Mathematics and Reading Developmental Scale Scores (DSS), was the dependent variable. Other student data such as gender and socioeconomic status were also collected and used along with classroom structure to examine the extent to which third grade gifted students’ reading and mathematics performance could be predicted. Random samples of students were drawn from the third grade gifted student population attending Florida Brevard County Public School System in the 2010-2011 and the 2011-2012 school years. Using an independent samples t-test, analysis of the 2011 FCAT 2.0 Reading and Mathematics found a statistically significant difference in both the students’ FCAT 2.0 Mathematics and the students’ FCAT 2.0 Reading achievement test scores based on the classroom structure. Specifically, there was enough evidence to support the claim that third grade gifted students who learned in a homogeneous high academic ability learning environment scored significantly higher on reading and mathematics standardize tests than did third grade gifted students who learned in a heterogeneous academic ability learning environment. Approximately 14% of the variance in reading and mathematics scores could be accounted for by classroom structure. However, different results were found with the 2012 FCAT 2.0 iii Mathematics and Reading scores. The results from the 2011-2012 school year indicated that there was not a significant difference in mean reading and mathematics scores between third grade gifted students who learn in a homogeneous high academic ability learning environment and third grade gifted students who learn in a heterogeneous academic ability learning environment. The recommendations include that subsequent studies incorporate a wider range of grade levels, perhaps even include methods of instructional delivery, types of gifted services provided, and teachers’ years of experience. In addition, recommendations are that future studies address the academic performance of high academic ability non-gifted students who learn in homogeneous high academic ability classroom environments verses those who learn in heterogeneous academic ability classroom structures