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Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Elementary Education / Marjorie Hancock / A portion of the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004), Response to Intervention (RtI), aims to prevent unnecessary student placement in special education. The intent of RtI is to provide all students with effective classroom instruction first and afford low-performing students with increasingly intensive, individualized interventions (Fuchs, Fuchs, & Vaughn,2008). Although there is considerable information available in regard to the effectiveness of the multi-tiered model of the Response to Intervention approach to deliver intervention services to struggling readers (Speece & Walker, 2007), very little is known about implementing RtI in the schools (Allington, 2009). This qualitative, exploratory, collective case study was conducted during the fall/spring semesters of the 2009/2010 school year between November 16, 2009 and February 26, 2010. This study investigated how three kindergarten classroom teachers, located in two elementary schools, delivered Tier 2 literacy instruction to kindergarten struggling readers within the Response to Intervention model in the classroom setting. Multiple data sources were gathered from interviews with administrators and teachers, guided conversations with students, classroom observations and field notes, and documents/artifacts. Data were collected and analyzed during three phases of the study. This study’s findings established that in the new era of Response to Intervention (RtI), teachers were able to apply literacy instructional approaches and pedagogy based on their teaching philosophy to address the needs of at-risk struggling readers within the kindergarten classroom environment. However, data analysis revealed dissimilar perceptions of the three case study teachers regarding their roles and responsibilities teaching literacy within the Response to Intervention approach which influenced how they delivered Tier 2 intervention instruction. The three classroom teachers utilized the modeled, shared, and guided approaches to literacy instruction and provided lessons in phonemic awareness and phonics during Tier 2 small group literacy interventions. In addition, the data collection and analysis identified three pedagogies which occurred during Tier 2 instruction: 1) monitoring of learning; 2) encouraging and supportive learning environments; and 3) feedback and reinforcement. Data analysis also revealed the student participant benefits included positive attitudes towards reading, students’ perception of themselves as self-confident and motivated readers, development of an emerging love of reading, and enjoyment of practicing their reading skills in small groups.

This qualitative phenomenological study explored the perceptions and experiences of the middle school students who participated in learning center support as elementary students in independent schools. There were 16 participants from three sites included in the study: six students, seven parents, and three learning specialists. The research questions guiding this study included: (1) What are the perspectives of students on the impact of the learning center experience in regard to reading development? (2) How does the child's discernment of how he or she is perceived academically by his or her reading teacher contribute to/hinder the process of learning to read? (3) How does a child's sensitivity to being identified as needing extra support in learning to read affect/support the experience? (4) What do students, parents, and teachers think about learning centers? (5) How do children perceive reading teacher effectiveness and successful reading instruction? (6) How does a child's perception of a model of reading intervention inform the planning of teachers, interventionists, and reading specialists? (7) What do students think about the activities they participate during learning center time? Literature reviewed for the study included the existence of the reading problem in the United States, models of reading intervention, strategies shown to accelerate reading growth, teacher knowledge, and student perspectives. Data was collected in the form of interviews and observations, and was reviewed in consideration of narrative inquiry, typological analysis, and polyvocal analysis. All participant responses were considered across cases with specific attention given to the guiding research questions. The six students interviewed believed that their participation in the learning center helped them in some way. Some of them were able to verbalize what was helpful, while others provided few details. Nonetheless, the student participants offered specific recommendations on how to improve the learning center structure. Parent interviews shored up varying perspectives and recommendations for ways that the structure of the learning center should remain the same and also how it should change. Finally, learning specialists shared their views and experiences and added a richer understanding to the study in general. Three major themes emerged from the data. First, that students and parents attach a stigma to resource support. Second, that students and parents feel like they had to give something up because of their participation in the learning center. And third, methodological issues on the structure of the interviews were raised. Findings and current research were connected, and considerations for future research were made.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate and examine specific kindergarten through third grade practices perceived as contributing to literacy achievement at 3 high-achieving elementary schools within the Washington County Virginia Public School System. The study was completed through a process of open-ended interviews with participants comprising classroom teachers, reading specialists, and administrators. The findings from this study may assist practitioners by providing information relative to programs, resources and instructional strategies that are perceived as contributing to literacy achievement. The findings of this study suggested that the perceptions among classroom teachers, reading specialists, and administrators regarding literacy practices were parallel. In summation, the participants’ perceptions included a balanced approach to literacy instruction with an emphasis on the following: phonics acquisition in kindergarten through second grade; a focus on explicit comprehension instruction beginning in third grade; development of vocabulary to increase background knowledge and comprehension; frequent opportunities for independent reading practice; targeted instruction in small-group and one-on-one settings; and the use of supplemental literacy and assessment resources. Recommendations from this study included the consideration of providing balanced literacy instruction in kindergarten through third grade; an emphasis on phonics skills in kindergarten through second grade, and an emphasis on comprehension skills beginning in third grade; frequent and consistent guided and independent reading time within the classroom setting; an increased emphasis on vocabulary development; the provision of targeted small-group and one-on-one instruction; and the use of supplemental literacy and assessment resources.

Reading skills assessments have demonstrated that middle-grade Mississippi school children are on average two full grade levels or more below grade reading levels. This qualitative case study in one urban county Mississippi school district with decreasing literacy scores examined teachers' perceptions of evidence-based literacy instruction methods, which may improve literacy problem in this district. The constructive learning theory provided the conceptual framework for this study. The research questions addressed teacher perceptions regarding recommended instructional strategies, limiting factors in student literacy, and suggestions about improving literacy teaching. Ten middle-grade teachers from 3 district schools participated in semi-structured interviews on research-based instructional strategies, methods, and curriculum materials. Data from interviews and observations of teacher meetings were coded and analyzed thematically. Key findings included a lack of teacher knowledge about some evidence-based literacy instruction methods and uncertainty about the evidence supporting instructional methods. Administrative issues also emerged that impeded literacy instruction. The outcome of this study was a presentation to district administrators and a 3-day professional development (PD) program for teachers, with content tailored to address the needs of teachers in the 3 schools. This study fills a gap in the literature regarding the classroom use of evidence-based practices in schools with struggling students. The study provides a blueprint to help teachers improve their literacy instruction competency and ultimately improve the literacy skills of the students in this district.

In a Title I school located in a southeastern state, 60% of 3rd grade students are reading below grade level. The state's new reading initiative ties grade promotion to 3rd grade students reading on grade level. At the study site, administrators identified audio books as a possibly helpful reading tool. Vygotsky's zone of proximal development theory, which holds that learners can learn new skills more readily with guided assistance, framed this study. The purpose of this quantitative, comparative design study was to explore the associations between the use of audio books and the reading levels of 3rd grade struggling readers. Research questions were used to compare the reading levels of struggling readers who use audio books with the reading levels of: (a) struggling readers reading silently, (b) at or above grade level readers who read with audio books, and (c) at or above grade level readers who read silently. Two 3rd grade classes were selected, with 25 students using audio books and 25 students reading silently, to participate in this project. Scores from the AR and from the pre- and posttest STAR assessments over a 9-week period were analyzed and compared using an independent samples t test to explore associations between the use of audio books and the comprehension and reading levels of the participants. Analysis of the results showed that the use of audiobooks was not significantly related to increased reading or comprehension levels for struggling readers. Significant improvements in reading comprehension were shown for students reading at or above grade level that read silently or used audio books. Based on the findings, a professional development project for teachers providing research-supported reading strategy instruction was developed. The findings may lead to improvements in instructional practices by encouraging the use of research-based reading strategies, which could promote positive social change by supporting greater academic success for elementary students through improved reading comprehension.

In this dissertation, I present the findings from a qualitative case study of the digital literacy integration of a teacher and the digital literacy practices of three students with literacy-related learning difficulties within her classroom. As a researcher, I was interested in the ways students with literacy- related learning difficulties navigated digital tools in a technology-infused environment created by a teacher who has experience using digital tools for instructional and student-learning purposes. My research was guided by the following questions: (1) What was the context, content, and structure of the teacher’s technology instruction? (2) In what ways did the students use technological tools? (3) How did students with reading difficulties compose during digital literacy events? The data for this case study included classroom observations, interviews, field notes, work samples, and lesson plans. Through the use of both inductive (Phase I and II) and a priori (Phase III) analysis, the data highlight several important findings to inform the research questions: (a) Knowledge of Technology Does Not Ensure Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (b) Students with Reading Difficulties Still Have Difficulty with Reading Despite Technology Integration and (c) Change in Writing Tool (technology) does not Guarantee Change in Writing Performance.

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that there is a reciprocal relationship between comprehension and fluency during reading. The notion that oral reading fluency can facilitate reading comprehension is well established in the research literature on the development of reading comprehension. However, more recent models have questioned the unidirectionality of this relationship and have suggested that reading comprehension may increase fluency through reading rate. This hypothesis was examined via analyses of second grade students' oral reading of connected texts. Four previewing conditions which isolated lexical effects, comprehension effects, and prosody effects on oral reading fluency were manipulated in an experiment and the effects on students' passage reading times and prosody were evaluated. Students who were on-level readers were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions consisting of word preview (lexical factor), listening preview (prosody and comprehension factor), summary preview (comprehension factor) and no preview. Following the preview, students were asked to read passages aloud. Analyses of Covariance were performed to test the effects of lexical priming, comprehension priming and prosodic modeling on oral reading fluency as measured in correct words per minute (CWPM) and prosodic reading, while controlling for students overall achievement in reading as measured by the STAR-R score. The results showed significant differences in CWPM favouring the listening preview and summary preview over the no-preview condition for students at lower levels of fluency performance. The results are discussed in relation to theories of reading that highlight the role of comprehension and fluency in the integration of information during reading.

ABSTRACT LINKS AND DISCONNECTS BETWEEN THIRD GRADE TEACHERS’ BELIEFS, KNOWLEDGE, AND PRACTICES REGARDING NONFICTION READING COMPREHENSION INSTRUCTION FOR STRUGGLING READERS by Nicole P. Maxwell In the current era of accountability, U. S. teachers face strict demands from No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to ensure that all students’ reading achievement meets the requirements of their respective grade levels (Coburn, Pearson, & Woulfin, 2011). These demands are especially stressful when teachers have students who struggle with reading. Regrettably, many students grapple with reading difficulties, particularly with comprehending fiction and nonfiction texts (Allington, 2011). The purpose of this study was to examine the beliefs and understandings three third grade teachers held concerning nonfiction reading comprehension instruction for struggling readers and how these beliefs and knowledge influenced their pedagogical practices. This qualitative, interpretive case study examined their beliefs using the theoretical lenses of epistemology (Crotty, 2007; Cunningham & Fitzgerald, 1996; Dillon, O’Brien, & Heilman, 2004; Magrini, 2009), social constructivism (Vygotsky, 1978), transactional theory of reading (Rosenblatt, 1994), and the sociocognitive interactive model of reading (Ruddell & Unrau, 2004). The following research questions guided this inquiry: (1) How do third grade teachers support struggling readers when navigating nonfiction texts? (2) What are these third grade teachers’ beliefs and understandings about struggling readers? (3) How do these beliefs influence the third grade teachers’ pedagogical practices with struggling readers? Data collection lasted for five months and involved interviews, classroom observations, teacher debriefs, and the collection of artifacts, including DeFord’s (1985) Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile (TORP). Data analysis was conducted using the constant comparative approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The findings in this study revealed links and disconnects between the accommodations teachers believed their struggling readers needed and what they actually provided their struggling readers. These teachers faced pressures of time constraints and a focus on testing, which affected their pedagogical practices. Furthermore, they demonstrated a reliance on content area textbooks and dissatisfaction with the accessibility of nonfiction materials. These findings highlight the need for pre-service and in-service teachers to have access to quality nonfiction materials to use in the classroom and instruction on how to provide nonfiction comprehension instruction to their struggling readers.

Students who struggle with reading are common in today’s middle school classrooms. This research used a socioecological framework to explore middle school teachers’ perceptions of struggling readers. As the notion of perception encompasses many influences, the research sought out teacher understandings of components and factors relating to reading difficulties, both intrinsic and extrinsic. As well, the study examined teacher views of struggling readers’ behaviours, affect, and the classroom implications of their difficulties. Finally, the study explored feelings of both competency and responsibility in the teaching of struggling readers. The research was carried out in three school districts in the Vancouver Island/Gulf Islands, BC area. Using a phenomenological case study approach, survey data from 35 respondents, and interview data from 10 participants were analyzed using both a within-case and cross-case analysis method. Identified common themes included teachers’ difficulty defining and assessing students who struggle with reading, and tending to attribute the difficulties to factors beyond their control. The teachers realized the correlation between reading difficulties and motivation but were unsure how to mitigate the ensuing behaviours in their classrooms. The participants believed that middle school students should be competent grade level readers and did not believe it their job to teach specific reading skills in content area classes. Although the teachers in this study wanted to do more to help their students who struggle with reading, they were constrained by a perceived lack of knowledge and time. The findings suggest that teachers, both pre-service and in-service, need more education about reading difficulties, classroom strategies and practice. The research indicates a need for more optimal use of specialist teacher time, literacy coaching, levelled resources, and a focus on the British Columbia Performance Standards. / Graduate