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Children who experience early reading difficulties in school tend to remain poor readers throughout their school years. By fourth grade children with reading difficulties may be working more than two years behind their classmates and the gap widening. Intervention at the very beginning of literacy acquisition holds promise for helping large numbers of children to avoid this pattern of failure. It is crucial, therefore, to learn as much as possible about how classrooms teachers and reading teachers can best help high-risk students early on, before the pattern of failure is firmly established. The major purpose of this study has been to learn more about how and when children receiving an early intervention transfer their new knowledge to use in their regular classrooms. Do they utilize the skills they are learning in the one-to-one tutoring situation when they return to the classroom? Does participation in the intervention give students increased access to classroom literacy? An additional purpose has been to probe promising practices for supporting high-risk beginning readers in the transition from intervention back to the classroom. The study employs qualitative research methods. It monitors the progress of four children involved in an early intervention program, both in the intervention and in the first grade classroom. Data collected over an eight-month period are drawn from participant observation, audio and video taping of representative portions of the classroom reading program, teacher and student interviews, notes and reflections, and student assessments. The study concludes that significant progress in nurturing new strategies for reading appears to be closely linked to the number and variety of opportunities in the classroom to practice and reinforce strategies learned during the intervention. The classroom teacher's encouragement to explore new strategies, the teacher's view of reading as a meaningful and strategic problem solving process, the teacher's clear expectations and thorough instruction in the care and use of the abundant resources at the students' disposal, and the teacher's encouragement of risk taking by students also played a significant role in reinforcing what the children were learning in the intervention.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Paul R. Burden / Military-connected students are a highly mobile population who undergo a great deal of stress in their lives. These factors can overflow into life in the elementary classroom, causing challenges for teachers. This study looked at the percieved challenges elementary classroom teachers face when working with military-connected students in one public school district with schools located on a military base and other schools near it. A Likert-type survey of questions was created and administered to teachers using an online survey tool. The survey was sent to elementary teachers working in schools in one public school district in the Midwestern United States with a garnered response rate of 42.2% (n=68). The schools in the district were located in a city near and on a military base. The study used exploratory factor analysis, descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, an ANOVA, and step-wise regression analysis procedures to answer the research questions regarding the challenges teachers face when working with military-connected students. The results of the study indicated that the number of years a teacher has been teaching influences their perceptions of challenges regarding military-connected students. In addition, teachers indicated that helping students catch up academically, supporting them emotionally, and family/parent issues are the top challenges when working with elementary military-connected students.

The problem of this study was to investigate the problems listed as bothersome and their frequency as identified by selected elementary teachers. Another objective was to analyze differences between teacher problems and selected social demographic variables. The background research was limited to a review of the literature related to the subject. It was determined that the relevance of professional problem solving as a competency could provide formative information to guide changes in undergraduate, graduate, preservice, and in-service education. A descriptive research design was followed by surveying a selected sample of teachers of grades 1-7 in the nine counties and two cities with independent school districts in Southwest Virginia. Three hundred fifteen teachers were randomly selected to participate in the study. Two hundred forty-six teachers responded, and the findings reflect their responses. The statistical analysis of the collected data indicated significant differences in 12 of the 21 hypotheses developed for the study. A significant relationship existed between the frequency and bothersomeness of problems and the following clusters of problems: affiliation, control, parent relationships and home conditions, student success, and time. The predominately mentioned problems of teachers were problems dealing with time--having enough time to plan and implement good teaching and to complete related responsibilities. The second most frequently mentioned problems were problems dealing with student success. Conclusions of the study emphasized the fact that teachers can and will identify and share their school-related problems. Older and more experienced teachers were less bothered by problems than were the younger and less experienced teachers. Teachers in grades 3, 4, and 6 were more bothered by problems. No difference existed between the frequency and bothersomeness of problems and the sex of the teachers. There was also no relationship between the frequency and bothersomeness of problems and class size or the degree earned by the teacher. Teachers who indicated that they were less than very satisfied with teaching experienced more frequent problems and were much more bothered by those problems than were teachers who said that they were very satisfied with teaching. Seventy percent of the respondents were less than very satisfied with their undergraduate preparation program for teaching, and 60% of the respondents indicated that they were less than very satisfied with teaching.

The problem of this study was to investigate the problems listed as bothersome and their frequency as identified by selected elementary teachers. Another objective was to analyze differences between teacher problems and selected social demographic variables. The background research was limited to a review of the literature related to the subject. It was determined that the relevance of professional problem solving as a competency could provide formative information to guide changes in undergraduate, graduate, preservice, and in-service education. A descriptive research design was followed by surveying a selected sample of teachers of grades 1-7 in the nine counties and two cities with independent school districts in Southwest Virginia. Three hundred fifteen teachers were randomly selected to participate in the study. Two hundred forty-six teachers responded, and the findings reflect their responses. The statistical analysis of the collected data indicated significant differences in 12 of the 21 hypotheses developed for the study. A significant relationship existed between the frequency and bothersomeness of problems and the following clusters of problems: affiliation, control, parent relationships and home conditions, student success, and time. The predominately mentioned problems of teachers were problems dealing with time--having enough time to plan and implement good teaching and to complete related responsibilities. The second most frequently mentioned problems were problems dealing with student success. Conclusions of the study emphasized the fact that teachers can and will identify and share their school-related problems. Older and more experienced teachers were less bothered by problems than were the younger and less experienced teachers. Teachers in grades 3, 4, and 6 were more bothered by problems. No difference existed between the frequency and bothersomeness of problems and the sex of the teachers. There was also no relationship between the frequency and bothersomeness of problems and class size or the degree earned by the teacher. Teachers who indicated that they were less than very satisfied with teaching experienced more frequent problems and were much more bothered by those problems than were teachers who said that they were very satisfied with teaching. Seventy percent of the respondents were less than very satisfied with their undergraduate preparation program for teaching, and 60% of the respondents indicated that they were less than very satisfied with teaching.

The problem was to determine whether selected psycholinguistic instructional aids were effective in remediating learning deficiencies among early elementary children (grades 1-3). Literature was reviewed to substantiate a need for the use of psycholinguistic instructional aids for remediation of learning deficiencies among early elementary children. Research surveyed included auditory perception skills, language skills, motor skills, and visual perception skills. Data were collected from test groups of students in grade levels one, two, and three. A stratified random sampling technique yielded a sample of thirty-six students, eighteen males and eighteen females. Each of the three grade level groups in the sample was divided randomly into two groups containing an equal number of males and females. These groups were labeled the experimental groups and the control groups. The Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA) was administered as a pretest to the sample. A series of reading lessons was taught for an instructional period of twenty-one sessions to both experimental and control groups. The experimental groups were provided thirty-minute sessions of prescribed psycholinguistic instructional aids following the presentation of each reading lesson. The control groups received "pseudo" treatment designed to control for the Hawthorne effect. The ITPA was re-administered as the posttest. No significant difference was found between the scores achieved on the ITPA for the experimental groups and the control groups for grade levels one, two, or three. There was no significant difference found between the scores for the composite experimental group and the composite control group. The 0.05 level of significance was applied in all cases using the statistical technique of analysis of covariance with the pretest as the covariate. The comparison of experimental groups and control groups found that: (1)The experimental groups for all grade levels showed higher increases than the control groups. (2)The composite experimental group showed an increase over the composite control group. The comparison of male and female control and experimental groups found that: (1)The male experimental groups showed an increase over the male control groups with the exception of the second grade level where the control group was slightly favored. (2)The female experimental groups showed an increase over the female control groups in all grade levels. (3)The female experimental groups, including the composite experimental group, showed a gain over the male experimental groups. The recommendations made as a result of the study were: (1)Additional studies should be conducted using larger samples and/or longer durations of time to determine whether selected psycholinguistic instructional aids were effective in remediating learning deficiencies. (2)Replication of the study should be made in other geographical areas using different research designs and methodologies in order to increase the ability to generalize the results. (3)Studies should be conducted with middle and upper elementary school children to determine whether psycholinguistic instructional aids were effective for the remediation of learning deficiencies at those grade levels. (4)Schools should use evaluation instruments such as the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities to assess students' psycholinguistic abilities and incorporate the findings into staff development programs and professional growth activities. (5)Studies should be conducted on the impact of psycholinguistic instruction on students' self-concepts. (6)Studies should be conducted to determine if paraprofessionals could enhance students' psycholinguistic performance.

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