Teachers’ beliefs about the reading standards as well as curriculum materials used
to address the standards affect how teachers implement the standards, which further
impacts student learning. In this case study, 26 middle grades (6-8) reading teachers each
participated in a 90 minute one-on-one audio-taped interview consisting of 33 openended
questions. Analysis was conducted on the teachers’ beliefs regarding the state’s
academic reading standards, content materials the teachers used to teach reading, the
teachers’ self-reported instructional practices, and how the selected teachers understand
the relationship between their beliefs and instructional practices. Likewise, content
analyses were performed using documents such as lesson plans, classroom assignments,
and assessments that were collected from the participants. There were six major findings
in this study. The first finding indicated that participants had mix feelings regarding the
standards; they were viewed by some teachers as guides and building blocks while others viewed the standards as not being beneficial to have in the classroom. The second finding
depicted that participants had mixed experiences of collegial planning; some shared that
collegial planning assisted their efforts with understanding the standards while others
indicated that collegial planning could be improved. The third finding portrayed that the
curriculum materials used to teach reading were both district-given and supplemental.
Due to a lack of rigor with the district-given resource, some participants opted to use
supplemental resources that better aligned to the expectation of the standards. The fourth
finding addressed both teacher and student challenges faced by the participants. Teacher
challenges included the fast pace and implementation of the standards while student
challenges included lack of motivation and student misbehavior. The fifth finding
highlighted how participants viewed the relationship between their beliefs and
instructional practices. Participants discussed the impact, or lack thereof, of the
implementation of the shifts in the standards. The sixth and final major finding of this
study emphasized that professional development was needed to teach the reading
standards. As a result of these findings, implications include providing teachers with
professional development opportunities that target practical ways on how to implement
the shifts of the standards in day-to-day instruction and instructional strategies to enhance
student motivation. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_40795 |
| Contributors | Dacres, Lascelia Cadienne (author), Baxley, Traci P. (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), College of Education, Department of Curriculum, Culture, and Educational Inquiry |
| Publisher | Florida Atlantic University |
| Source Sets | Florida Atlantic University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 155 p., application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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