Review of Projectsfeb24r

8/13/2019 Review of Projectsfeb24r

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Thesis/Project Review 1

Review of Projects/Theses on Remedial Reading Programs

Teresa Froehlke

Boise State University

ED-CIFS 503

Ted Singletary

February 24, 2009


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Project(1)

Douglass, D. (1979).A guide to remedial reading materials.Unpublished masters project, Boise

State University, Boise, Idaho.

Committee Members:

Dr. Robert Friedli, Dr. George Hess, and Dr. John Beitia.

Need Fulfilled:

This is a project to assist classroom teachers in selecting appropriate reading materials for use

in their classrooms with remedial students. The project was developed in anticipation of

termination of specialist services.

Product Description:

The product that was designed was a guide developed to assist the classroom teachers in

locating reading materials for students that had reading deficiencies. The guide includes

recommendations for use, readability and interest level. The Fry formula was used to determine

readability. The Fry Formula determines readability through a selection of three 100 word

passages and taking the average number of sentences and syllables. These averages are applied

to a graph which gives the grade level readability. The materials developed through this project

included the following classification of materials: Duplicating material, kits, tapes, records,

filmstrips, educational programs, teacher resources and games.

Project(2)

McIver, A. C. (1976). The remedial reader in the classroom.Unpublished masters project,

Boise State University, Boise, Idaho.

Committee Members:

Dr. Clara P. Burtch, Dr. Ruth Marks, and Dr. Robert L. Friedli.


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Need Fulfilled:

A project designed to address the issue of reading difficulties in the elementary school

classrooms and to provide remedial help. The intent of the project was to aid students in their

reading difficulties by providing proper identification of problem areas, followed by effective

corrective procedures.


The product of this research was a kit which assisted the regular classroom teacher with the

identification of specific problem areas in reading and to recommend procedures for the teacher

to use in assisting the student having difficulties. The kit consisted of two separate units. The

first unit contained reading diagnostic material in the following categories: (a) Phonetic

Analysis, (b) Structural Analysis, (c) Vocabulary Development, (d) Comprehension Skills and

(e) Study Skills. The second unit contained materials designed to remedy the areas that were

identified as weak in the first unit.

Project(3)

Sollars, M. (1980).A multi-Perceptual approach for high-risk students at the beginning reading

level.Unpublished masters project, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho.

Committee Members:

Dr. John Beita, Dr. Ruth Marks and Dr. Wendell Waite.

Need Fulfilled:

A project designed to explore and prepare materials using multiple perceptual senses to assist

high risk students to achieve success with beginning reading.


The product of this research was a handbook utilizing a multi-perceptual program for high-

risk students at the beginning reading level. The handbook includes how to prepare for the


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program, it also included how to organize and present the material. Other areas included in the

handbook were kinesthetic activities, independent seatwork and the order of letters to be

introduced. The handbook has included teacher made material and lessons for experiencing

letter sounds.

Thesis(1)

Lally, N. R. (1976).Jeff: The case study of a dyslexic child. Unpublished masters thesis, Boise


Committee Members:

Dr. Acel Chatburn, Dr. Trudy Comba, Miss Clara Burtch, Dr. Gerald Wallace, Dr. Ken

Hollenbaugh.

Need Fulfilled:

The subject of this thesis was a case study on dyslexia through the authors son, Jeff. It was

the hope that the presentation of dyslexia from a parents point of view would give readers an

understanding of people with dyslexia and the problems families encounter with this learning

disability.

Research Methods:

The author relied on a review of literature, definitions of terms and personal observations

through birth, infancy, toddler, pre-school, primary grades, intermediate grades, junior high, high

school and maturation to document the case study. The case study is supported with report cards,

test results and tutorial reports. The author concludes with a philosophical prognosis for the

future for her son.


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.Thesis(2)

Figueredo, A. (1989).A study to determine the effectiveness of corrective reading programs on

nineteen students identified as mildly handicapped.Unpublished master's thesis, Boise


Committee Members:

Dr. Wenden Waite, Jeanne Bauwen, John Jensen.

Need Fulfilled:

This was a study on improving reading achievement of students with mild learning disabilities

through a Direct Instructional approach. The three research questions that the study tried to

address were whether a corrective reading program improved student decoding skills, improved

student comprehension or raised overall reading achievement.

Research Methods:

The data for this research was collected from nineteen students in the fourth and fifth grade

that received reading instruction in the resource room at an elementary school. Each student was

pretested on tow measures, the Corrective Reading Placement Test and the Woodcock Johnson

Psycho-Educational Battery. A norm-referenced comparison was selected to evaluate student

achievement. The norm-referenced comparison is a common design used in Education when

there is not a control group. Students are pretested, given the treatment, post-tested, and

performance is compared against the norm group used to standardize a test.

Chapters in the research:

Chapter I

a) Introductionb) Introduction to the Problemc) Statement of the Problem


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d) Research Questionse) Hypothesisf) Definitions of Variablesg) Definitions of Termsh) Limitations

Chapter II

a) Preview of the Literatureb) Introductionc) Nature of a Learning Disabilityd) Characteristics Associated with Reading Disabilitye) Strategies for Improving Reading AchievementChapter III

a) Methodsb) Populationc) Instrumentationd) Design and ProceduresChapter IV

a) Resultsb) Overview of Analysisc) Experimental Research ResultsChapter V

a) Summary Discussion and Recommendationsb) Summaryc) Discussion


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d) RecommendationsAppendix A

Letter Word Identification Pretest Student Scores

Appendix B

Letter Word Identification Posttest Student Scores

Appendix C

Word attack Pretest Student Scores

Appendix D

Word Attack Posttest Student Scores

Appendix E

Passage Comprehension Pretest

Student Scores

Appendix F

Passage Comprehension Posttest

Student Scores

Appendix G

Total Test-Pretest Student Individual Scores

Appendix H

Total Test-Posttest Student Individual Scores

Biblography.

Importance of Project:

The author observed that individual student attending a resource room had minimal teacher-

centered instruction. The individual instruction that was provided was for a portion of the

students allotted time and the remainder of the time was spent working independently on


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material that was designed to reinforce a particular skill. The drawbacks that the author noted

for this approach was the limited time on task and the amount of direct teacher instruction the

students receive. This approach to instruction was creating an environment of behavior

problems.

The approach the author recommended in his thesis was a teacher-centered approach with the

emphasis being on teacher behavior, classroom organization and the use of instructional time in

the classroom. This study was concerned with improving the reading achievement of students

with mild learning disabilities through a direct instructional approach. The purpose of this study

was to determine the effects of using the Corrective Reading Program in an instructor-led format

in the special education resource room that serviced nineteen students in the fourth and fifth

grades.

Design of Study:

The students participating in this study consisted of nineteen fourth and fifth grade students.

These students were found eligible for Special Education Services in accordance with the

Washington State Rules and Regulations. The service delivery model selected for use with

these students was the resource program. Reading instruction in the resource program served as

the students primary source for reading instruction.

Each student was pretested on two individually administered measures The Corrective

Reading Placement Test and the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery. The

Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery is an individually administered normed

referenced test. The reading cluster selected from the Woodcock-Johnson consistent of three

subtests: letter-word identification, word attack, and passage comprehension. A norm-

referenced comparison design was selected to evaluate student achievement. The norm-

referenced comparison used in this study is a common design used in program evaluation in


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education when no control group is available. Students were pretested, given the treatment, post-

tested, and performance was compared against the norm group used to standardize the test.

Data Collected:

The dependent variable for the study was standard scores recorded from the Woodcock-

Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery; Part 1 reading cluster. The results of the norm-referenced

comparison equaled or exceeded the criteria necessary for educational significance. The

difference in pretest and post-test total test reading results yield a five quarter standard deviation

increase. This increase represents a full standard deviation increase against the mean of the norm

group for the dependent variable.

Conclusion:

Reading instruction in the Special Education Resource room in this study followed a format

in which the instructor worked with one or two students while the other students worked on

pencil and paper tasks. The students, who were left to work on their own, often exhibited

problem behavior. The author designed a study in which the reading instruction was delivered in

a teacher centered instructional approach using a Corrective Reading Program (CRP) curriculum.

This curriculum was based on letter word identification skills, word attack skills and

comprehension skills. The previous curriculum was the Macmillian Reading Series which was a

whole word approach to reading.

The results of this study support a transformation from a student centered approach to a

teacher centered instructional approach to reading using the CRP curriculum. The overall reading

achievement showed a 9 month growth in 8 months of instruction. The CRP fulfilled the needs

and expectations of the author of this study. This research shows the need for further studies to

determine if a student is able to generalize the skills learned in a CRP program. This study is


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encouraging in its strategies to implement for reading and it would be interesting to determine if

the results would be similar for math, spelling and written language.

Documents

Review of Projectsfeb24r