My driving question is, “What effects does guided reading have on Reading Comprehension and Reading Accuracy?” In order to answer this particular question I analyzed ex-post facto data which is composed of Developmental Reading Assessment scores from last school year and this school year, for students who are provided reading intervention/ support through the use of a reading program that is now being implemented at my school site. I chose to use this quantitative data in a pre-test/ post-test method because it provided with me a numeric quantity for where students began and also where they are now.
I also thought it was important to analyze qualitative data though the form of a survey for the teachers. Teachers were able to give their feedback by answering a few open-ended questions about what they felt was the most useful and least useful part of the reading program. They also answered a couple of questions on a scale of strongly agree (5) to strongly disagree (1). The data I collected proved to me that there was improvement at different levels across the board, with the exception of 10 out of 71 students who did not show improvement. As I further analyzed my scores, I realized that 8 out of the 10 students whom did not show improvement were in Second Grade. These results inform my study because I think it shows the importance of further research of this program with second graders. It seems to be more helpful in improving accuracy which is measured more intently in the lower levels of the DRA, but the higher levels include more comprehension. It leaves me inquiring if the second graders who did not show improvement, lacked skill in accuracy or comprehension?
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Guided Reading in First- Fourth Grade: Theory to Practice
This article had information about a partnership between an Elementary School District and University students whom taught guided reading lessons to First- Fourth graders and measured the improvement in reading scores. Both, the elementary school students and the university students benefited from this research. Students' reading scores improved and the university students received guidance and exposure to delivering small group instruction. This relates to my study because I will also be looking at Guided Reading and its effects on students’ reading scores, but it will not be implemented by University students. This informs my study because I realize that, even though it has been difficult for me to find studies with data collection, there are others doing research on guided reading. Identifying Instructional Moves During Guided Learning In this article Fisher and Frey (2012), study 18 classrooms in which teachers usually had good results when teaching a diverse group of students. 67 observations over a 9-week period were conducted and each teacher was observed at least three times. The data collected was digital recordings of instruction on specific interactions during guided instruction. The findings showed that there were four interactions that were continually used among all the teachers observed. The following were the four interactions: Using questions to check for understanding, prompting for cognitive and meta-cognitive work, using cues to focus learners’ attention, and direct explanation or modeling. This study has a direct connection because guided reading is at the core of it, but it differs in the sense that I will be looking more closely at the guided reading as part of a new curriculum and not at the strategies used during guided reading. It informs my study because it shows that guided reading has a multitude of components to take into account. The Impact Of A School’s Literacy Program On A Primary Classroom In this study, Costello (2012), examines how reading instruction is placed within the literacy program at his school. He utilizes qualitative data in the form of journal entries. The results showed how the direct instruction part of the literacy program being used, altered his teaching practices and affected student learning. This relates to my study because it renders proof that there are others doing work similar to mine, in the sense that they are looking at the impact of a literacy program on student learning. Yet, it is much different because this study only used qualitative data and I will also include quantitative data. When I began my research in guided reading, I thought I would come across a plethora of information. I thought guided reading was at the core of reading comprehension and since I want to see the relation between guided reading and reading comprehension, I thought I would have plenty of information to work with. Yet, I was wrong; I have had some difficulty in finding information. In the articles I have been able to find, the recurring names are Irene C. Fountas, Gay Su Pinnell, M.M. Clay and L. Vygotsky.
Guided reading instruction is based on the Constructivist theory which supports the idea that learners have superior comprehend of ideas that they build on their own with other individuals’ assistance. One of the big ideas is that there are essential elements of guided reading which are using leveled books, differentiating instruction and using benchmark assessments through Running Records. Essentially, during guided reading the teacher directly teaches students reading strategies that reinforce problem solving and comprehension among others. In my research I have not come across any state of the art knowledge in guided reading. I believe that could be because the delivery of guided reading requires direct explicit teacher instruction. Data: National, State, District and School
There is no National nor State data available for First and Second Grade. Yet, when I reviewed the Fourth Grade NAEP scores I noticed that 36% of Fourth graders in the United States were at or above proficient levels in 2015. For the same year, only 28% of Fourth graders in California were at the same benchmark. (www.nationsreportcard.gov). When looking at the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress scores for 2017, I learned that 43.90% of Third Graders in California are at or above proficient levels. In comparison, in my district, the Vacaville Unified School District 40.92% of Third Graders are at the same benchmark. Looking even closer at the Third Graders in my school, there are 42.86% at or above proficiency levels. Rationale and Purpose: I work at Edwin Markham Elementary School, which is a part of the Vacaville Unified School District. In the past few years we have focused on providing more direct and targeted reading instruction through small reading intervention groups. Over the years we have continued to make the groups smaller, to the point where we now have only 6 students in each group, on average. We have used various intervention curriculum such as SIPPS and Triumphs, among others. We are now using Okapi Flying Start to Literacy as our intervention curriculum, with the goal of improving students’ scores in Reading Comprehension and Reading Accuracy. I work with small groups of students providing level- specific reading intervention to students who are below grade level. I have noticed that the scores for High Frequency Words and the BPST are showing students success. Yet, they are struggling to use their skills in context and their reading levels are not showing improvement. The knowledge to be gained is very important in assisting students to be successful through Guided Reading and improving educational practice. The purpose of my study is to explore a recently adopted reading program to determine whether students are reading more skillfully or not. The first year of reading data is available. It is important to study the implementation more closely in subsequent years to understand how it is impacting student reading progress. My objective is to collect current data on student reading progress at my school on first and second grade dual immersion classes using the new reading program. My goal is to discover what effect does Guided Reading have on Reading Comprehension and Reading Accuracy. After reviewing the IRB, I realize I was unaware of the multitude of laws and regulations in relation to research; yet, I am glad to know that there is so much in place to ensure the safety of human research subjects. As I review the IRB I also know that I must clarify my driving question because I must provide a summary of my proposed research. As I mentioned before, I would like to explore how I can improve reading comprehension through small group instruction for ELLs who are below grade level in reading, and possibly include the use of GLAD strategies. I will need to collect and compare student reading scores as well as other assessment data from the beginning of the school year and the end of each trimester, through the end of the school year. By comparing the data, I will be able to measure the growth at each assessment period. Even though I have a million questions as to how my action research will come together, I know the IRB will be helpful in organizing all of information.
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November 2017
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