Honors Theses

Advisor

Mary-Kate Sableski

Department

Teacher Education

Publication Date

Spring 4-2015

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Abstract

Reading is one of the most critical skills that students learn in their first few years of education. A strong foundation in reading at the early childhood level can promote success in the rest of schooling and beyond. This is especially true for children of poverty; reading abilities and the strong education that follows provide students with opportunities to break the poverty cycle. The importance of reading achievement is a political dimension, as demonstrated by Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee. This legislation, which has many implications in education, requires that all third grade students who do not pass the Reading section of the Ohio Achievement Assessment must be retained until they are on reading level. In order to prevent this retention, teachers may choose to implement a reading intervention program with students who are at-risk of retention in third grade. Reading Recovery and Orton Gillingham, two reading programs that use different approaches to literacy instruction, have been approved by the Ohio Department of Education to be used for this purpose. The research conducted in this study will look into the factors affecting a lowincome school’s decision to select one of these two programs. The research will follow a case study format, in which interviews will be conducted with principals and teachers in the selected high poverty schools. The interviews, along with collected data about these schools and the two programs, will provide an illustration of how the Third Grade Reading Guarantee is affecting curriculum, as well as how schools are choosing these reading programs in accordance with the new legislation.

Permission Statement

This item is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code) and may only be used for noncommercial, educational, and scholarly purposes.

Keywords

Undergraduate research

Disciplines

Education | Elementary Education and Teaching | Teacher Education and Professional Development


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