The effects of a comprehensive and supplemental middle school reading program

2021 ◽  
pp. 25-41
Author(s):  
Irma F. Brasseur-Hock ◽  
Whitney Miller ◽  
Jocelyn Washburn ◽  
Alyson J. Christ ◽  
Michael F. Hock

We present results of an evaluation of the first year of a multi-year comprehensive middle school reading program. Four public middle schools in rural Virginia with large populations of students with limited reading proficiency participated in a study to determine the reading program’s impact. We evaluated 235 students with low reading achievement scores, including students with disabilities, to determine reading gains. The multi-year curriculum consisted of multiple components (word-level instruction, comprehension and vocabulary, motivation and engagement, and assessment) and seven related instructional units, each taught using explicit instruction. A quasi-experimental design was used to determine the intervention’s effectiveness. Statistically significant differences were found between the experimental and comparison conditions on a standardized measure of reading achievement with some scores favoring the experimental condition. Results support, in part, the reading program’s promise to improve middle school students’ reading achievement scores at a level that may narrow the reading achievement gap.

2016 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael F. Hock ◽  
Irma F. Brasseur-Hock ◽  
Alyson J. Hock ◽  
Brenda Duvel

Reading achievement scores for adolescents with disabilities are markedly lower than the scores of adolescents without disabilities. For example, 62% of students with disabilities read below the basic level on the NAEP Reading assessment, compared to 19% of their nondisabled peers. This achievement gap has been a continuing challenge for more than 35 years. In this article, we report on the promise of a comprehensive 2-year reading program called Fusion Reading. Fusion Reading is designed to significantly narrow the reading achievement gap of middle school students with reading disabilities. Using a quasi-experimental design with matched groups of middle school students with reading disabilities, statistically significant differences were found between the experimental and comparison conditions on multiple measures of reading achievement with scores favoring the experimental condition. The effect size of the differences were Hedges’s g = 1.66 to g = 1.04 on standardized measures of reading achievement.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 198
Author(s):  
Shahrbanoo Joulide ◽  
Akram Faravani ◽  
Ali Akbar Boori

A prevalent goal of education in schools is reading comprehension enhancement. Therefore, a critical issue in   educational psychology is investigating the factors contributing to increase the reading achievement including both classroom climate and self-determination. This study explored the relationships of Iranian High School students’ self-determination and classroom climate with their reading achievement.  150 Iranian (male and female) students from Sama and Fazele high schools in Mashhad were selected through convenience sampling. The instruments were IOWA self-determination, Classroom Climate Questionnaires, and a validated researcher-made test. It was a type of quantitative and correlational research. Results revealed a significant and positive relationship between self-determination and reading ability. They also showed that among the six subscales of the self-determination, financial management had a significant relationship with the reading achievement scores of students. However, the emotional independence of peers had a negative correlation with the reading achievement scores of students. The results showed that teachers’ skill in orienting tasks can enhance reading achievement score and make the classroom climate more motivating. This study has potentially helpful implications for English language teachers, English institutes, and students. Teachers can enhance student’s self-determination by providing a friendly classroom environment and indirectly boost the students’ reading score. 


Author(s):  
Surabhi Negi ◽  
Sunita Magre

Cyber bullying is the unwise use of technology to harm and humiliate an individual or group over the Internet. The purpose of this article is to test the effectiveness of the cyber bullying sensitisation program (CBSP) to reduce the level of cyber bullying behaviour among middle school students. The sample was restricted to adolescents as they are the ones who are most exposed and vulnerable in the cyber space. A quasi-experimental pre-post design with intervention was adopted for the study. The participants of the study were comprised of 186 middle school students from two private schools in India. The experimental group had 94 participants while control groups had 92 participants. Statistical analysis indicated that there was a significant difference between pre- and post-test scores in the experimental group. No significant difference was found between the experiment and control group before the program, suggesting that the program was effective in helping students in reducing cyber bullying behaviour. The implications for prevention and intervention programs were discussed.


2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura B. Sample McMeeking ◽  
Rebecca Orsi ◽  
R. Brian Cobb

The effect of a 15- to 24-month in-service professional development (PD) program on state accountability mathematics test scores for middle school students was examined using a quasi-experimental design. Middle level mathematics teachers (n = 128) from 7 school districts and 64 middle schools volunteered for a PD sequence of content-oriented summer courses and pedagogy-oriented structured follow-up experiences during the subsequent academic year. Student effects of the PD program were measured using Colorado's state mathematics test results for 2 cohorts of students: 1 that received mathematics instruction from participant teachers in the year prior to the PD and another cohort that received mathematics instruction in the year following the PD. The odds of a student achieving a Proficient or Advanced score on the state test were then compared between cohorts. Results showed that students' odds of achieving a score of Proficient or better increased with teacher participation in the PD program.


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