Degree Name

EdD (Doctor of Education)

Program

Educational Leadership

Date of Award

8-2007

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

Terrence A. Tollefson

Committee Members

Cecil N. Blankenship, Eric S. Glover, Louise L. MacKay

Abstract

READ 180 is an intensive reading intervention program designed to meet the needs of students whose reading achievement is below the proficient level. The program addresses individual learning styles through adaptive software, interesting literature, and direct instruction with reading skills. The purpose of this study was to compare the achievement of academically at-risk students in Sevier County Public Schools in East Tennessee who participated in the READ 180 pilot program with the achievement of their academically at-risk peers not enrolled in the intervention program before and after its implementation in order to assess the reading intervention program. The Sevier County school system, after extensive study and involved research, decided to allocate over $750,000 into the READ 180 reading intervention program at the beginning of the 2004-2005 school year.

The study included students in grades 5 and 7 who participated in the READ 180 pilot program and their at-risk peers in grades 5 and 7 who did not participate in the READ 180 program. The select group of at-risk students participated in READ 180 as a pilot program to determine the impact of the program upon each student's academic achievement. The students were selected for the study based upon their composite reading TCAP score being in the lowest quartile, thus deeming the student at-risk. Test scores reported for 2004 and 2005 on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program were obtained from the Sevier County school system's records.

Comparisons were made on the TCAP total reading-language scores, total math scores, gender, and socioeconomic assessments. Differences between the program's groups (READ 180 at-risk participants and nonparticipants) on "pre-READ 180" scores were measured using two 3-way ANOVA models, one for 5th grade and one for 7th grade. Results from the study showed that READ 180 was significantly associated with the success for many of the at-risk students whether by gender, socioeconomic status, or overall student numbers as compared to their at-risk counterparts who were not enrolled in the READ 180 program.

Document Type

Dissertation - unrestricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

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