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The effectiveness of the literacy for success intervention at Wilson Middle School

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Title	The effectiveness of the literacy for success intervention at Wilson Middle School
Author	Bixler, Josephine Tidalgo
Author email	tidalgo@usc.edu; bixler@gusd.net
Degree	Doctor of Education
Document type	Dissertation
Degree program	Education
School	Rossier School of Education
Date defended/completed	2009-05-06
Date submitted	2009
Restricted until	Unrestricted
Date published	2009-07-09
Advisor (committee chair)	Hocevar, Dennis
Advisor (committee member)	Brown, Richard Keim, Robert
Abstract	The purpose of the study was to determine if Literacy for Success brought students nearer to proficiency on the English Language Arts (ELA) portion of the California State Test (CST). The program was a year long intervention for struggling students scoring below 325 on the ELA portion of the 2006 CST. The intervention included implementation of a supplemental curriculum, High Point and Fast Track, and professional development for teachers. Participants in the study included 41 seventh graders and 35 eighth graders at Wilson middle school that completed a year of LFS reading intervention. Also participating were the teachers of the intervention classes and school administration. The teachers and administration shared their views on the effectiveness of the intervention, student achievement, and curriculum in relation to the program.; To examine the effects of the intervention, a mixed methods approach was used. For summative data, a factorial analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to determine the main effects of the intervention, language, and two-way interaction of language by intervention. Students were matched by CST score and then by primary language. It was a nearly balanced design with the same number of Armenian, English and Spanish students in the experimental and control groups. It was not perfectly balanced because not all students could be perfectly matched by CST scores. For formative data, interviews, surveys, and informal observations were conducted.; Results of the analysis showed that the year long intervention did not bring struggling readers to proficiency at Wilson Middle School as compared to the control school matched student group that did not receive the intervention. Nor was the language by intervention significant. Results also indicated that in the experimental group, a larger number of 7th grade students were raised to one or more proficiency bands as compared to the 8th grade. The decline in scores of the eighth grade as compared to the seventh grade may be attributed to the nature of the CST, which gets increasingly more difficult with each grade level.; The lack of significant findings may be attributed in part to three factors: inconsistency in the implementation of curriculum, a transition and lack of materials, and assessing a two year program after one year. Although the results of this study do not indicate overall improvement, students may have grown in areas not measured by the CST scores. It is recommended that Wilson continue making LFS a priority by continuing to provide strong administrative support, offer professional development, and monitor the effectiveness of the program in bringing students to proficiency.
Keyword	reading; intervention; middle school
Geographic subject	educational facilities: Woodrow Wilson Middle School
Geographic subject (city or populated place)	Glendale
Geographic subject (state)	California
Language	English
Part of collection	University of Southern California dissertations and theses
Publisher (of the original version)	University of Southern California
Place of publication (of the original version)	Los Angeles, California
Publisher (of the digital version)	University of Southern California. Libraries
Provenance	Electronically uploaded by the author
Type	texts
Legacy record ID	usctheses-m2338
Rights	Bixler, Josephine Tidalgo
Repository name	Libraries, University of Southern California
Repository address	Los Angeles, California
Repository email	http://www.usc.edu/isd/libraries/services/ask_a_librarian/email/
Filename	etd-Bixler-3107
Archival file	uscthesesreloadpub_Volume51/etd-Bixler-3107.pdf