Associations Involving Open Court Reading in Kindergarten and Student Performance on Standardized Assessments in Reading in a Tennessee School System.

<p>The purpose of this study was to determine what, if any, associations existed between the implementation of the <em>Open Court Reading</em>^® program in kindergarten and students’ reading achievement on the <em>Terra Nova</em> standardized achievement test in the first grade. The study involved first-grade students who attended kindergarten in one school system in East Tennessee. Using a quantitative design, this study included the first-grade <em>Terra Nova</em> scores from 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004. Scores obtained by first-grade students who did not receive <em>Open Court Reading</em>^® in kindergarten (2001 and 2002) were compared with first-grade scores obtained by students who did receive <em>Open Court Reading</em>^® in kindergarten (2003 and 2004). The study factored in gender, ethnicity, students receiving special education services, and Title I and nonTitle I status of the school attended. Reading Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE), vocabulary NCE, reading composite NCE, language NCE, and word analysis NCE scores from four years of <em>Terra Nova</em> scores were used in the analysis. <em>t</em>-tests for independent means and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were employed to examine the information. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Program for the Social Sciences.</p><p>Based on the findings, implementing the <em>Open Court Reading</em>^® program in kindergarten appears to have reduced learning gaps that often emerge in early grades when children are learning to read. The findings indicated that a positive relationship exists between participation in <em>Open Court Reading</em>^® in kindergarten and test performance in first grade. From the two years of test data analyzed after the implementation of <em>Open Court Reading</em>^® in kindergarten, learning gaps between females and males diminished; in some cases the males surpassed the females. Implementation of <em>Open Court Reading</em>^® in kindergarten does not appear to reduce differences in test performance between non-minority and minority students. Students with special needs who are exposed to <em>Open Court Reading</em>^® in kindergarten appear to perform higher on reading subtests in the first grade. According to the results of the reading, reading composite, and word analysis subtests, Title I students reduced the gap with nonTitle I students after they participated in the <em>Open Court Reading</em>^® program in kindergarten.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

EdD (Doctor of Education)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation - unrestricted

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Leadership

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Walk, Rachel Suzanne

• Phonics
• Phonological Awareness
• Phonemic Awareness
• Reading
• Education
• Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright by the authors.

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1036

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-2193