This project examined the advantages and disadvantages of an elementary school districts Early Bird / Late Bird Reading Program. The reading program allows for a reduced number of students for two hours of the school day, which is designated for teaching reading. The literature review states that, as the number of students-to-teacher ratio drops, the students’ and teachers’ morale, environment, and student academic achievement improves.
A team of seven elementary school teachers, a reading specialist, and five district administrators were interviewed. Questions were semi-structured in nature, and asked both educators and administrators to comment on the advantages and disadvantages of the reading program. Consistent with the literature review, data-analysis revealed that there are many benefits of teaching reading when the student-to-teacher ratio is reduced to a number lower than 20. Major findings included a better learning environment, better student/teacher report, many academic benefits, and higher student performances. Through re-examination of the data, it is apparent that the Early Bird / Late Bird Reading Program has many advantages. With further investigation, it was also found that the program has one major disadvantage. While the program leads to a great reading program, it also leads to loss of instruction time in other curricular areas. In conclusion, the advantages of the reading program outweigh the disadvantages of this Early Bird / Late Bird Reading Program.
","abstract_html":"<p>This project examined the advantages and disadvantages of an elementary school districts Early Bird / Late Bird Reading Program. The reading program allows for a reduced number of students for two hours of the school day, which is designated for teaching reading. The literature review states that, as the number of students-to-teacher ratio drops, the students’ and teachers’ morale, environment, and student academic achievement improves.</p> <p>A team of seven elementary school teachers, a reading specialist, and five district administrators were interviewed. Questions were semi-structured in nature, and asked both educators and administrators to comment on the advantages and disadvantages of the reading program. Consistent with the literature review, data-analysis revealed that there are many benefits of teaching reading when the student-to-teacher ratio is reduced to a number lower than 20. Major findings included a better learning environment, better student/teacher report, many academic benefits, and higher student performances. Through re-examination of the data, it is apparent that the Early Bird / Late Bird Reading Program has many advantages. With further investigation, it was also found that the program has one major disadvantage. While the program leads to a great reading program, it also leads to loss of instruction time in other curricular areas. In conclusion, the advantages of the reading program outweigh the disadvantages of this Early Bird / Late Bird Reading Program.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Gockel, Lisa"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"Master's Thesis","degree_discipline":"Education","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2002,"date_issued":"2002-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2002-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:05:12Z","subjects":["Education"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholar.dominican.edu/education-print-theses/183","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Gockel, Lisa"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Education"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Master's Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Education"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholar.dominican.edu/education-print-theses/183"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This project examined the advantages and disadvantages of an elementary school districts Early Bird / Late Bird Reading Program. The reading program allows for a reduced number of students for two hours of the school day, which is designated for teaching reading. The literature review states that, as the number of students-to-teacher ratio drops, the students’ and teachers’ morale, environment, and student academic achievement improves.
A team of seven elementary school teachers, a reading specialist, and five district administrators were interviewed. Questions were semi-structured in nature, and asked both educators and administrators to comment on the advantages and disadvantages of the reading program. Consistent with the literature review, data-analysis revealed that there are many benefits of teaching reading when the student-to-teacher ratio is reduced to a number lower than 20. Major findings included a better learning environment, better student/teacher report, many academic benefits, and higher student performances. Through re-examination of the data, it is apparent that the Early Bird / Late Bird Reading Program has many advantages. With further investigation, it was also found that the program has one major disadvantage. While the program leads to a great reading program, it also leads to loss of instruction time in other curricular areas. In conclusion, the advantages of the reading program outweigh the disadvantages of this Early Bird / Late Bird Reading Program.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Advantages and Disadvantages of an Early Bird/Late Bird Program"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Gockel, Lisa"],"dc:description.abstract":["This project examined the advantages and disadvantages of an elementary school districts Early Bird / Late Bird Reading Program. The reading program allows for a reduced number of students for two hours of the school day, which is designated for teaching reading. The literature review states that, as the number of students-to-teacher ratio drops, the students’ and teachers’ morale, environment, and student academic achievement improves.
A team of seven elementary school teachers, a reading specialist, and five district administrators were interviewed. Questions were semi-structured in nature, and asked both educators and administrators to comment on the advantages and disadvantages of the reading program. Consistent with the literature review, data-analysis revealed that there are many benefits of teaching reading when the student-to-teacher ratio is reduced to a number lower than 20. Major findings included a better learning environment, better student/teacher report, many academic benefits, and higher student performances. Through re-examination of the data, it is apparent that the Early Bird / Late Bird Reading Program has many advantages. With further investigation, it was also found that the program has one major disadvantage. While the program leads to a great reading program, it also leads to loss of instruction time in other curricular areas. In conclusion, the advantages of the reading program outweigh the disadvantages of this Early Bird / Late Bird Reading Program.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholar.dominican.edu/education-print-theses/183"],"dc:subject":["Education"],"dc:title":["The Advantages and Disadvantages of an Early Bird/Late Bird Program"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Education"],"thesis:degree_level":["Master's Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:05:12Z"}