A Social Constructionism Study Using Discourse Analysis of Rural Elementary Principals' Perceptions of a State Law on Reading Literacy by Grade Three
type: CreativeWork
description: Successful implementation of a new law begins with administrators and their perceptions of the law. As stated by the U.S. Department of Education (2015), "Principals are at the center of most new State-level system reforms" (p. 14). In 2015, Nevada lawmakers passed a new law titled Read by Grade 3 (RBG3) (Nevada Department of Education, 2016a). RBG3 required all students to be reading-literate by the end of third grade or risk retention. Elementary principals were tasked with leading their staff members through the process of implementing the various mandates of the law. As such, elementary principals from three rural school districts in Nevada were invited to participate in this research study which sought to explore their perspectives on the reading literacy law. As Preston, Jakubiec, and Kooymans, (2013) stated:Leadership in rural schools is multifaceted, place-conscious, and relationship dependent; the needs and priorities of students, parents, and community members require a leader who is knowledgeable about educational policies, yet receptive to the distinctive needs, perceptions, and culture of educational stakeholders of that rural community. (p. 11) Even though many states have passed reading literacy laws as far back as 2001 (Huddleston, 2015), research on rural elementary principals' perspectives on implementing these laws was inadequate at the time of the study. This study sought to answer the questions:1. What perceptions do rural elementary principals hold about the Read by Grade 3 (RBG3) law?2. What factors contribute to these perceptions?Rural elementary principals were interviewed about their perceptions of a new state reading literacy law titled the Read by Grade 3 (RBG3) Act. Social constructionism was used with discourse analysis to determine the significant findings of the data. Further analysis of the data was conducted to discover possible contributing factors to the perceptions. Three main themes were identified: the benefits were pretty grea…
abstract: Successful implementation of a new law begins with administrators and their perceptions of the law. As stated by the U.S. Department of Education (2015), "Principals are at the center of most new State-level system reforms" (p. 14). In 2015, Nevada lawmakers passed a new law titled Read by Grade 3 (RBG3) (Nevada Department of Education, 2016a). RBG3 required all students to be reading-literate by the end of third grade or risk retention. Elementary principals were tasked with leading their staff members through the process of implementing the various mandates of the law. As such, elementary principals from three rural school districts in Nevada were invited to participate in this research study which sought to explore their perspectives on the reading literacy law. As Preston, Jakubiec, and Kooymans, (2013) stated:Leadership in rural schools is multifaceted, place-conscious, and relationship dependent; the needs and priorities of students, parents, and community members require a leader who is knowledgeable about educational policies, yet receptive to the distinctive needs, perceptions, and culture of educational stakeholders of that rural community. (p. 11) Even though many states have passed reading literacy laws as far back as 2001 (Huddleston, 2015), research on rural elementary principals' perspectives on implementing these laws was inadequate at the time of the study. This study sought to answer the questions:1. What perceptions do rural elementary principals hold about the Read by Grade 3 (RBG3) law?2. What factors contribute to these perceptions?Rural elementary principals were interviewed about their perceptions of a new state reading literacy law titled the Read by Grade 3 (RBG3) Act. Social constructionism was used with discourse analysis to determine the significant findings of the data. Further analysis of the data was conducted to discover possible contributing factors to the perceptions. Three main themes were identified: the benefits were pretty grea…
author: James, Bridget R.
keywords: discourse analysis, educational leadership, readling literacy, response to intervention, social constructionism, state reading literacy laws
date published: 2018
date modified: 2026-07-27T21:45:57Z
provider: University of Nevada - Reno
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Nevada - Reno

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11714/3439