Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Committee Chair

Katherine Revis

Abstract

This dissertation was designed to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP) and its impact on the reading achievement of economically disadvantaged students. TCRWP was implemented at two high poverty schools (over 80% economically disadvantaged students) in southeastern North Carolina. Stufflebeam’s (2003) revised CIPP evaluation model was used to evaluate the program along with a convergent mixed-methods design. The data analysis revealed that TCRWP as well as the schools’ strategic plans were aligned to the schools’ assessed needs. Additionally, the analysis showed that implementation of TCRWP aligned to the schools’ initial implementation designs. The study utilized a paired samples t test between all fourth and fifth grade students’ predicted scores and corresponding actual scores after implementation to determine if a statistically significant difference existed. Both study sites had a statistically significant difference between students’ predicted and actual reading scores after the first year of implementation. Further, both study sites had a statistically significant difference in fifth grade but did not have a statistically significant difference in fourth grade after the second year of implementation. Although the findings of the current study suggest that TCRWP shows promise with economically disadvantaged students, the data analysis identified goals and professional development for working with specific subgroups of students as a possible area of improvement. Additionally, teacher and leadership turnover and training for new hires should be considered during the planning phase of TCRWP implementation. These findings can be used by educational leaders in program selection, strategic planning, and implementation of TCRWP and other literacy instructional frameworks.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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