The Performance Of A Third Grade Readers Practice

Early reading success is the foundation of a student’s knowledge and self-esteem. The foundation also provides future opportunities for growth. Students must learn to read proficiently so that they are able to learn more in future grades, post-secondary schools, and the workforce. Beverly Tyner’s Small-Group Reading Instruction: A Differentiated Teaching Model for Beginning and Struggling Readers states “In the United States, which offers few career opportunities for the illiterate, teaching children to read proficiently is the most important single task in education.” (Tyner, 2009). Beverly Tyner created the Small-Group Differentiated Reading Model which incorporates research-based strategies for teaching beginning reading skills and skills

he most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. Indeed, the future success of all students hinges upon their ability to become proficient readers. Recent scientific studies have allowed us to understand more than ever before how literacy develops, why some children have difficulty, and what constitutes best instructional practice. Scientists now estimate that fully 95 percent of all children can be taught to read. Yet, in spite of all our knowledge, statistics reveal an alarming prevalence of struggling and poor readers that is not limited to any one segment of society:

Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) are diagnostic assessment administered individually to evaluate different aspects of students’ reading. After reading the text, students orally are answering the questions following the text. Teachers take into the consideration additional factors,, such as fluency, students’ prior knowledge, and determine students’ reading levels. This information may to choose appropriate reading material for students, to form reading groups, and to plan future reading instruction taking into the considerations students strengths and needs. According to Chall (1983), the greatest value of IRI is to help educators to diagnose the gaps in the abilities of readers who struggle the most. For teachers, who looking for the better way to address students instructional needs of children, who have reading difficulties, IRI is a very valuable diagnostic tool.

Also within the school is a very diverse group of children with around fifty-seven percent of students identifying as white, nineteen percent identifying as black or African American, and seventeen percent identifying as Hispanic or Latino.

Wilson, Faggella-Luby, & Wei (2013) present a cogent plan for Tier 3 Response to Intervention (RTI) for secondary students with reading disabilities, content, and pedagogy planning tools, content instruction, and instructional method implementation. Both research application lacks concerning Tier 3 RTI in high schools (Wilson et. al). RTI is curriculum that addresses the learning needs of all students that also includes screening and monitoring progress. Continuing, Wilson et. al define Tier 1 RTI, core curriculum for all students serving the needs of 80% of students, Tier 2 RTI, small group instructional intervention, serving the needs of 15% of students, and Tier 3 RTI, an intense one to one intervention for students who continue to struggle beyond Tiers 1 and 2, serving 5% of students. Wilson et al. provides information the reader needs to understand in the article without clutter, expressing their writing with economy (Zinsser, 2013). The article is unified in theme, gives enough information without giving too much, and follows a clear progression (Zinsser). “More simple, than complex” (Henson, 1999, p. 58), Wilson et. al’s article is an example of good writing.

Channelview ISD, the district in which I was raised and currently teach, is considered a low demographic district with a high population of at-risk, economically disadvantaged and special education students. The TAPR results exhibit a clear correlation between the demographics of the school and their performance results. Results vary sporadically and show clear indicators of differences amongst demographic factors such as grade, gender, race, economic level, language capabilities and intelligence level, however, some factors influence test results more than others. Grade, intelligence level and language capabilities prove to be the main factors in the gaps between the percent of the state that were at Level II Satisfactory or Above and district percentage results. Also analyzed were the percentages of students who were at Postsecondary Readiness and Advanced and lastly and analysis on what percent of students made progress and exceeded progress as well as identifying which students performed well and

The setting is Washington Elementary School in West Orange, NJ. The grade I picked is first grade. The age group in the class is between the ages of five and seven. The subjects they learn are math, language arts, social studies, and writing. But they focus more on reading and math throughout the day. There are 8 girls and 8 boys in the classroom which makes 16 students in total. The class is divided into three racial and ethnic groups which are Latino or Hispanic, African Americans, and Asian American. There are about 1 Asian American, 6 Latino or Hispanic, and 9 African Americans.

The school system serves 68.3% white families, about 11.9% Hispanic families, 12.2% black families, 2.4% Asian, and the other 5% multi-racial families. Bailly

Of those 811 students, 402 of the students are female making up 49.6% of the population and 409 are male making up 50.4% of the population (Eddy 2017). The race and ethnicity in the school system is not much different than in the community. Making up the white population in the school is 740 students which would make that the majority. There are also six African American students and eight Hispanic students. With this being said, the school is made up of two students who use English as a Second Language (Eddy 2017). The school system must accommodate for these students during parent teacher conferences or when interaction with the parents is required due to the parents not speaking any English. When the parents are present at the school, the school system provides a translator for the parents (Eddy

In 1980, 18 schools reported a total number of 6,700 students. Of the 6,700, 5,042 students were Non-Hispanic White, 1,655 were Non-Hispanic Black, 0 Hispanic, and only 3 was Asian. In 1990, 20 schools reported fewer students of 6,202. Of the 6,202, 4,392 were Non-Hispanic Whites, 1,798 were Non-Hispanic Blacks, 6 Hispanic, and 6 Asian. In 2000, 22 schools reported a total population of 5,410 students. Of the 5,410 students, 3,641 were Non-Hispanic Whites, 1,540 were Non-Hispanic Blacks, 56 were Hispanic and only 1 was Asian.

Miss Kane’s first grade class at Lutie Lewis Coates Elementary School (also known as Coates Elementary) has twenty students and seventeen of them are considered English Language Learners (ELL) (E. Kane, Personal Communication, October 4, 2016). This is very frustrating for both Miss. Kane and her students because it is very difficult to communicate with many of her ELLs. Out of Miss Kane’s twenty students eight students are Hispanic, five Indian, five Black, and three White. Miss Kane’s class is very diverse and this allows students to feel more accepted because not all students are similar. Coates Elementary as a whole is very diverse: Asian 28.86%, Black 18.26%, Hispanic 37.32%, and White 12.08% (Fairfax County Public Schools, 2015). Miss Kane’s classroom reflects similar diversity as Coates Elementary does. Both Miss. Kane and the Coates staff really show their appreciation for diversity and attempt to treat all children equally giving all students equal opportunity. Coates Elementary is a Title I school; about fifty percent of students receive free and reduced lunch (Fairfax County Public Schools, 2015). This school was placed in the center of poverty and many of these students who participate in the free and reduced lunch program are English Language Learners.

There are 114 juniors in the group: 62% are Hispanic, 20% are White, 16% are Black, and 1% is Asian. Class sizes range from 17 to 26 students. The bottom 25% of the population has been identified and receiving instruction in intensive reading and math pullouts one-on-one instruction. There are seven special education students, including students with ADHD,

The community in which this school is located is considered rural. The population for the community is more then 75,000 people, however, the community is not greatly diverse. The residents who live in this community are primarily white. According to the United States Census Bureau, the number of households in this community are 29,848. Within these households, 64% are to be considered family households. Going into greater depth on this, 49% of the households consist married couples, where as 6.3% are considered unmarried couples. The average household size in this community consists of 2 people and the average family size consists of 3 people. Lastly the median income for this community is $56,000.

The school population consist of 45 % African Americans, 40% Hispanics, 9% whites, 2% other or more races, 1% Asians, 1% American Indians and 1% Hawaii Natives.

Westside High School serves 217 students in grades eighth through twelfth. The students: teacher ratio of 10:1 is lower than the Louisiana average of 14:1. Minority enrolment is 100% of the student body