This research advocates for content integration and literacy-based practices in the world of reading and mathematics education, as well as the connection to outside sources that can either positively or negatively impact learning. More importantly, this research explored the connection to literacy and mathematics instruction as it pertains to…

Learning to read proficiently is an essential skill needed in both academics and life. Without this skill, one's opportunities are limited socioeconomically, socially, and throughout all daily life. However, there is growing concern that the methodology currently used in many school systems is not preparing children for the rigors of reading in…

This dissertation seeks to answer the question: what were the social and cultural effects of Rudolf Flesch's thoughts and writings on late 20th-century American literacy education? The purpose is to provide an understanding and articulation of the cultural and educational ramifications of Rudolph Flesch's books "Why Johnny Can't Read and What…

This dissertation is guided by my driving research question: what works for whom in education and why? I examine issues of instruction, assessment, and research approaches that begin to answer this question. Study 1 examines a classroom intervention's child x instruction interactions. Study 2 examines underlying cognitive factors, including…

Influenced by current legislation calling for full alignment to the science of reading, literacy instruction in Ohio has started shifting. Additionally, Ohio has devoted funds for literacy coaching to improve students' literacy achievement outcomes on state assessments. This correlative study analyzed the relationship between school districts that…

This systematic review aims to research, analyze, and synthesize peer-reviewed studies using guided reading or small group reading instruction as an intervention with K-12 students within the last ten years. Guided reading is a differentiated reading approach tailored to a reader's needs and is structured in small groups. The three reading skills…

This qualitative study explored the perspectives of literacy teachers in grades 3-6 regarding how the Science of Reading (SoR) has influenced teacher beliefs and instructional practices in relation to fostering students' critical literacy skills. The research was framed around the following three questions: What are literacy teachers' current…

Students are not acquiring grade level reading skills at an alarming rate while research provides the what and how of effective reading instruction. This qualitative descriptive case study was designed to understand and describe the perceptions and practices of general and special educators of reading related to their knowledge and delivery of…

Twenty-two years ago, the National Reading Panel (2000) released a research synthesis of effective reading practices for classroom instruction. The first is phonemic awareness. The others are phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. This study examined the connection of assessment for kindergarten through second-grade students in the…

Psycholinguistic research aims to understand how people make sense of language in their everyday lives. However, most of this research studies language under experimental conditions in which people are instructed to specifically monitor (and indicate) when there is a breakdown in their understanding. Moreover, there is an assumption that people…

Implementation fidelity is considered an indicator of an intervention's internal validity. In reading research, while student outcome measures are often well described, measures of implementation fidelity have received far less attention. Although researchers have become interested in the relation between implementation fidelity and student…

This dissertation study, which comprises a series of three articles, addresses the following overarching research questions: 1. How have reading motivation and engagement been conceptualized in the research literature? 2. How do educators, particularly teachers of the primary grades, conceptualize reading motivation and engagement? What sources of…

This experimental mixed-methods study explores what happens to student Lexile scores when they use closed captioning. Since the emergence of closed captioning tools in the 1980s, closed captioning has become more mainstream and easier to access today than at any other time in history (Rickelman et al., 1991). Thus, it is through harnessing this…

A majority of fourth grade students in the United States aren't reading proficiently (NAEP Reading: Reading Results, 2022). Deeper analysis of these assessment data surfaced a large gap between how our education system is serving students of color and their white counterparts. These gaps represent gaps in opportunity as access to quality…

There is an interconnected issue of lack of student achievement in reading and professional training around reading for teachers. This study sought to understand if self-reflective professional development in the area of the science of reading improves teacher confidence in teaching reading. The participants of the Cycle 1 process consisted of K-2…