The effects of direct instruction's corrective reading program on the reading proficiency of students in a self-contained special education school

Susan Sawyer, Tennessee State University

Abstract

This quasi-experimental study measured the effects of Direct Instruction's Corrective Reading program within a private self-contained Special Education Program. The study sought to determine if Corrective Reading had a positive effective on reading levels, decoding skills, comprehension skills, Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) scores, and students' perceptions of their reading skills. There were 60 middle school students with learning disabilities, emotional disturbances, and intellectual disabilities involved in the study. Students in the experimental group participated for one school year, or for 38 weeks, in the Corrective Reading Program for one hour each day. The students were pre and post tested using the Woodcock Reading Mastery Revised-Test. The group began the treatment after each student was given a placement test provided by the Corrective Reading program. The placement test categorized students on one of four levels. Each level has two strands, decoding and comprehension. The comparison group used the same state approved reading and assessment materials as the local public schools. The comparison group was not exposed to the Corrective Reading program. The t-test for independent group comparison was used to compare the control and experimental groups on demographic and baseline characteristics to determine any variation between the groups before the intervention. The paired t-test was used for within group comparisons of pre and post-interventions. There were a total of five measures examined in this research. Each of them was examined between two groups. Statistical analyses of the reading scores showed a statistically significant different in the pre reading scores between groups prior to the treatment, with the comparison group exceeding the experimental group. However, after the treatment, there was a marginal statistical difference in the reading levels of the groups. Results for the sub-group of reading decoding were similar. The results were not the same for comprehension. Neither group had statistically significant scores in comprehension before or after treatment was given. In the evaluation of the TCAP scores the experimental group started out and maintained statistically significant scores. For the students' self-perception reading scores the only areas of statistically significant change were in the physiological and observational categories. The experimental group exceeded the comparison group on this survey.

Subject Area

Special education|Literacy|Reading instruction

Recommended Citation

Susan Sawyer, "The effects of direct instruction's corrective reading program on the reading proficiency of students in a self-contained special education school" (2015). ETD Collection for Tennessee State University. Paper AAI3709224.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI3709224

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