Studying and Addressing Listening Levels of Children in a Rural Poverty-Stricken Area

2022 ◽  
pp. 213-234
Author(s):  
Barbara J. McClanahan
Keyword(s):  
Struggling Readers ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
Teacher Educator ◽  
Rural Poverty ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Listening Levels ◽  
Commercial Program ◽  
Diverse Area ◽  
Potential Success

This chapter reports the work of a teacher educator/researcher as she supported teacher candidates to assess and tutor struggling readers in a public school in a rural, economically depressed, yet diverse, area. Alerted by the scores for listening comprehension the candidates were finding over several semesters that indicated little reading potential for the students being assessed, she worked with the school's principal to reassess one group of students at the end of the year to determine growth, and therefore potential success, of the school's new intervention program in raising listening levels. No significant results were found, yet school personnel made no change in their program to address it. The teacher educator/researcher subsequently followed the implications of the research to provide instruction in listening skills to students in two other schools. The chapter closes with a discussion of what may truly make a difference in developing listening skills for the children in this community beyond a commercial program.

Selecting a Reading Intervention Program for Struggling Readers: A Case Study of an Urban District

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-252
Author(s):  
Kathryn C. Auletto ◽  
Mary-Kate Sableski
Keyword(s):  
Reading Instruction ◽  
Struggling Readers ◽  
Reading Intervention ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Intervention Programs ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Urban District ◽  
Reading Intervention Program ◽  
Long Term Impact

Reading intervention programs provide the foundation for the educational success of students, especially those who are considered struggling readers. States across the country recently implemented legislation related to reading achievement, in which districts are required to provide specific literacy interventions to struggling readers in order to prevent retention. The choice in reading instructional programs has long-term impact on the future of students, as it is these programs that determine the need for retention in response to this legislation. This research study examines the factors that affect the decision of an urban district in selecting a reading intervention program to support struggling readers. The primary data sources include interviews and observations of two teachers who have chosen different reading intervention programs within the district. This study provides insights into schools currently affected by this policy and how they are choosing to respond to the new demands. The research question is: What factors influence an urban school district's decision about specific reading instruction programs for struggling readers in response to state legislation requirements?

When evidence-based literacy programs fail

2018 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 54-58
Author(s):  
Naihobe Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Secondary Students ◽  
Struggling Readers ◽  
Student Outcomes ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Literacy Programs ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Early Grades ◽  
Intensive Program

More than ever, educators are expected to implement evidence-based interventions to improve student outcomes. This is often easier said than done, as illustrated by a recent study by Mathematica Policy Research in Oakland, California. To help secondary students who were several years behind in reading, the district piloted an intensive program for struggling readers that had been proven to work in early grades. The study showed that the intervention was difficult to implement in secondary schools and actually did more harm than good. The findings highlighted the importance of considering context and implementation, in addition to evidence of effectiveness, when choosing an intervention program.

scholarly journals Staking out the successful student

2005 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Brown
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Summer School ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
Intervention Programs ◽  
United States Department ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Improve Student Performance

With the performance of students, teachers, and schools defining success under current standards-based accountability policies (e.g. Chicago Public Schools (Note 1); No Child Left Behind Act, (United States Department of Education, 2002)), school districts are implementing various forms of intervention programs as a means to improve student performance. By examining a pilot summer school program that is transitioning from a ‘low-stakes' to a ‘high-stakes' intervention program, this article examines the possibilities that exist for students to author themselves as learners, and it questions whether opportunities for students to identify themselves as successful learners are lost when an intervention program, such as summer school, becomes mandatory. The implications of this analysis highlight questions and concerns that policymakers and school personnel need to address when formulating high-stakes standards-based accountability policies and intervention programs.

Assessment of the Risks and Needs of Middle School Students: Invariance Properties Related to Gender and Ethnicity

Assessment ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 107319112110625
Author(s):  
Paul S. Strand ◽  
Brian F. French ◽  
Bruce W. Austin
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Native American ◽  
Middle School Students ◽  
School Engagement ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
School Attendance ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
Self Report ◽  
General Factor ◽  
School Students

The middle school version of the Washington Assessment of Risks and Needs of Students (msWARNS) is a self-report instrument designed for use by school personnel to identify barriers to school attendance and school success for sixth- to eighth-grade students. It measures six domains relevant to improving school outcomes that include aggression-defiance, depression-anxiety, substance use, peer deviance, home environment, and school engagement. In the present study, a bifactor S − 1 model, for which the aggression-defiance domain was the reference factor for the general factor and the other domains constituted the subfactors, had good fit and better fit than several other alternative models. Results of multigroup confirmatory factor analysis revealed invariance across different groups defined by gender and race/ethnicity (Native American, African American, Hispanic, and White), with a sample of referred middle school students ( N = 2,356; ages 10–15 years). Reliability analyses support the use of the general factor to guide decision-making, the reliable use of the depression-anxiety factor for providing additional insights, and the remaining factors for guiding communication, as part of an assessment and intervention program for middle school students.

scholarly journals Academic Listening Skills of the International University Students in Turkey

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Mevlüt Elli̇alti ◽  
Zekerya Batur
Keyword(s):  
Academic Success ◽  
International Students ◽  
University Students ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Academic Language ◽  
Academic Literacy ◽  
Academic Programs ◽  
Listening Skills ◽  
Listening Levels ◽  
International University

The number of international university students in Turkey is growing, thus more research is needed on teaching Turkish as an academic language and on academic literacy. This study aims to investigate (i) the international students’ views of the difficulties of the academic language skills, (ii) the efficacy level of the skills for their academic success, (iii) the academic listening and academic literacy status of the students, and (iv) the relationship between academic listening levels with some variables. In order to analyse the self-efficacy perceptions of the students, the data were collected by using the Turkish adaptation (Cronbach’s alpha value =0.943) of the Academic Listening Self-rating Questionnaire (ALSAQ), developed by Aryadoust and Goh (2017) and adopted by Ellialtı and Batur (2021). The questionnaire consists of 39 items that embody six factors. These factors are lecture structure, cognitive processing skills, linguistic components and prosody, relating input to other materials, memory and concentration, and note-taking. In the study, the participants were 221 international students studying at various academic programs in 33 state universities in Turkey. The data were analysed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program. The results of the study showed that (i) listening is an easy skill for students to develop, (ii) listening is important for the students’ academic success, (iii) out of 39 items, 13 aspects were not at a good level in academic listening, and (iv) academic listening levels of the international students were not significantly different in terms of their gender, study area, and the number of the known languages.

scholarly journals An Exploration of the Relationship between Oral Language Proficiency and the Success of English Language Learners in Reading Recovery

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 177
Author(s):  
Hossein Farazdast ◽  
Kian Pishkar
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Reading Instruction ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Struggling Readers ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Reading Recovery ◽  
English Language ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Peer Group

<p>The diverse population of learners includes students who are high performing in reading as well as those who struggle with reading. This research concerns struggling readers. The goal of teachers is to identify struggling readers and discover ways to address the reading needs of those students. Pinnell (2006) stated that teachers have a common goal: to make literacy a true part of the lives of all students. There are many interventions to help struggling readers. Reading Recovery (RR) is a short-term reading intervention program designed to help the children develop effective strategies for reading and reach average levels for their particular peer group (Fountas &amp; Pinnell, 1996). Research has confirmed the positive impact of RR on readers who struggle (Allington, 2005; Clay, 1993; McKee, 2006; Schwartz, 2005). In particular, Allington (2005) outlined five principles of scientific reading instruction: (a) classroom organization; (b) matching pupils to texts; (c) access to interesting texts, choice, and collaboration; (d) writing and reading; and (e) expert tutoring. Research has shown that RR addresses four of these five principles.</p>

The impact of best practice health and husbandry interventions on smallholder cattle productivity in southern Cambodia

2014 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
pp. 629 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Young ◽  
L. Rast ◽  
S. Suon ◽  
R. D. Bush ◽  
L. A. Henry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Rural Poverty ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Farmer Knowledge ◽  
Smallholder Farming ◽  
The Impact

Future food security has become a major global concern and is particularly important in the Greater Mekong Subregion where several countries have seen rapid urban economic development and increasing demand for red meat. In Cambodia, the majority of livestock producers are subsistence or semi-subsistence rural smallholder farmers using cattle as a source of protein, fertiliser, draught power, and asset storage. Potential income from smallholder cattle is limited by a range of factors that compromise productivity, including endemic diseases, poor nutrition, and lack of knowledge of husbandry techniques and marketing practices. To address the developing opportunities to improve rural incomes from cattle production in Cambodia, a 4-year longitudinal study was conducted to examine ‘best practice’ interventions that could improve productivity and profitability of cattle within smallholder farming systems. The study involved six villages from three provinces, with two villages in each of the provinces of Takeo, Kandal and Kampong Cham paired and designated as either high intervention (HI) or low intervention (LI). A best practice intervention program was introduced to the HI villages to develop the husbandry skills of farmers, including implementation of forage technology, disease prevention through vaccination for foot-and-mouth disease and haemorrhagic septicaemia, deworming, and education in nutrition, biosecurity, disease control, and marketing. Between April 2008 and February 2012, eight repeat-measures capturing data on animal health and production, including cattle weights used to evaluate the impact of interventions on average daily gains, were completed. Cattle in HI villages had significantly (P < 0.01) higher mean liveweight during the last three sampling periods, and average daily gains were 2.4 times higher than in cattle of the LI villages. This study provides evidence that best practice interventions resulted in improved cattle productivity, farmer knowledge and positive impacts on household income over time, offering a pathway that can address food security concerns and more rapidly alleviate rural poverty in the GMS.

scholarly journals Intensive summer intervention drives linear growth of reading skill in struggling readers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick M. Donnelly ◽  
Elizabeth Huber ◽  
Jason D. Yeatman
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Struggling Readers ◽  
Reading Fluency ◽  
Reading Ability ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
Reading Skill ◽  
Individual Growth ◽  
Fluency And Comprehension ◽  
Initial Reading

An achievement of reading research has been the development of intervention programs for struggling readers. Most intervention studies employ a pre-post design, to examine efficacy, but this precludes the study of intervention-driven growth. Determining the time-course of improvement is essential for cost-effective, evidence-based intervention decisions. The goal of this study was to (a) analyze reading growth curves during an intensive summer intervention program and (b) characterize factors that predict individual differences in growth. A cohort of 37 children (6-12y) with reading difficulties (N = 21 with dyslexia diagnosis) were enrolled in 160 hours of intervention. We collected behavioral measures over 4 sessions assessing decoding, oral reading fluency, and comprehension. Data were analyzed using mixed-effects modeling to characterize growth and the moderating effect of individual differences (age, IQ, phonological awareness, &amp; initial reading skill). Longitudinal measurements revealed a linear dose-response relationship between hours of intervention and improvement in reading ability. Decoding skills showed substantial growth (Cohen’s d = 0.81 (WJ Basic Reading Skills)), with fluency and comprehension growing more gradually (d =0.35 (WJ Reading Fluency)). Multivariate analyses revealed a significant contribution of initial reading ability in predicting individual growth rates: This demonstrates the efficacy of intensive intervention for highly impaired readers.

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