EFFECTS OF READING INSTRUCTION ON READING ACHIEVEMENT AMONG UPWARD BOUND STUDENTS AT PURDUE UNIVERSITY

BERNADETTE COLE SLAUGHTER, Purdue University

Abstract

This study investigated whether Purdue Upward Bound (PUB) students improved in reading to any significant degree by the end of a two-year program of remedial and developmental reading courses. One hundred and thirty-two subjects were selected for the study from a total enrollment of 205 students in PUB during the 1976-1982 period. A standardized achievement battery entitled California Achievement Tests (CAT) was administered to the subjects as a pretest and posttest measure of achievement in the basic skills of reading, mathematics, and language. The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) was administered as a posttest in the study. Reading instruction was the independent variable of interest and was not manipulated during the investigation. Posttest reading performance and SAT verbal performance were the measured variables. Eight hypotheses were developed to test the effect of reading instruction or number of reading courses on reading achievement. The data were analyzed by using ONEWAY, ANOVA, BMDP2V, and MULTIPLE REGRESSION analysis of variance techniques. An important finding of this study was the significance of the CAT-Total Reading pretest in determining PUB students' performance on the SAT verbal scale and on the CAT-Reading posttest. Reading pretest performance was a concomitant variable in the level of SAT verbal achievement and also in the level of reading achievement on the CAT total reading posttest. Another important finding was the existence of an inverse relationship between reading instruction or the number of reading courses and reading achievement. Consistent trends in the data indicated that PUB students increased their reading achievement significantly after a two-year period during which they were exposed to intervention programs in Upward Bound. The findings also indicated that the effect of reading instruction was not significant enough to set the experimental group and the comparison group apart, and reading achievement stayed the same after two years of reading intervention. The year was not a significant main effect in the tests for interaction between Upward Bound Classes and Reading Group. However, a significant interaction was observed between reading ability groups--low, average, and high--and the test.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Curriculum development

COinS