Language policy is generally seen as a national-level decision regarding which languages the state will support, and in which public domains. However, the reality is that language policy plays out at regional and local levels as well. In fact, it could be argued that the most important instantiations of language policy are those which directly…

The Houston Independent School District (HISD) currently offers three bilingual programs and two English as a Second Language (ESL) programs for English language learners (ELLs). These programs are intended to facilitate ELLs' integration into the regular school curriculum and to ensure access to equal educational opportunities. This evaluation…

The prevalence of web-based applications and the use of multimedia in school make learning and teaching through the Internet a popular method in education (Ferdig, 2005). To keep in line with the trend, the purpose of the study was to explore the effects of reading strategy instruction via electronic storybooks on EFL elementary school students'…

This study compares native English, Spanish, Lao, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Arabic, and all other ELL students over one, two, three, and four-year spans to determine if certain groups appear to face more difficulties in developing early reading mastery by third grade. This study also examines whether socio-economic status impacts the…

There have been few empirical studies investigating the uses of graphic novels in education, fewer still in English Language Arts (ELA). As a result, there remain misconceptions about possible uses and potential benefits of graphic texts in ELA classrooms. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of graphic novels on the reading…

Three approaches of validation enquiry were applied on the data obtained from a proficiency test carried out with 3,398 PhD candidates as a partial requirement for entering PhD program in Iran. The data obtained from the reading section were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The EFA yielded nine factors in the reading section.…

This study tested the effects of a Sustained Silent Reading program on reading achievement and reading attitude. The study accessed scores from the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (Good, Kaminski, & Dill, 2007) to measure reading achievement. This measure was given before and after a twelve week period, during which the treatment group…

Concern over worldwide literacy rates prompted the United Nations to establish the UN Literacy Decade (2003-2012) with one area of focus being to provide support to schools to develop effective literacy programs (UNESCO, 2005). This study addressed the area of providing support to schools to develop effective literacy programs by exploring the…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a computer-based reading intervention on the reading achievement of sixth grade students in one elementary school in a suburban school district located in the Midwest region of the United States. Data were collected through two district mandated reading assessments and a computer-based…

The use of oral reading fluency (ORF) passages within a Response to Intervention (RTI) framework is examined. Significant limitations within the current ORF research are discussed. The passage equivalency and readability scores for DIBELS Next, AIMSweb, and a school district's curriculum's ORF passages are evaluated using Generalizability Theory…

With the push for adequate yearly progress (AYP), educators must find cost-effective strategies improve learning for all students. Tutoring has been found to be an effective strategy for improving students' learning. However, little research has been done to determine the influence of pre-service teachers as tutors. This quantitative,…

Detecting unusual similarity in the item responses of a pair of examinees usually conditions on the pair's overall test performance (e.g., raw scores). Doing this, however, often requires assumptions about the invariance of other examinee pair characteristics. In this study, we examined the appropriateness of such assumptions about selected…

The use of curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is supported by several decades of research regarding their technical adequacy, practical utility, and use with diverse populations. Questions remain regarding the measurement of growth using tri-annual reading CBM (R-CBM) assessment. Existing research on annual rates of growth is inconclusive with…

Today, boys generally underperform relative to girls in schools throughout the industrialized world. Building on theories about gender identity and reports from prior ethnographic classroom observations, we argue that school environment channels conceptions of masculinity in peer culture, fostering or inhibiting boys' development of anti-school…

This study was conducted to see if a difference exists in the mean Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills: Oral Reading Fluency scores of students who entered kindergarten as 4 year olds, 5 year olds, and 6 year olds inclusively. Specifically, this dissertation considered the possibility that holding children out of kindergarten an…