Browsing by Author "Ann C. Schulte, Committee Chair"

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    New Probes for Early Literacy Skills
    (2009-03-23) Groce, Mary Kristina; Ann C. Schulte, Committee Chair; John Begeny, Committee Member; William Erchul, Committee Member; Susan Osborne, Committee Member
    As educators alter their instructional decision making practices to align with a response to intervention (RTI) framework, it becomes crucial that appropriate tools for (a) identifying students at risk of reading failure and (b) monitoring students’ responsiveness to intervention are utilized. The assessments currently used for these purposes, such as Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM; Deno, 1986) and the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS; Good & Kaminski, 2002) can be time-consuming to administer to large groups of students. The present studies describe the initial evaluation of innovative, group-based progress monitoring measures. In Study 1, the three experimental measures (Reading Fluency, Maze Sentences, and Dolch Word Recognition) were administered to 73 first grade students four times during the academic year and the measures’ reliability, validity, and ability to demonstrate students’ growth over time were compared to those of two criterion measures, Word Identification Fluency (WIF; Fuchs, Fuchs, & Compton, 2004) and DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (ORF). In Study 2, Reading Fluency, Maze Sentences, WIF, and ORF were administered weekly to four first grade students who were at risk for reading failure. In the multiple baseline design, the students received an intensive phonics intervention while their progress was monitored with the experimental and criterion measures. Results provide evidence that the Reading Fluency and Maze Sentences tasks are as reliable and valid as other measures in current use for screening, but suggest that they are not sensitive to students’ growth over time. Of the experimental and criterion measures, WIF was the only measure to demonstrate adequate ability to model students’ growth. Thus, results suggest that the Reading Fluency and Maze Sentences tasks are promising benchmark/screening assessments within an RTI framework.
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    Using Banking Time to Improve Student-Teacher Relationships and Student Behaviors
    (2005-04-06) Attwood, Karen Zawoysky; Ann C. Schulte, Committee Chair
    Both Attachment Theory and correlational studies suggest that high quality teacher relationships may play a role determining student social and academic outcomes, particularly for students who enter school with preexisting risk factors. Interventions involving play therapy methods have been shown to improve child-caregiver relationships and child outcomes. Though most of these techniques have been implemented with child-parent dyads, some have been adapted for use with students and teachers. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of one such technique, Banking Time, for improving student-teacher relationship quality, student behavior, and teacher time spent on instructional activities. Because student-teacher relationship quality was manipulated using Banking Time, the study was also intended to provide preliminary evidence regarding the causal association between relationship quality and student outcomes. Banking Time was tested using a multiple-baseline design with three early elementary school student-teacher dyads. Mild improvements were reported for one of the student-teacher dyads, but overall, there was little to no evidence that Banking Time enhanced student-teacher relationships or improved child behavior. The lack of significant findings is discussed in terms of limitations present in the current study as well as possible weaknesses in the Banking Time intervention itself. Implications for future research and practice are also presented.