Running Head: STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS

Student Growth in Literacy Despite at Home Hardships

Shelby L. Wellman
Arizona State University
November 30, 2016

Introduction
Research has indicated that there are multiple reasons to suggest why students from

disadvantage backgrounds perform poorly in the academic school setting (Hagans 2008). Some

of these are related to the school itself with potential problems including: larger schools, larger

teacher-student ratios, high teacher turnover, teachers with less than three years experience, and

limited resources (Hagans 2008). Other reasons for poor academic performance in students of

diverse backgrounds can relate to the environment in the home. Research suggests that students

of low-socioeconomic backgrounds tend to have less exposure to print and literacy activities,
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 2

disrupted or abnormal development, instability, and lack connection to academic contexts due to

their limited opportunity for life experiences (Luke et. al. 2011). In addition to the high demand

of learning all students face, these students also have to overcome additional obstacles at home.

This does not mean that this demographic of students are unable to perform well in school, but

rather they simply require a different type of education. This education often includes multiple

interventions as well as additional support services. Of these students, assessments are often used

to identify which students are at-risk and may need additional supports in order to achieve

grade level skills.

The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) is a measure used to

assess three of the five big ideas of literacy presented by the National Reading Panel report:

phonological awareness, the alphabetic principle, and fluency with connected text (Scheffel,

Lefly & Houser 2016). Students are assessed at quarterly benchmarks to see where they are in

comparison to state designated grade level benchmark scores. Many schools use DIBELS in

order to determine which students are in need of intervention. DIBELS is also used to track

progress. This assists to determine if interventions or additional supports are helping the students

to improve or if a new approach should be taken.

The purpose of this project is to use the DIBELS ORF assessment as a measure of

progress in at-risk students despite facing challenges at home. Three students from low-

socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as involvement in the Department of Child Services (DCS)

system, will participate in an after-school tutoring program two times a week for one hour to

work on both fluency and comprehension skills in order to show progress on the DIBELS

assessment. By the end of the month trial, students should improve by 10 points in the words

correct portion and by 1 point in the retell portion of the DIBELS ORF assessment. Progress
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 3

shown will demonstrate student abilities to progress academically despite a disadvantaged home

life.
Subject(s) and Environment
Pueblo Gardens is a Title I, K-8 grade school which also offers half-day pre-K (PACE)

services. It opened in 1951 in the Pueblo Gardens neighborhood, making it one of the first

neighborhoods in Tucson to have its own park, school, and shopping center (Aleshire 2015).

Although Pueblo Gardens is considered a neighborhood school with about 65% of the students

walking to school, it does offer open-enrollment. This brings students from all over the city of

Tucson, Arizona through transportation services with McKinney-Vento. For the 2014-2015

school year, there were 408 students enrolled. Of those 408, 95% of the students were registered

in the free and reduced lunch program (Aleshire 2015).

Pueblo Gardens is a diverse school bringing in students from multiple cultures,

ethnicities, and languages. Hispanic/Latino students make up a majority of the population (90%)

followed by Caucasian, biracial, and Asian students. Languages spoken at Pueblo Gardens

include English, Spanish, Swahili, and Vietnamese. With the variety of languages present, the

school offers ELD and ELL services in both elementary and middle school. Other services

provided include occupational, physical, and speech therapy. Exceptional education and GATE

services are also provided for all grade levels. There are two classrooms for each grade level in

the K-5th classrooms ranging in size from 20-28 students paired with one certified teacher. In

addition, there is a 1st-2nd grade combination class as well as a 2nd-3rd combination ELD class. 6th-

8th grade classrooms average from 25-30 students for each subject. Looking at AIMS testing in

the 2014-2015 school year, Pueblo Gardens scored 67.4% mastery in reading, 36.1% mastery in

writing, and 41% mastery in math (Aleshire 2015).

Being a neighborhood school, many of our students parents went to Pueblo Gardens in

their schooldays. Unfortunately, the school is also located in one of the highest poverty rates in
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 4

all of Tucson. This means many of the students come from homes where family members are

incarcerated, in gangs, involved with drugs, or transition homes on a frequent basis. When

students do not reside with biological parents, they often times are under the care of relatives,

foster families, or older siblings. Parent involvement in school functions and students learning is

very limited.
Taking a closer look at one of the third grade classrooms in Pueblo Gardens, it is made up

of 25 students of which 14 are girls and 11 are boys. There are 17 Hispanics, 4 biracial, 1 African

American, 2 Caucasian, and 1 Asian student. None of the students are currently enrolled in

exceptional education for reading, writing, and math services. Five of the students are ELD or

ELL. 100% of the students are enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program. Considering the

DIBELS distribution of core, strategic and intensive reading levels for the second quarter of the

2015-2016 school year, 5 students are intensive, 12 are strategic and the other 7 students are

core.
Jose and Junior are eight year old twin boys who come from a family of six. They

currently live in their Aunt Cs house with their mother, older brother, younger sister, baby

brother, two uncles, and two aunts. Three times a month, they receive home visits from their

DCS worker in addition to a monthly school visit. Jose and Junior have been in and out of DCS

their entire lives, which has left them living with various foster families. Three years ago, the

boys were returned to living with their mother at which time she fled with them to Imuris,

Mexico. While in Mexico, the boys were not enrolled in school which has left them far behind

their peers in all areas as was discovered upon their return to Arizona in April of 2016. Outside

of school, both boys are eager to please, extremely helpful, and have huge hearts. They are goofy

and enjoy making others laugh. Just like any other eight year old boy, they love to play sports,

games, and watch T.V. The one aspect that sets them apart is their strong desire to learn. They
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 5

love coming to school which makes teaching them an absolute joy. Language arts is the primary

area of academic concern. At quarter one benchmark for DIBELS testing, third grade students

should have a composite score of 220. Jose scored a total of 36 and Junior scored 67. This clearly

put them in the intensive bracket. Using Dolch third grade sight words, Jose scored 30/41 and

Junior scored 25/41. Due to this and their previous school records, both of the boys have been

receiving services from the ELL team as well as beginning evaluation for special education. Jose

and Junior also meet with me, their classroom teacher, two times a week for an hour of after

school for tutoring. In tutoring, we spend one day on reading skills and one day on math skills.

Although both boys have demonstrated great progress, there is still concern with their overall

academics as well as the stability, care, and support they receive at home.
Jax is an eight year old boy who just transferred to the district in the 2016-2017 school

year as his home situation changed. In December of 2015, Jax was abruptly moved from his

mothers care as she tested positive for three different drugs at her probation screening. From

August 2015 to December 2015, Jax had 23 absences in addition to multiple tardies at school. He

is now living with his biological father, step-mother, step-brother, and has supervised visits with

his biological mother for two hours every other Saturday if she shows up. Socially, Jax is

relatively shy and seems to struggle slightly with connecting to his peers. He lacks an interest in

school, but follows the rules and is respectful. Due to his absences among other reasons, Jax is

far behind his peers in nearly all subjects as well. Focusing strictly on his reading, Jax has

relatively high fluency matched with extremely low comprehension. On his first quarter DIBELS

scores, he achieved a composite score of 102. For third grade Dolch sight words, Jax scored

40/41. Per his placement in his previous district, Jax receives pull-out ELL services for one hour

every school day. Additionally, he is in the beginning stages of evaluation for special education

services as well as the same tutoring schedule as Jose and Junior.

STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 6

Description of Target Behaviors

In Arizona, the board of education has implemented the Move On When Reading Law for

third grade students. This law states that if any student, with few exceptions, are unable to pass

the AZ Merit state standardized test to benchmark level, they will not be promoted to the fourth

grade. This law presents high importance on every students ability to read and comprehend

passages. Regardless of their progress and hard work within the classroom, it can prohibit them

from advancing to the fourth grade. I believe that this sets many students up for failure due to

circumstances beyond their control. These circumstances may include economic status, home-

life situation, and prior education levels. Reading fluency and reading comprehension occur in

nearly all situations within the classroom and in multiple outside the classroom as well. Within

the classroom, reading skills are used in directions, math word problems, social studies, maps,

history, writing, stories, and countless others that dictate a students success. The target behavior

of focus in this study is, do the factors of low-income status and involvement in department of

child services play an overriding role in a childs ability to show a 10 point gain on words correct

and 1 point gain on retell quality on DIBELS ORF assessment regardless of tutoring services

implemented on a regular basis for one month in order to predict passing the AZ Merit state

assessment?

Jose and Junior have outstanding phonemic awareness include single letter, blends, and

irregular sounds. This is a strength, but also a weakness. It gives them the ability to sound out the

word, but their reading is extremely choppy. They read each letter sound individually rather than

reading an entire word. Although they lack reading at third grade rate, their comprehension is

much higher than expected. When given unlimited time to read a Scholastic running record at

second grade level, they scored 90% on the comprehension portion. Their biggest strengths are
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 7

their high desire to learn and strong work ethic. Jax is nearly the opposite as Jose and Junior. He

has extremely high fluency paired with a lack of comprehension skills. On third grade sight

words, he only had one incorrect word. Comparing that to his Scholastic running record, Jax was

only able to correctly answer 1 of 10 questions on the comprehension section of the second grade

test. Jax also lacks the desire and work ethic that the twins display. His attitude is his biggest

weakness.

As mentioned above, all three boys are pulled out for ELL services. Jax receives them

everyday for an hour due to his prior status at his old district while Jose and Junior receive these

services 2-3 times a week as they are not officially a part of the program. All three boys are

currently being evaluated for special education needs, but Jose and Junior are on the brink of

being dismissed. Tutoring services are provided in a small group setting totaling at five students

with one certified teacher. This occurs two days a week for one hour each session. One day will

focus on reading skills ranging from fluency and comprehension to grammar. The other day

focuses on math interventions. While in the classroom, the three boys are pulled three times a

week for 20 minutes during Daily 5 in order to learn reading comprehension and reading fluency

strategies presented in the Cafe. Differentiation is also used by providing graphic organizers,

simplified directions, word banks, and other modifications to meet their needs and abilities.

The target behavior is observable during many classroom activities, ELL pull-outs, and

tutoring in many ways. Direct measurements will be taken through the use of DIBELS ORF

progress monitoring, Scholastic running records, and Dolch sight words. With all of the above

interventions in place on a regular and routine basis in addition to all of the boys being fully

capable of making improvements, progress on reading comprehension and fluency should be

seen. Throughout the course of this study, documentation will also be taken about the boys home
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 8

lives through communication with the parents as well as DCS workers. This will include

visitations, DCS observations, and any incidents that may occur.

Review of Literature

As DIBELS is both widely used and greatly disputed, the first portion of the literature

review will cover the effectiveness of DIBELS to identify students who are potentially at risk for

falling below grade level required abilities. The first portion will also identify DIBELS scores as

a predictor for scores on a state assessment. As the ultimate goal of this research is to determine

if students in a compromising home situation and with low academic standing will be able to

pass the Arizona state assessment (AZ Merit), it was critical to make sure that DIBELS would be

a true and reliable indicator of student progress and success. The second portion of the literature

review will examine different interventions put in place in order to assist low-income,

elementary students with improving their literacy skills. As the main method in this study is

implementing interventions during a tutoring session, research would suggest proven and

specific interventions to use during the tutoring time in order to best serve the three participants

as well as any interventions that were not found to be effective.

Roehrig et. al examined the validity of DIBELS ORF for predicting performance on the

Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test as well as the Stanford Achievement Test reading

comprehension measures (2007). 35,207 third grade students enrolled in Floridas Reading First

schools due to their at-risk status were the subjects for this research article. Roehrig et. al. used

the DIBELS scores and cross checked them with scores on the FCAT and SAT-10 to see if there

was a direct correlation in student success. Calibration and cross-validation strategies were used

to analyze data given by the DIBELS in relation to the two state assessments. Receiver-operating

characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was also used to determine predictability. The procedures
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 9

that were used included diagnostic accuracy analysis and predictive bias analysis. This study

found that using DIBELS ORF as a predictor for the FCAT and SAT were found to be reliable.

The strongest correlation was found in third quarter testing. Overall, DIBELS proved to be

equally effective measure for reading comprehension as state-developed measures (assessments)

in third grade student success.

Similarly, Brant W. Riedel examined the validity of DIBELS as a predictor for student

achievement. Although testing for validity was the same goal for both studies, Riedel specifically

looked into DIBELS in order to find which subtest was the most reliable for predictability of

student success. He had 1,518 low income first grade students from a large urban school in the

Memphis school district as his participants. Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) analysis,

ANOVA, chi-square, and logistic regression analysis were used to determine correlations. Riedel

determined that the nonsense word fluency (NWF) portion of DIBELS was a slightly better

predictor of comprehension abilities than the phoneme segmentation fluency (PSF) and letter

naming fluency (LNF). The oral reading fluency (ORF) subtest was determined the most

accurate and effective portion of the DIBELS assessment for reading comprehension in first

grade students.

Both of these studies examined the validity and reliability of the DIBELS assessment for

a predictor for student success and both determined that it was an accurate measurement. Riedel

broke the DIBELS assessment into pieces in order to find which specific piece was the best

predictor for reading comprehension and Roehig et. al used that piece (DIBELS ORF) in order to

test for correlation of student performance on the state assessment. For the purpose of my study,

these research articles confirmed that DIBELS ORF would be an effective and accurate measure

for student progress.

STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 10

For the second portion of the literature review, I examined articles that validated

interventions used to improve the literacy skills in low-income, high risk elementary students.

The overall method of intervention for my study is providing after school tutoring two times a

week for 60 minute sessions to a small group (3) of students who were at risk to fail the third

grade state assessment.

In order to ensure tutoring itself is a successful intervention, I read Does Private Tutoring

Increase Students Academic Performance? by Berberoglu and Tansel (2014). 9,983 5th and 8th

grade level students who were applying to take entrance exams for elite high schools in Turkey

were the participants in this study. Although they are above the third grade age group of my

subjects as well as high ability students applying to elite schools instead of at risk students, the

overall focus was to determine if the tutoring improved student performance. Subjects in this

study were enrolled in private tutoring administered to students at tutoring centers. Their

academic performance was then evaluated by multiple linear regression analysis to check for

positive progression in the academic area of focus. Berberoglu and Tansel found that private

tutoring did have a positive impact on academic performance in math and Turkish language, but

not the natural sciences. There was no indication of specific interventions implemented at the

tutoring sessions, but tutoring overall was deemed to be an effective intervention.

When moving forward with tutoring as the main intervention, the break-down of how the

60 minutes of each tutoring session would be allotted was the next step in my research. Teaching

literacy has been a topic of large debate. There are two main theories to consider: phonics

instruction or whole language instruction. ORourke, Olshtroon, and OHalloran examined the

effectiveness of a reading interventions to small groups of struggling readers. As literacy skills

include both fluency and comprehension, they concluded that the most effective intervention
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 11

would include interventions from both the theory of phonics and whole language instruction

(2016). The participants in this study were 24 struggling readers from Ireland that enrolled in an

after school reading program. The average age of the participants was 8 years and four months

placing them right around the 3rd grade level. Students attended the program for 60 minutes

which was divided up with 15-20 minutes of the Toe-by-Toe program (phonics) and 15-20

minutes of guided oral reading using leveled texts (whole language). It was not indicated in the

study how often participants met over the 6 month duration of the program. The Toe-by-Toe

program is a synthetic phonics programme designed to be systematic in nature, ensuring the

pupil masters each level before progressing on to the next (ORourke, Olshtroon, & OHalloran

2016). It introduces basic letter sounds and patterns for students to decode as well as sight word

recognition. Toe-by-toe program emphasizes the need to spend no more than 20 minutes per day

on phonics instruction. The later 15-20 minutes of the program included guided oral reading with

leveled texts. Leveled texts provide students with a book that is on the cusp of their learning

while also receiving instructional support. Throughout the program, students were assessed with

running records in order to test all six literacy components. ORourke, Olshtroon, and

OHalloran found that combining the two schools of though, phonics and whole language,

resulted in very significant improvements in the reading and reading fluency skills of struggling

readers (2016). The largest gain was seen in fluency by advancing, on average, 17 months over

the 6 month intervention. This study helped me to determine the time allotment of my tutoring

sessions. As my participants are of similar age (8 and 9 years old) as well as struggling in

literacy, this study was extremely relatable and influential in my methods section.

As the participants in my study have hardships to face at home including involvement in

the DCS system, I examined a study in which parent support was a key intervention. One
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 12

obstacle DCS involvement often presents is the lack of adult support at home due to instability,

multiple people involved, and unfamiliarity. Effects of a Parent Support Reading Intervention on

Seventh-Grade At-Risk Students Reading Comprehension Scores by Reglin et. al. allowed me to

examine an intervention of parent support that worked well. Based on the elements of this study

that worked well due to parent involvement, I could work to fill in those pieces as an intervention

for the participants in my study. In this research article, 30 students were randomly selected from

seventh grade students who failed the reading comprehension test in the 2009-2010 school year

to be part of the experimental group and another 30 students who also failed were selected as the

control group. The control group was simply pre and post tested with the EOG reading test and

was not given any interventions in between to improve their scores. The experimental group was

pre-tested with the same EOG exam, given the parent support reading intervention (PSR), and

then post-tested again with the EOG reading exam. Parents of the students in the experimental

group attended workshops on how to assist their child in the subject of reading for a total of 36

hours in 12 weeks while at the same time implementing the strategies they learned at home with

their child. The PSR intervention consisted of parents monitoring and helping children with their

homework for one hour each evening, encouraged to volunteer in the classroom and conference

with the teacher for one hour a week about student progress. When the control and experimental

group took the post-assessment, their scores were compared in order to analyze the impact of the

PSR on student reading skills. The results indicated that the experimental groups posttest mean

(20.10) was greater than that of the control groups (11.73) (Reglin et. al 2010). This indicates

that not only did the experimental group do much better than the control group, but that their

overall improvement was also significantly higher than their pretest scores. Reglin et al.
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 13

indicated that parental support does have the potential to positively influence struggling readers

improve in their literacy development.

In relation to my study, although the participants were much older than those involved in

my study, the greatest difference lies in the fact that mine lack the parents willing to put in the

time and effort to be an effective intervention. At this time, I also believe that providing small

group after school tutoring is the closest intervention I can provide to mimic that of parental

support. In the future, I would like to include a piece to my study that more closely simulates the

relationship a parent or loving adult can provide to a child. This study also helped to demonstrate

that lacking those supportive relationships is a true obstacle students involved in the DCS system

have to face and it does affect their academic success.

Based on the information presented in the literature review, DIBELS ORF proved to not

only be an effective measure to identify at-risk students, but also as a unit of measure for student

progress and intervention effectiveness. The intervention to best serve the needs of my

participants in order to show a 10 point gain on words correct and a 1 point increase on retell

quality of the DIBELS ORF assessment is an afterschool, small group tutoring session that

focuses on both phonics and whole language instruction. Through the information in the

literature review, my study will combine multiple research article findings in order to determine

if at-risk, low-income students involved in the DCS system still hold the potential to make

progress as indicated on the DIBELS assessments through the use of interventions.

Methods

Participants
Jose and Junior are eight year old twin boys who come from a family of six. Three times

a month, they receive home visits from their DCS worker in addition to a monthly school visit.

Jose and Junior have been in and out of DCS their entire lives, which has left them living with
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 14

various extended relatives and foster families. Outside of school, both boys are eager to please,

extremely helpful, and have huge hearts. They are goofy and enjoy making others laugh. Just like

any other eight year old boy, they love to play sports, games, and watch T.V. The one aspect that

sets them apart is their strong desire to learn. Language arts is the primary area of academic

concern. At quarter one benchmark for DIBELS testing, third grade students should have a

composite score of 220. Jose scored a total of 36 and Junior scored 67. This clearly put them in

the intensive bracket. Using Dolch third grade sight words, Jose scored 30/41 and Junior scored

25/41. Due to this and their previous school records, both of the boys have been receiving

services from the ELL team as well as beginning evaluation for special education. Jose and

Junior also meet with me, their classroom teacher, two times a week for an hour of after school

for tutoring.
Jax is an eight year old boy who just transferred to the district in the 2016-2017 school

year as his home situation changed. In December of 2015, Jax was abruptly moved from his

mothers care as she tested positive for three different drugs at her probation screening. From

August 2015 to December 2015, Jax had 23 absences in addition to multiple tardies at school. He

is now living with his biological father, step-mother, step-brother, and has supervised visits with

his biological mother for two hours every other Saturday if she shows up. Socially, Jax is

relatively shy and seems to struggle slightly with connecting to his peers. He lacks an interest in

school, but follows the rules and is respectful. Due to his absences among other reasons, Jax is

far behind his peers in nearly all subjects. Focusing strictly on his reading, Jax has relatively high

fluency matched with extremely low comprehension. On his first quarter DIBELS scores, he

achieved a composite score of 102. For third grade Dolch sight words, Jax scored 40/41. Per his

placement in his previous district, Jax receives pull-out ELL services for one hour every school

day. Additionally, he is in the beginning stages of evaluation for special education services as
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 15

well as the same tutoring schedule as Jose and Junior. All three boys were given written

permission by their legal guardians to be participants in this study.

Materials
The interventions that will take place will focus on teaching letter-sound relationships

(phonics) as well as building comprehension abilities through the use of guided reading levelled

books. In order to provide a systematic and synthetic phonics where students must master one

level before progressing to the next, Dolch sight words and activities will be used in tutoring to

provide the recommended 15-20 minutes of phonics instruction. 50 Dolch sight words that will

be used will begin at the first grade level and progress through the third grade level word list.

Activities will include flashcard, oral identification, spelling test, chunking, and blend focuses..
In order to improve comprehension as well as increase student connection to texts,

levelled books will be used during the guided oral reading portion of the intervention. The

levelled library presented by Scholastic books will be the primary resource. According to first

quarter DIBELS data, the three participants should begin with level K books. Students will be

able to pick one book from the level K books to read together as a group as well as complete the

corresponding activities. Students will be assessed on a weekly basis with a running record

presented by Scholastic in order to track progress as well as to determine which level would be

best suited for each student. As letter N is considered third grade by Scholastic, students will

begin with level K materials and progress forward until mastery of letter N is reached.
The baseline data was collected by gathering quarter one benchmark scores from third

grade level DIBELS ORF assessments with specific attention to the words correct and retell

quality scores. In order to stay consistent, the third grade level DIBELS assessments will again

be used on the last day of the intervention period. The DIBELS ORF assessment will be

administered in the same manner as first quarter; the fellow third grade classroom teacher will

administer the assessment in her classroom. She will record and report their scores to their
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 16

classroom teacher.

Intervention Procedures
Interventions will take place during after school tutoring three times a week for 60

minutes each session with the participants classroom teacher in their regular school day

classroom. Parents or guardians of the participants will sign permission slips allowing their child

to stay after school for one hour, three times a week for tutoring. The students will meet as a

group of three in order to provide small group support as well as opportunity for one on one

interactions in order to improve reading abilities. During the one hour tutoring time, 15-20

minutes will be allotted for phonics instruction, 15-20 minutes of guided oral reading, and the

remaining time will be for one on one progress monitoring/assessing and rewards.
For the 15-20 minutes of phonics instruction, Dolch sight word lists will be the primary

resource. All students will begin by orally reading the sight words followed by completing a

spelling test. The teacher will record the scores for the oral reading as well as correct the spelling

test. Of the words not identified or spelt incorrectly, students will create their own flashcards in

order to practice them on their own time. Students will then retry the same sight word lists on the

next tutoring session. If they get them correct, they will then move on to the next level of sight

words until mastery of third grade Dolch sight words is reached. The teacher and student will

discuss repeated blends and their sounds as identified on their sight word lists. DIBELS third

grade NWF assessments will be given on the last day of each weeks tutoring session. The

teacher conducting tutoring will give and record the data of the NWF assessments.
In order to improve comprehension skills, Scholastic levelled books will be used during

guided oral reading. Students will be assessed using Scholastic running records in order to

determine the appropriate reading level to ensure engagement and understanding of the text. All

students will begin at level K as indicated by first quarter DIBELS assessment scores. At the end

of each week, the teacher will reassess the students at their current Scholastic level in order to
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 17

determine if progress as well as a new level needs to be introduced in the following week.

During tutoring sessions, 15-20 minutes will be allotted for guided reading. Students will read as

whole group as well as individually from the Scholastic readers of their choice from their level.

The teacher will ask prompted comprehension questions provided by Scholastic in order to check

for understanding during reading. She will also model and discuss oral reading and check for

understanding strategies.
Data Collection
Data will be collected in four ways to check for progress: Dolch sight words, DIBELS

NWF, Scholastic running records, and DIBELS quarterly assessments. Data will also be recorded

about any DCS or home situations that may arise during the intervention period.
Students will be assessed on both Dolch sight words oral reading as well as written spelling.

Progress will be checked at each tutoring session by having the students orally read their Dolch

sight words individually to the teacher. The teacher will record any words read incorrectly as

well as any words that were sounded out rather than read fluently. Students will also be assessed

at each session on their spelling of the Dolch words. The teacher will read aloud the words and

the students will do their best to spell them correctly using a paper and pencil. Students scores

will be recorded at each session and student work will be collected to create a portfolio.
DIBELS NWF assessments will be given on the last day of the week. The teacher will

administer the test by using the DIBELS progress monitoring book and record the students

response in the book. Students will read nonsense words in order to demonstrate phonics and

alphabetic knowledge. The teacher will mark any word said incorrectly and scores will be

recorded each week.

Scholastic running records will be administered at the end of each week by the teacher.

The teacher will have the student read a portion of the leveled running record aloud and record

any errors in oral reading. Students will then be given time to silently read the rest of the text on

their own. Once finished, the teacher will ask predetermined questions about the text,
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 18

vocabulary, and connections to the text in order to check for understanding. Based on fluency as

well as reading comprehension scores, students will score in either the frustration, independent,

or advanced for that specific leveled text. The teacher will record the score which will then

determine the level for the following weeks instruction.

DIBELS quarterly assessments will only be administered at the end of the intervention

period to be used to compare with first quarter scores. Students will be asked to read as much of

a third grade level text as possible in one minute. The teacher will record and words said

incorrectly or skipped. Next, students will be asked to close their books and retell as much of the

story they just read in one minute. The teacher will record how many words they said during

their retell as well as a score between one and four for retell quality. For words correct, the total

number of words minus the words read incorrectly will provide the words correct score. Retell

quality is based on the number of details given as well as the sequence in which they were

provided. A score of one indicates the student only recalled two details whereas a four indicates

the students provided four or more details in a meaningful sequence. Words correct and retell

quality scores will be recorded by the teacher.

The last section of the data collection does not pertain to student academic success, but

rather the outside factors of being involved in the DCS system. Any communication and visits

from the DCS workers will be recorded with journal notes to describe the events that took place

and/or any new information about the childs home life. Notes will also be taken if the student

reports any incidents that may have occurred at home that affect the childs mood or ability to

perform in school.
Results
Baseline Data

Words Correct Line Graph

STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 19

X-axis: Day of progress monitoring

Y-axis: Words correct
Retell Quality Line Graph

X-axis: Day of progress monitoring

Y-axis: Score of retell quality
For baseline data, I chose to do two different line graphs as I will be collecting data on

both words correct and retell quality scores on the subtests of DIBELS ORF progress monitoring

assessments. In both graphs, Jose, Junior, and Jax were assessed using third grade progress

monitoring books on five consecutive days the second week of October in 2016. Each

assessment used a different text in the DIBELS progress monitoring books provided by school
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 20

administration. As their classroom teacher with adequate training on DIBELS administration, I

managed all of the progress monitoring assessments with the boys on all five days.
The first line graph displays the boys scores for words correct on the DIBELS

assessment. In this section, the students are given one minute to accurately read a passage. The

administrator marks the words that were read correctly and incorrectly. A score is found by

taking the total number of words read less the words read incorrectly to get the total number of

correct words. Jose and Junior are significantly lower than Jax, but also show greater progress

over the course of the five days. Jax has greater fluency than the other two, but made less gains.

All three boys are far below the benchmark goal of 80 words correct.
The second line graph displays the boys scores for retell quality on the DIBELS

assessment. This subtest grades students ability to retell what they just finished reading. They are

given one minute to recall any and all details about the story. A four is the highest possible score,

which requires students to recall three or more details in a meaningful sequence. Jose and Junior

fluctuated between ones and twos, with Junior showing the most progress. Jax consistently

scored ones on all five days. This graph indicates that both Jose and Junior hold the ability to

increase their reading comprehension whereas Jax struggles to recall what he reads. All three

boys are not meeting benchmark goals of a retell quality score of two.

Final Results Data

DIBELS Word Correct Scores

STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 21

X-axis: Week of progress monitoring

Y-axis: DIBELS Words correct score

DIBELS Retell Quality Score

X-axis: Week of progress monitoring

Y-axis: DIBELS retell quality score
DOLCH Sight Words
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 22

X-axis: Week of intervention

Y-axis: Number of correct Dolch Sight words

Scholastic Total Errors

X-axis: Week of intervention

Y-axis: Total number of errors in Scholastic running record

STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 23

Scholastic Retell

X-axis: Week of intervention

Y-axis: Scholastic retell score

I chose to do a different line graph for each assessment that was performed in order to use

all of the elements in order to determine true results. In both of the DIBELS ORF graphs, Jose,

Junior, and Jax were assessed using third grade progress monitoring books on five consecutive

days the second week of October in 2016. Each assessment used a different text in the DIBELS

progress monitoring books provided by school administration. As their classroom teacher with

adequate training on DIBELS administration, I managed most of the progress monitoring

assessments with the boys during all five weeks with additional help from my fellow third grade

teacher.

The first line graph displays the boys scores for words correct on the DIBELS

assessment. In this section, the students are given one minute to accurately read a passage. The
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 24

administrator marks the words that were read correctly and incorrectly. A score is found by

taking the total number of words read less the words read incorrectly to get the total number of

correct words. Jose and Junior are significantly lower than Jax, but also show greater progress

over the course of the five days. Jax has greater fluency than the other two, but made less gains.

All three boys are far below the benchmark goal of 80 words correct.

The second line graph displays the boys scores for retell quality on the DIBELS

assessment. This subtest grades students ability to retell what they just finished reading. They are

given one minute to recall any and all details about the story. A four is the highest possible score,

which requires students to recall three or more details in a meaningful sequence. Jose and Junior

fluctuated between ones and twos, with Junior showing the most progress. Jax consistently

scored ones on all five days. This graph indicates that both Jose and Junior hold the ability to

increase their reading comprehension whereas Jax struggles to recall what he reads. All three

boys are not meeting benchmark goals of a retell quality score of two.

The third graph is a representation of the boys scores on the Dolch sight words. The boys

were assessed every week on the same 41 third grade level sight words. They were given the list

of words on a laminated sheet of paper and were to read the words with automaticity rather than

decoding the words. As they read the words, the assessor then records the words correct and

mark any words that were incorrect. Jax started off in the first week nearly getting each word

cord with a score of 40 out of 41. He continued this success through the rest of the three weeks

with the exception of the second week when he decreased by one word. Jose and Junior started at

lower levels, but showed continuous growth throughout the intervention.

The last two graphs are representations of the Scholastic running record assessment. The

first graph indicates how the boys performed in relation to the fluency portion of the Scholastic
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 25

assessments. Overall, all of the boys improved on the number of errors which is consistent with

the other fluency assessments. The second graph in relation to the Scholastic data has to do with

the boys comprehension by having them retell what they read about in the given text. As it is

similar to the DIBELS retell quality assessment, the boys data in these two assessments were

very similar. Jose and Junior fluctuated in their scores, but ended up improving overall. As Jax

struggles more with his comprehension than his fluency, his Scholastic retell scores showed

random progress. His fluctuation between progress and regression makes it hard to determine if

he truly has learned the comprehension strategies or not.

The results of my study are consistent with the research found in my literature review; a

small group intervention that is focused in both phonics and comprehension strategies will

improve students overall literacy skills. The largest improvement was seen in the growth in

fluency. All participants improved on the DIBELS words correct, Dolch sight words, and

Scholastic running record thus concluding that the phonics instruction portion of the intervention

was successful. For reading comprehension, the guided oral reading also helped to improve

students retell quality of what they read in the text although it was less significant growth than

the fluency portion. All of the success was seen in the participants despite their involvement in

the DCS system. Over the weeks of the intervention, none of the boys had DCS involvement

outside of their regular routines. In relation to my purposed question of Can students improve

by 10 points on words correct and by 1 point on retell quality of DIBELS ORF despite their

involvement in the DCS system? the answer is yes. Although one of the boys did not improve

by 10 on his words correct and all of the participants fluctuated in improving and regressing in

their retell quality on the DIBELS ORF assessment, all of the participants showed progress and

the required improvement at one point in the intervention time frame.

STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 26

In comparison to the baseline data, all of the participants improved in their words correct

scores on DIBELS ORF. The greatest improvement was seen in Junior going from 16 to 36

words correct. As Dolch sight words and the Scholastic running record also assess for fluency,

participants showed overall gains on these as well. The largest increase on Dolch sight words

was going from 25 to 31 total words out of a possible 41. For the Scholastic running record, all

students decreased their number of errors which translates to an increase in word knowledge

and/or fluency skills. No student on this assessment showed any regression. The largest

improvement was seen in 13 errors decreasing to 7 errors.

For reading comprehension, improvements were seen in the final week compared to the

baseline data collected in week 1. The first assessment used to reading comprehension was the

retell quality portion of the DIBELS ORF assessment. Although the participants fluctuated in

their retell quality scores between improvements and regression, at one point, all of the boys had

improvement. Additionally, although the scores may not be a direct reflection, the written field

notes show that the boys were able to retell more of what they read due to the increase in their

fluency. All participants started at a retell quality score of 1 and ended with a one or two point

improvement by the end of the intervention. Lastly, the Scholastic running record assesses

similarly as the DIBELS retell quality score. The greatest difference is that the grading scale

goes from 1-5 rather than 1-4 like DIBELS. Like DIBELS, all participants fluctuated between

progression, maintaining, and regression, but ended in an overall improvement from the baseline

data.

Discussion
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 27

As literacy skills are a topic of high priority in third grade due to the Arizona Move on

When Reading Law (MOWR), an intervention to improve both reading fluency and reading

comprehension would aid in increasing the passing rate on the AZ Merit test which correlates

with the MOWR law. In order to create an intervention with the highest possible success rate, the

model presented by ORourke, Olshtroon, and OHalloran in The Limerick Reading Initiative: a

reading intervention targeted at struggling readers in primary school was mimicked in this

study. Student success was demonstrated in both fluency and reading comprehension scores on

the DIBELS ORF assessment. This is a direct correlation to ORourke, Olshtroon, and

OHallorans results.
Through The Effectiveness of DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency for Predicting Reading

Comprehension of High and Low Income Students, The Relation between DIBELS, Reading

Comprehension, and Vocabulary in Urban First Grade Students, and a multitude of other

research articles, there is a uniformed agreement that the DIBELS ORF is a reliable predictor for

student success on high stakes tests in relation to literacy skills. DIBELS was chosen as the

measure of success for this intervention and therefore a reliable indicator of student future

success on the AZ Merit assessment. Although the participants have not yet completed their

second quarter benchmark state assessment to evaluate if their progress on the DIBELS ORF

translates to state assessment growth, it is implied through past research that their progress

should be equally seen.

Overall, this study not only assessed the interventions ability to improve on state

assessments, but also to see if students involved in the DCS system could improve in their

literacy skills despite their hardships at home. In relation to improvements on state assessments,

all participants did improve on their DIBELS progress monitoring skills. According to Brant W.

Riedel in his article Relation between DIBELS, Reading Comprehension, and Vocabulary in
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 28

Urban First Grade Students, there is a strong, direct correlation between DIBELS assessments

and high stakes state assessments thus assuming these participants will also show growth on their

2nd quarter state benchmark tests. This progress was seen using an intervention combining both

phonics and reading comprehension skill building which then implies this dual-focused program

is effective in order to gain progress in overall literacy skills. All three participants were a part of

the DCS system through the entire intervention. Although none of them had incidents outside of

the routine DCS involvement, they were still within the system. This draws the conclusion that

children involved in the DCS system, facing hardships at home, are able to make progress on

DIBELS and their state assessment exams with the support of various interventions.
The next step in this research study would be to continue the interventions through the

time period to the next quarter benchmarks. This would not only allow for more extensive data to

be collected, but also to truly evaluate if their DIBELS progress translates to the big picture of

state assessment progress. Additional steps would include meeting with the DCS workers in

order to get more details about their home life and support they receive from their current

placements. As none of the participants faced out of the ordinary circumstances in relation to

DCS involvement during the course of the intervention, this is a limitation. DCS involvement is

often contributed to extreme negative circumstances occurring in the home. During this

intervention, all of the participants had routines set in place by their current placement and did

not have any visits with those parents they were taken from. If one of the participants would have

faced a challenging situation, the data could present differently.

In conclusion, the overall process was diagrammed well on paper, but presented various

learning situations as a researcher. Through developing the purpose statement, I was able to pick

a concise prominent educational problem with specific target demographic. Previous research

articles were studied and presented information about which assessment best suits the needs of
STUDENT GROWTH IN LITERACY DESPITE AT HOME HARDSHIPS 29

this study as well as which intervention would produce the best results for the students.

Participants were chosen within my own third grade classroom and fit the exact demographic

need; struggling readers involved in the DCS system. After obtaining the guardians permission,

the intervention replicating that of those found in successful research articles, began with the

participants immediately. Following the guide of past research, an intervention combining both

phonics and whole language instruction was created in the form of small group, after school

tutoring. Students were involved in the interventions for a total of five weeks, with the fifth week

holding emphasis in assessment and data collection.

Data was collected on a weekly basis in the form of three different assessments: DIBELS

ORF, Dolch sight words, and Scholastic running records. The data collection process was

modified throughout the intervention period in order to collect all of the data as well as leave

ample time to perform the pieces of the intervention. A more experienced researcher would have

allotted separate time for data collection in order to meet all of the demands of the research

study.
Overall, the study allowed for specific research to take place and begin the process for

future elements to be examined. Through the results obtained and observations made, successful

intervention modalities were reached and student progress was made. This research study made it

possible for students in similar situations in the future to also succeed at high stakes testing with

the help of interventions, despite facing hardships at home.

References

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