The Impact of Second and Third-Grade Male and Female Students’ PreferredLearning Time on Reading Achievement

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine whether a difference exists in second andthird-grade students’ reading achievement between students who received their readinginstruction during their preferred learning time of day and students who were taughtreading during their non-preferred learning time of day. The second purpose of the studywas to investigate whether there was a difference in second and third-grade students’reading achievement between students who were administered the STAR ReadingAssessment during their preferred learning time of day and students who wereadministered the STAR Reading Assessment during their non-preferred learning time ofday. Additionally, the study sought to examine whether preferred learning time had adifferential effect on reading achievement between males and females.The results of this study indicated preferred learning time rendered better resultson the STAR Reading Assessment but the difference was not statistically significant.The second finding indicated a significant interaction between receiving readinginstruction during students’ preferred learning time and gender. Males whose readinginstruction matched their preferred learning time rendered higher gains than femaleswhose reading instruction matched their preferred learning time. The third findingindicated the group who was administered the STAR Reading Assessment during theirpreferred learning time had lower gains than those who did not. The final finding showedthat students’ preferred learning time, when aligned with the time of day the readingassessment was administered, did not differentially impact gain scores on the STARReading Assessment for second and third-grade students by gender.