Student Achievement Data and the Effect of Teacher Content DuringImplementation of the Success for All Reading Edge Programin a Midwestern School District

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental, causal-comparative study wasto analyze the effect of the implementation of the Success for All (SFA) Reading Edgecurriculum on Standardized Test for the Assessment of Reading (STAR) InstructionalReading Level (IRL) scores for below and at/above grade level students in three nonTitle I middle schools in the Independence Public School District in Independence,Missouri. In addition, the study examined whether receiving reading instruction fromteachers certified in different content areas affected the amount of mean IRL scorechange on regular STAR administration, particularly for students at different proficiencylevels.Data were collected from archived Test Record Reports of 1,470 students enrolledin the three middle schools during the 2007 to 2010 timeframe. Independent one-samplet tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were used for hypothesis testing. Resultsyielded consistent positive effects for students categorized below-grade level proficiency.Data for at/above grade-level proficiency students was mixed, with two t tests revealingsignificant positive effects, while six of the 8 one-sample t tests revealed statisticallysignificant differences with mean IRL scores decreasing. Eight ANOVAs coveringspecific timeframes were used to determine if there were any significant differences inmean STAR IRL achievement among students receiving reading instruction via theReading Edge scripted curriculum from teachers in the content areas of communicationarts, math, science, and social studies. Main effect results indicated teacher content areadid not affect student IRL achievement. Interaction effect results also indicated contentarea did not affect student IRL achievement for students at varying proficiency levels. This study supports use of the Reading Edge scripted curriculum package withstudents who are categorized as below grade-level proficiency and supports the SFAFoundation’s suggestion that all certified staff can attain comparable achievement resultswhen providing instruction utilizing the Reading Edge curriculum model. Furtherresearch analyzing instructional fidelity and instructors’ reading pedagogy background iswarranted.