The Impact of Texas Reading Academy Training on Reading Scores for African American and Emergent Bilingual Elementary Students in a North Texas School District
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (Ed.D)
Department
Educational Administration
Date of Award
Summer 2023
Abstract
Despite free and appropriate education in the United States to foster successful early literacy to post-secondary pipelines, African American and Emergent Bilingual students have yet to realize high-quality educational attainment in reading compared to their White peers (Parker, 2020). Explicit instruction in phonics and phonological awareness have proven to have positive impacts on African American and Emergent Bilingual reading capacity, and when coupled with accommodations for cultural and linguistic differences, research shows that outcomes increase (Meier, 2020; Nieto & Bode, 2018). This ex post facto quantitative study explores the impact of the Texas Reading Academy teacher training mandated by House Bill 3 on first grade African American and Emergent Bilingual student outcomes through explicit instruction in phonics and phonological awareness. Contextualized in the education equity theory and additive bilingual theory, this study focuses on viewing the impact of participation in a classroom where the teacher had received more than 60 hours of professional learning in research based best practices for foundational literacy attainment. The study highlights two components of research to compare quantitative data for first grade students on the NWEA Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) reading assessment within and between student groups to determine growth and gaps based on pre-test and post-test scores. Although African American, Emergent Bilingual, and White student groups show gains, there was not statistically significant difference in gaps between groups. These findings support the need to consider adjustments for reading academy training to promote increases in reading achievement for marginalized student populations by building teacher’s linguistic expertise and cultural awareness. The researcher concludes the paper with recommendations for future research to support greater efficacy in state mandated literacy training that emphasizes the needs of historically underperforming student groups.
Advisor
Teresa Farler
Subject Categories
Education | Language and Literacy Education
Recommended Citation
Trejo, Shannon, "The Impact of Texas Reading Academy Training on Reading Scores for African American and Emergent Bilingual Elementary Students in a North Texas School District" (2023). Electronic Theses & Dissertations. 1117.
https://digitalcommons.tamuc.edu/etd/1117
