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A COMPARISON OF READING AND LANGUAGE ACHIEVEMENT AMONG LEARNING DISABLED ELEMENTARY STUDENTS: ADAPTED STANDARD CURRICULUM VS. SPECIAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM
Abstract
This quasi-experimental study was designed as an investigation into whether learning disabled students achieve better in adapted standard classroom reading curriculum or in the special education reading curricula. The Ginn Reading curriculum, offered in standard elementary classrooms, was adapted following the Exemplary Center for Reading Instruction (ECRI) technique and used as the experimental treatment. The compared curricula, offered to the control group, consisted of Science Research Associates Reading Mastery (Distar) and the Corrective Reading Program, Economy Company's Keytext Reading Program, and the Houghton Mifflin Reading Program, offered as part of the special education curriculum. The ECRI technique is based on the mastery learning concept while the controlled curricula are non-ECRI based. All reading curricula in this study were taught by the special education resource room teacher in the special education classroom. Ninety-three students in grades two through six served as subjects. Each student was measured pre and post with the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS), form U. The basic skills measured in reading were word attack, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and a total reading derived score. The basic skills measured as part of language were spelling, language mechanics, language expression, and a total language derived score. The results showed no statistical significance between the Ginn/ECRI reading approach and the non-ECRI based reading curricula. The analysis of covariance was used for a lack of total equivalency between the two groups and for the correlated means. The linear regression slope of both groups showed almost parallel growth. The Ginn/ECRI experimental group showed better pretest scores than the non-ECRI group of learning disabled students, probably due to the Hawthorne effect and novelty of a new reading program. The growth rate for both the experimental and control group held constant throughout the six-month study. The results do not support either adopted standard reading curriculum or the special education curricula as statistically superior for teaching learning disabled students to read.
Subject Area
Literacy|Reading instruction
Recommended Citation
SHANKS, ROBERT DARROL, "A COMPARISON OF READING AND LANGUAGE ACHIEVEMENT AMONG LEARNING DISABLED ELEMENTARY STUDENTS: ADAPTED STANDARD CURRICULUM VS. SPECIAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM" (1987). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8717264.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8717264