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Individual Growth Analysis of Children's Reading Performance During the First Years of School

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2010, Master of Education, Cleveland State University, College of Education and Human Services.

Using data from the National Center for Education Statistics (Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K)), the study utilized an individual growth model (Bryk & Raudenbush, 2002), the purpose of which was to assess the nature of progress in children’s reading performance between kindergarten and 3rd grade; and second, to determine the extent to which parental involvement predicts both the initial reading ability as well as the rate of progress. Children’s cognitive development in reading was used as the dependent variable and parental involvement as the primary independent variable with gender and race/ethnicity as control variables.The study used four points in time (waves of data): fall kindergarten (1998), spring kindergarten (1999), spring first grade (2000), and spring third grade (2002). The data analysis was performed on 9,032 participants (White, Black and Hispanic); 87% of them had 4 waves of data, and 13% had 3 waves of data collected during a period of 7 semesters.

The measurement of early literacy and reading skills was based on an adaptive item response theory (IRT)-scaled reading assessment, which included questions designed to measure basic skills, vocabulary, and comprehension. Results indicated:(1) parental involvement was higher when children had a low initial reading performance; (2) parental involvement was statistically not significant in predicting the rate of growth in reading achievement; (3) female children were predicted to have higher initial status in reading performance but their rate of growth was only slightly higher than that of their counterparts; (4) Hispanic children were predicted to have a statistically significant lower initial status in reading than other students, but their rate of growth was not significant. Black children were predicted to have a statistically significant low initial status and their rate of growth was statistically significant and slower than the rate of growth of the others. The study recommended that parental involvement programs should be sensitive to gender and race/ethnicity; further research should include a more comprehensive construct of parental involvement and include data on family socio-economic status (SES).

Joshua Bagaka's, PhD (Committee Chair)
Dinah Volk, PhD (Committee Member)
Mary Gove, PhD (Committee Member)
51 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Giraldo, R. (2010). Individual Growth Analysis of Children's Reading Performance During the First Years of School [Master's thesis, Cleveland State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1271105470

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Giraldo, Regina. Individual Growth Analysis of Children's Reading Performance During the First Years of School. 2010. Cleveland State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1271105470.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Giraldo, Regina. "Individual Growth Analysis of Children's Reading Performance During the First Years of School." Master's thesis, Cleveland State University, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1271105470

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)