Increasing Reading/Literacy Performance of At-Risk Elementary Students through Increased Access to Fiction/Non-Fiction Resources and Incorporating Readers Theater Activities

This action research project was developed in order to increase student literacy, particularly in the area of reading, for students who were considered at-risk. The targeted student population was 2nd grade students who were served within a primary cross-categorical special education program. The classroom was housed in an elementary (K-2) school, located in a small Midwest community. The literature showed many reasons for low literacy development, including lack of reading opportunities at home, lack of background knowledge, and lack of exposure to both fiction and non-fiction resources. The initial analysis of data was determined by looking at the results of DIBELS scores. In phoneme segmentation fluency, one-third of the second-grade students fell below the fall first-grade benchmark. Star Reading scores results showed that all of the second grade students measured ranged in performance from one to one and one-half years behind grade level. The review of literature showed a number of suggestions for improving literacy, including increased reading time, and providing more interesting reading and activities, such as Readers Theater. Also suggested was providing related fiction and non-fiction activities. The teacher researcher chose to focus on increasing fiction/non-fiction resources and using Readers Theater activities. During the 14-week research period, the teacher researcher developed the classroom library with more and often related fiction/non-fiction resources. Students were initially exposed to more visits to the school library, and then offered large selections of school library books within the classroom, as available library time decreased. Readers Theater activities were selected for use each week during the research period. Post intervention analysis of the DIBELS assessment showed increase in reading/literacy areas of phoneme segmentation, and non-sense word fluency. The Star Reading assessment showed growth in grade level performance. However, only half of the students showed growth in percentile rank. Growth or lack thereof can not easily be attributed to the interventions as there were many factors during the school day that may have impacted performance, positively or otherwise. (Contains 10 figures and 6 tables.) [Action Research Project, Field-Based Master's Program, Saint Xavier University & Pearson Achievement Solutions, Inc.]