Report - Dr. Stirling McDowell Foundation for Research Into Teaching

Getting Started
In the fall of 2005 teachers, guidance counsellors, administrators and parents
referred students for the newly created Literacy 10/20 courses that were being
offered at MRCI. The goal of the Literacy classroom was to improve student
comprehension of text through daily explicit instruction and promote life-long
learning. In more colloquial terms, we also hoped to turn non-readers into
readers. Once the students registered and classes began, each individual student
was put through a series of pre- and post-tests to determine the student’s
abilities and identify areas of needed intervention. The diagnostic that was used
was the Gray Oral Reading Test.
The results of the GORT pre-tests were both fascinating and depressing. Of the
students referred, 97% fit the category of “dependent, struggling readers” since they
all read, at the very least, three grade levels below their age in the areas of
fluency, comprehension, accuracy and rate.
The Literacy Classroom
As the teacher of Literacy 10/20, I sat down and tried to decide in what direction
to take my students and, in essence, where to begin. The words of K. E Stanovich
echoed in my mind: “[A]s the developmental process continues, young struggling
readers become older struggling readers, and the achievement gap widens”
(Stanovich, 1986, p.30).
The actual structure of the literacy classroom was guided by the principles and
theories offered by numerous literacy experts. Students were introduced, through
teacher-modelled explicit instruction, to a wide variety of reading comprehension
strategies (Durkin, 1978; Duffy, 2003; Pressley, 1995; Beers, 2003). A strong
emphasis was also placed on vocabulary development (Ehri, 1999; Calhoun,
1999), fluency (Adams, 1990; Stanovich, 1986), and writing (Tankersley, 2005), and
time was allotted each day for a wide variety of reading experiences at the
developed level.
After two semesters the students were then post-tested using the Grey Oral
Reading Test to see if any growth had occurred in the areas of fluency,
comprehension and accuracy. To our delight, all of the students saw some
growth, and some of this growth was substantial, especially in the areas of
fluency and comprehension.
2 RESEARCH REPORT: A School-Based Study on the Relationship Between Increased Literacy Levels and School Attachment