The impact of the implementation of the Scholastic Read 180 model on reading skills development of middle school students with learning disabilities as compared to those using the Traditional Resource Reading model

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to determine if students with learning disabilities experience greater reading skill growth from the reading intervention Scholastic Read 180 or from the Traditional Resource Reading program as determined by the NCE mean gains experienced by students on the TCAP Reading assessment. A particular interest was to determine if special education students at Kenwood Middle School experienced reading skills growth as compared to the expected mean NCE gain score as a result of participating in the Scholastic Read 180 model. This study is significant because after examining the effectiveness of school-based reading programs currently in place at the two identified middle schools, a need to restructure the current reading programs was evident. Forty-four students in the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System with identified Reading and Language Arts learning disabilities participated in the study during the 2005-2006 school year. Twenty-two students from Kenwood Middle School and 22 students from New Providence Middle School. Data were analyzed using an unpaired t-Test and one sample t-Test at the alpha=.05 level of significance. There was no statistically significant differences in TCAP Reading Assessment NCE mean gains found for students using the Scholastic Read 180 model as compared to students using Traditional Resource Reading model with regards to gender and ethnicity. Additional analyses using one sample t-Test were conducted to determine if students achieved expected NCE growth. The results revealed a statistically significant difference in mean NCE gain scores of special education students at Kenwood Middle School as compared to expected mean NCE gain score based on participating in the Scholastic Read 180 model. It was recommended that (1) An Aptitude Treatment Interaction design be considered to determine the efficacy of Scholastic Read 180 with various subgroups of identified populations; (2) CMCSS implement a Responsiveness to Intervention (RTI) model to determine which model produces greater academic gains; (3) CMCSS evaluate the data after two and three years of implementation; (4) Evaluate the effectiveness of Scholastic Read 180 model in grades 3-5 with at-risk populations since research clearly states that children who are struggling readers in third grade continue to struggle throughout their academic career (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2001).