The results from my action research are mixed. While pouring over the reports, I found that students who had access to a classroom library read significantly more books than students who simply had access to the school library. I was hoping that would be the case. It seems logical. This hints that students may be more interested in learning. Or at least they would pick up a book if they had to walk right by it to leave my class.
Although the students with the class library read more, their reading level didn't increase as much as the class without the extra access. Students with access increased by an average of one grade level, while students who visited the library increased by a grade and a half.
This led me to more questions. I am curious about the increase in vocabulary by the students who read more books. Would this increase because they were introduced to more words in the varied literature? It also makes me think that I would have liked to have given both classes an additional reading level assessment to cross-check the validity of the STAR reading test that determined their reading level.
5 comments:
It would have been nice to use another test for reading level with those two groups of students. It doesn't seem logical that the students with less access would improve more. Is there any way to retest?
What interesting results you got. It seems like more exposure to more books would increase reading levels more. I know I've read research saying so. You might try running records for all students for this year and the STAR test and see if this years class produces different results. My topic is in reading comprehension so exposure to books interested me. I think that maybe it has to do with what exactly the students are doing with the books also. I have a classroom library also and I notice that my students actually READ the books from the library more throughly then they do my classroom library books. Because of this observation I created a "think sheet" that takes students through each book (by making them right out their thoughts) and lends itself to allow students to think about what they are reading a little more. Just my thoughts! =)
I am a bit confused.
Reading levels gauged by which test? I might have to go back and read.
But honestly, who cares? Who ever-loving cares about the reading tests?
I could not STAND reading as a child. How I ever got into Honors English, I will never know, but I detested reading, especially when it was forced upon me by my teachers.
Perhaps the children who were reading out of your classroom were doing so for pleasure, and so did not focus so much on "acquiring comprehensive knowledge". Blah. Blah.
Are your class books AR books? Are the kids who read the AR books allowed to look at the books when they take their tests?
Is STAR created by AR? That would make me suspicious. Because if your students are not reading AR books and taking the tests from the program, they are not "used" to the testing format of STAR, right?
Maybe there is another variable involved. Perhaps, the teacher in the other class was doing something you did not know about with regards to Reading.
Do you have equal numbers of EL students?
I have a classroom library and it is sectioned by AR levels. The most convenient aspect is I can tell a student what shelf to pick a book from according to their reading level. I would be interested in finding out if improving their reading vocabulary will affect their STAR level. I told my team at school about your research and they now have volunteers to help them organize their classroom libraries.
Tompkins (2001) argues that students learn many more vocabulary words incidentally through reading many books, compared to direct teaching activities. During today's district Curriculum and Instruction meeting, our Asst. Supt. mentioned that she had decided to discontinue applying the STAR reading results towards promotion for the time being because it is an unreliable test for assessing reading ability in language minority students. I think that it is more of a vocabulary assessment than a reading assessment. A sample question reads along the same lines as: "The ran away from the dog." the answer choices: "shoe, pencil, cat." One thing is certain, reading will increase your vocabulary. The more you enjoy reading, the more you'll read, which will improve your vocabulary and knowledge about the world. I say keep making the books available for your students, and model that reading is a fun.
Good Luck
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