Term

Fall 2017

Capstone

Capstone Project

Degree Name

MAT

Facilitator(s)

Susan Manikowski, Laura Halldin

Content Expert

Kelley Thompson

Abstract

The research question addressed in this capstone project was how does a reading-centered academic program and culture affect achievement throughout content areas? The paper documents the development and implementation of a school-wide, cross-curricular reading program by a team of teachers at a small “Teacher-Powered” charter public school in the Metro Area of Minnesota serving an at-risk population of students. The author documents the details of the reading program as it pertains to the unique learning program of the school and references relevant research literature to provide context and justification for the tools and strategies used in the program. Description of successes and challenges during implementation of the program in the first semester of the school’s 2017-2018 school year are documented. The author concludes that: 1) research-based reading strategies confirm the need for a greater emphasis of reading, writing, and language comprehension in content area classes; 2) such strategies can be effectively applied to content areas outside of language arts with teaching staff who do not have specific training in teaching reading, writing and language comprehension skills is provided with direct instruction and support; 3) making reading, writing, and language comprehension skills central to a school’s learning program and culture affect student achievement in the school in question.

Project Type

School-Wide Programing

Keywords

Reading

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Education Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Included in

Education Commons

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