Date Awarded

2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Education

Advisor

Margaret E Constantino

Committee Member

Steven M Constantino

Committee Member

Stephen S Baker

Abstract

Aurelius School District used Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready program, which was philosophically aligned to the science of reading and included i-Ready Diagnostic, i-Ready Instruction, and Teacher Toolbox, to improve Cole Middle School students’ reading achievement. Because of the high monetary cost of i-Ready, the school district was considering changing or ending this program. This pragmatic, mixed methods design, CIPP (Stufflebeam, 2003) program evaluation analyzed the fidelity of implementation of the i-Ready program through descriptive statistics (frequencies); assessed the effectiveness of the i-Ready program in increasing student achievement (on the Diagnostic, NC Check-Ins, and NC EOG) through descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, and range), Repeated Measures ANOVA, and correlations analyses; and determined stakeholders’ perceptions of the value of the program to inform recommendations to continue, modify, or discontinue usage of the i-Ready program (through surveys and interviews prior to qualitative review using open and axial coding). Based on the review of related literature, the i-Ready program was a coherent and adaptive assessment system and an effective instructional intervention designed to increase adolescent literacy, which occurred in grade levels where the program was implemented with fidelity. Because it provided staff and students with timely, understandable, and helpful instruction and data that helped students grow, recover unfinished learning, and improve their achievement, the i-Ready program was valuable and worth its cost. As the implications for positive social change, it is recommended that the i-Ready program continues in its current form with a few adjustments to motivate and encourage teachers and students to result in increased usage and engagement.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.25774/w4-2ya1-xj20

Rights

© The Author

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