Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

5-1993

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Curriculum and Instruction

Major Professor

Estill Alexander

Committee Members

George Harris, Lester Knight, Glennon Rowell

Abstract

With the launching of the California Reading Initiative in 1906, California was one of the first states to enact statewide curriculum reform in response to recommendations outlined in the report by the Commission on Reading (1985). The California Reading Initiative; based on whole-language philosophy, is a holistic and integrated approach to the language arts, using a literature-based curriculum and stressing the reading/writing connection.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a statewide whole-language approach to literacy as perceived by reading/1anguage arts teachers from one large school district in California. Teachers from ten elementary and four middle schools were selected for the sample. A Likert-type questionnaire was used to gather data for this study.

The research questions dealt with teachers' perceptions on the effectiveness of the California Reading Initiative in providing for:

(1) A balanced literature program that provided students opportunities to use higher-order thinking skills while exploring literature from all genre.

(2) A literature program that motivated students to read independently.

(3) A literature program that met the needs of all students in our culturally diverse society.

(4) A developmental writing program that attended to all stages of the writing process and extended across all curricular areas.

(5) Assessment programs that met the needs of a whole-language curriculum.

An analysis of the responses provided the following findings:

(1) Teachers were positive about tite effectiveness of the California Reading Initiative in providing for a balanced literature program that met the needs of all ttieir students and motivated them to read freely.

(2) Teachers felt that their developmental writing program was successful in attending to all stages of the writing process while extending across all curricular areas.

(3) Teachers voiced concern about the extent of classroom time devoted to assessment and in complying with formal state assessment requirements.

An analysis of the findings produced the following major conclusions:

(1) Teachers see a literature-based reading curriculum as a positive alternative to the skills-based curriculum.

(2) The reading/writing connection is a positive component of the California Language Arts Framework.

(3) Assessment and evaluation in their whole-language classrooms is an area of concern to these teachers.

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