Date of Graduation

1981

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to design, implement and evaluate a program involving parents in teaching reading skills. Three procedures for parental involvement were employed to determine which was most effective in enhancing the reading skill performance of kindergarten students. A total of 136 kindergarten children received pre and post tests of The Wisconsin Tests of Reading Skills Development: Word Attack and Comprehension, Level A. All subjects' verbal abilities were determined by The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Parents of all subjects received their children's reading pretest scores. One set of parents received materials and training that allowed them to reinforce skills at home immediately after the teacher had taught the skill at school. The second set of parents received the same materials but no training. The third set of parents received only pretest scores. All parents were asked to respond to a questionnaire that measured the parents' attitudes and understandings of reading readiness and home-school cooperation. Data were analyzed across verbal ability levels by computing an analysis of variance, an analysis of covariance and the Scheffe' post hoc test. On Total word attack and the subtest Initial Consonants, children of parents who received materials and training outperformed children whose parents received only pretest scores. On the subtest Initial Consonants, children of the parents who received materials and training outperformed the children whose parents received materials but no training. For Total word attack and the subtest Initial Consonants, children with high verbal intelligence whose parents received materials and training outperformed children whose parents received only pretest scores. For Total word attack, children whose parents received materials and no training outperformed children whose parents received only pretest scores. On the subtest Words and Phrases, children of average intelligence whose parents received only pretest scores outperformed children whose parents received materials and training. On the comprehension subtest Relationships, children of low verbal ability whose parents received materials and training outperformed children in the other two groups. Although, no significant differences were found among the groups on the parental questionnaire, attitudes were positive.

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