Successmaker to Raise Reading Scores

¶ … SuccessMaker to raise Reading Scores

SuccessMaker is a computer-based instructional program containing basic skills-building courseware and applications courseware used to build high level thinking skills and improve student's reading level. SuccessMaker aims to improve the understanding of students in phonological awareness, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and reading skills. SuccessMaker aims to supplement student's regular classroom reading and improve student's analytical skills using computer to analyze student's skill development, and introducing new skills as appropriate. (Given, Wasserman, Chari, et al. 2008).

Objective of this paper is to provide the research methods and research design to reveal the procedures of using Successmaker to raise the reading scores.

Research Design

The objective of this paper is to test the effectiveness of the SuccessMaker to raise the reading scores of the K-8 students. The study will contain six-week intervention phases with the three testing sessions. The first testing session will be prior to the intervention; there will be another testing session after the first intervention which is 6 weeks after the initial testing. Final testing will be conducted after the completion of the intervention. Total number of 30 students will be used for the experiment, and the experimental students will use SuccessMaker for the period of six weeks to enhance their reading skills. To determine the effectiveness of the SuccessMaker, total number of 15 K-8 students will be used as control group, while 15 students will be used as experimental group. The control group will not use the SuccessMaker for the improvement of their reading skills. To test the effectiveness of the SuccessMaker to increase the reading scores, researcher will test the reading performances of the participants and the control group after the six-week session. . The scores of the participants will be collected, and will be compared with the scores of the control group. The different in the scores of the participants and the control group will determine the effectiveness of SuccessMaker in raising the reading scores.

Research Method

The participants will be selected from the students in the Mid Atlantic School. The students for the experiment will be identified based on their limited progress in their reading skills. The consent forms will be distributed to the 50 students for parent approvals. The returned consent forms with parent signatures will indicate the parent's willingness to allow their children to participate in the experiment. To participate in the experiment, the student's cumulative academic and behavioral records will be checked and students with emotional disturbances will be removed. The remaining students will be screened for the auditory and visual acuity. Students with normal auditory and corrected vision will be allowed to participate in the experiment. After the screening, it is anticipated that the researcher will be able sample the total number of 30 students for the experiment. Prior to the program, participants will be tested on their reading skills. The major objective for testing the reading skills of the participants prior to the program is to record the reading skills of the participants.

For the improvement of the reading skills of the participants, the program is presumed to complete for six weeks. There will be intensive 30-minute session using SuccessMaker, and the session will take place in 5 days a week. It is anticipated that there may be diminishing returns during the sessions where students will show sign of fatigue. Games, token system of food and video games will be used to reinforce the willingness of the participants to continue participating in the program. (Goodloe, Mentavlos & Rose-Baele,2004).

After the six-week learning program using the SuccessMaker, students will be evaluated on their reading skills, and the evaluation will be carried out using 30-minutes test to determine the benefits of SuccessMaker. To determine the benefits of the SuccessMaker, both the experimental and the control group will be allowed to participate in the 30-minute tests. Quantitative techniques will be used to record and publish the test scores. The test scores for the experiment group and the control group will be made available in form of tables and graphs.

Research Instruments

Research instruments will consist of desktop computers, SuccessMaker software and headphones. The computers will be used to deliver the reading lessons while the headphones will be used to assist the students with the listening skills. The SuccessMaker software will consist of the integrated course contents that will assist the students in their reading skills. (Fig 1 provides the prototype of the SuccessMaker research instruments).

Fig 1: Research Instruments

Analysis

There are several strategies that the study will use to analyze the data to enhance the validity and reliability of the study. First, all the procedures of the proposal will conform to the laid down procedures of the Pearson education.

In addition, both the experimental and control group will take the tests to determine the effectiveness of SuccessMaker instruction program in raising the student reading skills.