Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Cathryn Walker

Abstract

AbstractThe local problem is that literacy in the target school district continues to rank below the state average and the fidelity of implementation (FOI) of balanced literacy (BL) has not been addressed since BL was initiated in 2014 to address student literacy achievement. Teachers reported limited professional development (PD) and lack of motivation to implement BL as designed. The purpose of this basic qualitative research study was to explore elementary English language arts (ELA) teachers’ and support staff personnel’s perceptions of the FOI of a BL program in the target school district ELA classrooms to determine in what ways the delivery of instruction replicated the original instructional design. Using Carroll et al.’s implementation fidelity and Duda and Wilson’s formula for success frameworks, the research questions focused on how teachers perceived the FOI of a BL program in the ELA classrooms and how support staff personnel perceived they have supported the FOI of the BL program in the ELA classrooms. Interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample that included eight third through fifth grade ELA elementary teachers who actively participated in the BL implementation process and two support staff personnel who met the selection criteria. A modified van Kaam method of analysis was used to code and analyze the data. Findings indicated that BL FOI needs to be improved and the need for additional PD training on BL for teachers and support staff personnel. A 3-day BL PD project was developed for teachers and support staff personnel. The implications for positive social change include concrete benefit to the district leadership as the product provided may facilitate needed changes by developing capacity building in the district using five teacher cadre teams and the findings may prompt further study of BL implementation by district staff.

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