Date of Award

2013

Degree Name

School Psychology

College

Graduate School of Education and Professional Development

Type of Degree

Ed.S.

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Fred Jay Krieg

Second Advisor

Sandra S. Stroebel

Third Advisor

Stephen L. O’Keefe

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine which cognitive intervention based on Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory was most effective at increasing student reading achievement. Ninety students who performed in the bottom one-third on the Virginia Standards of Learning (VA SOL) test from a rural school district in VA were placed into three instructional groups: 1) a control group, in which the teacher utilized the same instructional strategies from previous years, 2) a “teacher selected” treatment group, in which the teachers determined the students’ cognitive processing deficits and chose an intervention, and 3) a “tested” treatment group, in which students were administered the Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ-III) and assigned interventions based on the testing. Students were assessed using the end of year SOL test. Results indicated that all other interventions combined based on CHC theory (including the Comprehension-Knowledge, Visual Processing, Auditory Processing, Fluid Reasoning, and Processing Speed interventions) were more effective than memory interventions alone (including Working Memory and Long-Term Retrieval interventions) at improving reading achievement.

Subject(s)

Educational tests and measurements - United States - Evaluation.

Educational psychology - Research.

Reading comprehension - Ability testing.

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