Running head: READING STRATEGIES FOR FIRST GRADERS NEEDS ASSESSMENT

Reading Strategies for First Graders Needs Assessment

Nuong Nguyen

California State University, Monterey Bay

Cohort MIST XII

IST 522 Instructional Design

Dr. Jeanne Farrington

Fall 2017
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Reading Strategies for First Graders Needs Assessment

John E. Steinbeck School consists of 60 first grade students ranging from age 6 to 8.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, first grade is the first year of

mandatory schooling (2014). It is also required by law that the state offers a full-day first grade

program whereas kindergarten is only required to be half-day (2014). The Common Core State

Standards (CCSS) expect students to meet each grade level’s expectations and goals in order to

be college- and career-ready (2017). According to the first grade reading standards, students

should be able to read short and long vowels, digraphs, words with inflectional endings, and two

syllable words by the end of the school year (2017). However, first grade students at John E.

Steinbeck School are not meeting the reading standards. This capstone project stems from a

current need for explicit instruction of first graders on reading strategies that will help them

improve on their reading fluency and decoding skills.

Methodology

Several methods were used when conducting the needs assessment, including students’

test scores from the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA), informal discussions, and a

staff survey to show students are reading below grade level and that there is a need for explicit

instruction on reading strategies.

The Developmental Reading Assessment scores for all three first grade classes were

accessed through the school’s Google Drive for the 2016-17 school year. The DRA assesses

students’ reading ability in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, reading fluency, and

comprehension and determines the students’ reading level. I was also able to assess 21 students
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on the DRA. The students had to read one or more selections aloud, retell what happened, and

answer comprehension questions afterward.

Through informal discussions with the second grade teachers in the teachers’ lounge, I

learned the same students who were struggling with reading in first grade are still struggling this

year in second grade. In second grade the text is more complex and less instruction time is

devoted to learning how to read. Therefore, it is crucial that students receive the foundational

reading skills in first grade in order improve their reading fluency and meet the DRA level target.

In order to get a more thorough needs assessment, ten staff members were surveyed. A

paper survey was also created in Microsoft Word and handed out for teachers to fill out (see

Appendix A). The survey consisted of nine questions: Four questions about teaching background

and instruction, four questions using a rating scale on reading strategies and level of satisfaction,

and one open-ended question on ways to improve students’ reading skills. The participants’

occupation range from teaching kindergarten to 5th grade, a special day class, and a reading

intervention class. The participants’ level of experience with teaching varies from 4 years to 37

years (see Appendix A for survey results).

Results and Analyses

The needs assessment shows that the first graders are not reading at grade level. Students

should be reading at a level 18 on the Developmental Reading Assessment; however, 41% of the

first graders scored below grade leve1, and half of those students are only able to read words

with short and long vowels sounds fluently. In order to be successful students have to be able to

read short and long vowels, digraphs, words with inflectional endings, and two syllable words

(Common Core State Standards, 2017). From my observation of 21 students, about one-third
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only knew one or two reading strategies while decoding words and were struggling to progress to

a harder DRA level.

Based on the survey, 60% of the teachers did not feel like their students were reading at

grade level. 40% were dissatisfied with their students’ reading ability, 30% were neither satisfied

nor dissatisfied, and 30% were satisfied. The results show that most of the teachers felt students

were not reading at grade level when they enter their class. Also, more teachers were dissatisfied

with their students’ reading ability.

When the teachers were asked how much time they spent on teaching phonics, the lower

grades (kindergarten-2nd) spent over an hour teaching phonics, whereas the upper grades (3rd-5th)

dedicated less time. When asked about how much time was spent teaching reading strategies in a

day, half of the teachers spent less than 35 minutes. However, 100% of the participants felt there

is a need to teach students reading strategies explicitly to help students improve their decoding

skills.

When the teachers were asked if they thought the students were capable of improving

their reading skills, there was a positive response. Four teachers mentioned instruction is needed

to help improve the students’ reading skills. Three teachers wrote the students need more

practice. Two teachers mentioned home support and proper foundation. One teacher mentioned

students need motivation.

Learning Module

From the DRA results and survey, students are struggling to read due to a lack of

knowledge and not all teachers are satisfied with the students’ reading level. The growing

number of students makes it harder for teachers to individualize instruction. The average class
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size for first grade this year is 26 students per teacher with the upper grades having even more

students that can range up to 35 students. An e-learning module would be a better solution to

help students learn the different reading strategies at their own pace instead of a teacher

delivering the content to the whole class all at once. Furthermore, students can access the

learning module at the beginning of each semester to help them review the reading strategies and

commit it to their long-term memory.

The goal of this project is to teach students reading strategies to help them with word

recognition, word patterns, and to build automaticity while reading. The project will provide

practice of the multiple reading strategies through an e-learning module to help students

accurately decode words. Each module will present one strategy. The reading strategies will

include: looking at pictures, making each phoneme sound, stretching out the sound, changing the

vowel sound, breaking up the words into syllables or word families, rereading, and using context

clues to figure out the word.

Constraints

Some constraints might include students’ lack of computer and fine motor skills. The

computers at school are not touch screen; therefore, students have to be able to use a mouse to

click, drag, and scroll through the e-module. In addition, students would benefit from basic

computer skills instruction, such as typing or navigating the e-module.

Summary

Currently, over a third of first graders are reading below grade level and struggling in

the next grade. Even though teachers are teaching reading strategies for at least 35 minutes a day

through whole class instruction, it seems to be ineffective since students are not applying what
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they have learned. Therefore, an e-module can allow students to learn the different reading

strategies at their own pace and apply it through practice exercises. The students and teachers

can get instant feedback and students can have a tool they can refer to and use anytime.
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References

National Center for Education Statistics. (2014). State education reforms. Retrieved from

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/statereform/tab5_3.asp

Great Schools. (2017). John e. steinbeck elementary school. Retrieved from

https://www.greatschools.org/california/salinas/3235-John-E.-Steinbeck-Elementary-

School/

National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School

Officers. (2017). Common core state standards for English language arts reading:

Foundational skills, first grade. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-

Literacy/RF/1/
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Appendix A: Survey Questions Results

1. What is your job title? (10 teachers)

(8 multiple subject teachers, 1 special day class teacher, 1 reading specialist)

2. How many years have you been teaching?

0-9 years (4) 10-19 (2) 20-29 (1) 30-39 (3)

3. Do you feel like your students are reading at grade level?

Strongly disagree (2) disagree (4) neither agree nor agree (2) strongly agree
disagree (2)

4. How satisfied are you with your students’ reading ability?

Very dissatisfied (1) dissatisfied (3) neither satisfied satisfied (3) very satisfied
nor dissatisfied
(3)

5. How much time do you spend a teaching phonics in a day?

0-35 mins (4) 36-71 mins (4) 71-106 mins (2)

6. How much time do you spend teaching reading strategies explicitly in a day?
0-35 mins (5) 36-71 mins (3) 71-106 mins (2)

7. Do you feel there is a need to teach students reading strategies explicitly?

strongly disagree disagree neither agree nor agree (1) strongly agree
disagree (9)

8. Do you think teaching students reading strategies explicitly will improve their decoding
skills?

strongly disagree disagree neither agree nor agree (4) strongly agree
disagree (6)

9. Do you feel like students are capable of improving their reading skills? If yes, how?
-Yes, with instruction and practice with comprehensible input.
-With more motivation, parent support and with me teaching reading strategies more explicitly.
-Yes, through explicit direct instruction.
-Yes explicit direct instructions, small group instructions, guided reading groups, intervention.
-Yes however slower than the typical child without disabilities.
-Yes, with the proper foundation they will flourish.
-Home support.
-Practice, presentation
-Yes, need more practice in small groups.
-Yes! Repeat, practice, practice, practice