Can a master's program really make a difference in students' reading skills?

Instructor, Jan-Feb, 2004 by Evelyn Hunt Ogden

absolutely! Just ask the Washington state teachers who enrolled in the Walden University distance learning master's in reading and literacy and saw their students' test scores soar!

In the age of accountability, every teacher needs an expanded array of tools to ensure that, indeed, no child is left as a struggling reader and writer, falling farther and farther behind on the road to success in school and life. You need the tools to spark confidence, jump-start motivation and change a flat performance to one that accelerates steadily toward goals met and high achievement.

But where to find those tools? And how to know if, in fact, they will make a meaningful difference in how you teach and how successfully students learn?

A recent study involving 46 teachers and 805 students in grades 1-5 from 14 schools in the Peninsula and Tacoma school districts in Washington points to exciting answers.

Through the Walden University MS in Education with a focus on Elementary Reading and Literacy, Peninsula and Tacoma teachers report that they learned relevant strategies to meet the needs of their students, most from low socio-economic backgrounds. And test scores show a correlation between the influence of those strategies on teachers' effectiveness and students' success!

Walden MS in Reading: Distance Learning That Works

In the late summer of 2002, 32 teachers, all without master's degrees, enrolled in the Walden program and agreed to take part in a study to assess the program's impact on teacher performance and student reading achievement. Also participating was a control group of 14 teachers with master's degrees from other universities. The study was conducted by independent researchers and was funded by Canter & Associates and Walden University, partners in developing the curriculum of the master's program.

The Walden program utilizes a distance-learning format. Teachers work through the program with colleagues in small study groups. Courses include videos featuring lectures on new research and cutting-edge strategies by top-notch experts in the field (see the "All-Star Lineup" box on page 16 for complete list) and master teachers modeling the strategies with actual students. Teachers watch, read and then apply what they learn in their own classrooms, testing the strategies with their students and reflecting on the results. Walden faculty members guide teachers through each course.

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Practical Content Teachers Can Use

The concrete nature of the program impressed Tacoma Superintendent of Schools, Dr. James Shoemake. He attended a meeting of teachers participating in the program and was "thrilled by the comments they were making about the applicability of the lessons," he recalls. "They talked of practical strategies and increased effectiveness."

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Adds Dr. Shoemake, "Another rewarding piece of the Walden approach is the study group. Those teachers were building a cohort group, which fits beautifully with our goal in Tacoma of developing learning communities in our schools."

Walden Results: Test Scores Beyond Exemplary!

The Degrees of Reading Power (DRP) Primary (grade 1) and Standard (grades 2-5), a paper-and-pencil test, was given to classes of Walden and control teachers in September 2002 and in June 2003. In this study, the test was interpreted based upon national norms. Results revealed that students of Walden teachers scored significantly higher than those of the control group, even though the control teachers had more years of teaching experience and had already completed a master's degree from another university.

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When compared to the expected score gains on the DRP from all other students in the country, students of the Walden teachers soared. They went from the 40th percentile in the fall pre-test to the 59th percentile in the spring post-test.

The biggest gains in reading proficiency were made by first graders of Walden teachers. The graph below shows the "effect size" for first graders at well beyond the "educationally exemplary" level determined by the Department of Education. This indicator interprets what a statistical gain in test scores actually means in terms of the change in students' performance.

Walden second graders also went beyond "exemplary" and third graders were at the "significant" level. The effect size for fourth and fifth graders was not significant and in keeping with common results that show older students generally do not make the large leaps in reading proficiency that younger students may.

Changing Practice: Strategies in Phonics, Fluency, Comprehension and More

Participating teachers completed surveys three times during the year-long study. They described strategies used in teaching reading and the impact of courses in reading instruction on their classroom practice. Among the most significant changes were increased use of strategies in phonics, fluency, guided reading, vocabulary and comprehension. More than 90 percent of the Walden teachers reported they had changed the way they taught reading while going through the master's program.