LITERACY FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN THE MIDDLE GRADES: AN EXPLORATION OF SELF-EFFICACY, DATA-BASED, GOAL SETTING AS A LITERACY INTERVENTION

Abstract

Literacy is an essential life skill, and adolescents need strong literacy skills to succeed in secondary schools and beyond. Low literacy achievement in the middle grades puts students, particularly students with disabilities (SWD), at a disadvantage heading into high school and can lead to negative outcomes such as dropping out. The intention of this mixed method, sequential exploratory study is to understand how a self-efficacy, data-based, goal setting intervention, designed to improve reading skills among struggling readers in middle school (grades 6-8), was implemented and perceived by teachers during a pilot run of the intervention in the fall of 2019. The students receiving the intervention included those with disabilities and Individual Education Programs (IEPs), as well as other students with low literacy scores. The intervention was implemented by English Language Arts (ELA) teachers at three middle schools in the southern region of a suburban school system in Maryland. This research will focus specifically on the implementation of the intervention with students with IEPs. The purpose is to determine if, how, and how often the intervention was implemented (frequency and intensity) by the ELA teachers in the three identified middle schools in the district and to explore more deeply 4 teachers’ perceptions about the intervention implementation process and impact in one of the three middle schools.