A qualitative study of 'Success for All - Roots and Wings' on four Jefferson County schools (Colorado).

摘要

In recent years, school reform has focused on increasing student achievement, especially in the area of literacy. One comprehensive reform model that incorporates literacy as a focus is a systemic and systematic model called “Success For All - Roots and Wings.” The aim of this study is to describe, interpret, and appraise the intentions and operations of “Success For All - Roots and Wings” within 4 schools in Jefferson County, Colorado. Three questions guided this effort: (1) To what degree did each of the four schools in this study implement the “Success For All - Roots and Wings” schoolwide reform model? (2) To what extent was “Success For All - Roots and Wings” effective in each of the four schools? (3) What accounts for the effectiveness, or lack thereof?; The qualitative research method employed to examine the three questions was educational criticism and connoisseurship. This method allowed me to analyze the intentional, structural, curricular, pedagogical, and evaluative dimensions of “Success For All - Roots and Wings” reform model in four different public school settings. I also analyzed student data in reading achievement from CSAP as well as the Gates/MacGrinitie reading assessment, and Diagnostic Reading Assessments. The four schools included in this study had varying degrees of success with the “Success For All - Roots and Wings” model, ranging from very little to significant.; My conclusions include: (1) implementation of the model as it is intended is critical; (2) consistent leadership at the classroom, building, and district levels is vital for the model to have an impact on student achievement; (3) many factors within the school community influence the success of the model on student achievement, including: mobility rate of the student population, the mobility rate of the educational staff, the socioeconomic level of the community and the diversity of ethnicity in the student body and (4) trust and commitment within the educational staff must be foremost for a schoolwide reform model to impact student achievement.