Volume 13 Number 2
January 1974

Robert D. Alley, Ronald G. Davison, Walter T. Kelley,
and Raymond L. Kimble

FOR MANY years the Chilocco Indian School in Oklahoma, maintained by the Bureau of Indian affairs, offered American Indian Youth a variety of secondary-level vocational and academic experiences not normally available at reservation schools. When other educational alternatives became more accessible to these students, the Bureau saw off-reservation schools like Chilocco performing a new role—that is, continuing their primary mission of providing appropriate learning experiences for Indian youth for whom a public or federal day school was not available, and additionally focusing upon students who were scholastically three or more years deficient. New admissions criteria further specified that attention be directed to the educational and social needs of youth with histories of family neglect and/or whose patterns of behavior made educational experiences in their home communities difficult.

This redirection meant the arrival of a new kind of student, an adolescent with severe educational deficiency. Routine test batteries showed the overwhelming majority of these new enrollees to have average or above academic potential but this plus factor had been negated by a background of poverty and social isolation.

During the spring of the 1970-71 school year, a Title I (ESEA) reading improvement project was initiated at the school. Faculty were concerned about the extent of reading deficiency and had requested an evaluation of student needs to determine the most effective type of remedial program. Reading achievement scores on tests administered to ninth and eleventh grade students during the fall of 1970 indicated gross retardation in reading performance. As shown in Table 1, 96% of the population sampled scored below the 50th percentile in performance.

Reading Component. The instructional program utilized a full-time reading teacher and teacher aide. Students were identified for the reading classes by the English Department chairman. Individuals falling within the normal range of intelligence, but exhibiting a minimum of two years’ deficiency in reading achievement were selected to receive instruction in a newly established reading center. Approximately 20% of the students from grades 9-12 were so selected. Classes, ranging between 15 and 20 in size, met daily for 50-minute periods.

The Nelson-Denny Reading Test and the San Diego Quick Assessment Check (see Note 1) were used to establish prevailing reading levels. The Nelson-Denny Test provided information concerning vocabulary, comprehension and reading rate. General error patterns including omissions, word analysis skills and reversals were observed on the San Diego test. The San Diego instrument further provided the teacher with an opportunity to informally observe each student’s behavior during the decoding aspect of reading.

Frequently reading instruction is initiated to correct specific weaknesses exhibited through diagnostic test results. The reading component at Chilocco was designed to correct gross reading deficiency as quickly as possible. As a result, testing was directed to the establishment of student achievement levels rather than the identification of specific disabilities. This design in no way minimized either the value of diagnostic evaluation or specific corrective techniques, but sought instead to reinforce the need for comprehensive, multi-faceted instructional approaches as evidenced by the reading performance reported in Table 1.

*Metropolitan Reading Tests

The program offered a variety of reading activities to each student. Word analysis skills, study skills, as well as comprehension, vocabulary, and language development were provided at several levels as determined by the identification of each student’s needs and interests. These experiences were supported by opportunities for free reading scheduled throughout the day.

Eight areas of reinforcement were identified to serve the specific needs of students:

Selection for reinforcement activities in each area was teacher-determined during individual conference sessions.

Instruction encouraged comprehensive student involvement, a circumstance that required the teacher to have a thorough understanding of their interests. Both teacher and aide were directed to provide three activities per student at each class session. A group activity in motility training, followed by a listening lesson with several students as well as programmed activities for another group constituted a typical session. Students could be observed in whole group involvements, paired and individual exercises or reading independently. High interest books, tapes, filmstrips, games and reading machines were available to support these diversified activities.

Students were entitled to a tangible reward (e.g., portable radio) if they attained at least one grade level advancement in reading ability. Achievement of more than one grade-level enabled the student to receive a -more valuable item (e.g., camera, wrist watch). These incentives placed responsibility for progress on the individual student since none of the instructional activities encouraged peer competition.

University-based consultants worked in close support of the teacher and teacher aide during the tenure of the project. Consultants served as resource persons, suggesting appropriate techniques, methods and materials for various reading activities. Their weekly visits also provided an opportunity for demonstration teaching and direct assistance to the teacher in student evaluation sessions.

In-Service Component for Staff. The problems previously discussed indicated the need for a greater faculty understanding of and sensitivity to student needs. It was apparent that a number of curricular and instructional processes would have to be restructured to effectively support the reading program. Initial planning activities with faculty tended to support research by Burnett (see Note 2) showing a general inadequacy among secondary-level teachers in the conduct of reading improvement activities. Subsequently a three-phase inservice program was developed and implemented.

A major training adjunct was a reading course for staff which attempted to increase their understanding of problem readers. Smith and Otto (see Note 5) used a similar personalized approach in a study investigating perceived teacher attitude change toward the teaching of reading in content areas. Twenty faculty volunteered to participate, the majority being teachers of Social Studies and English. Seven evening sessions directed attention to models for the conduct of reading improvement activities which could later serve as resources for instruction in the particpants’ own classrooms.

The reading course was supplemented by a human relations training experience for the entire faculty and a workshop program directed to the use of the newer curricular techniques and instructional strategies. Human relations training was designed to foster total staff commitment to a broad-front attack on the psychological and learning problems of students. Faculty acknowledged during these sessions that academic deficiency was endemic to a large part of the student population. More important was participant recognition of how the school’s traditional instructional practices had precluded opportunities for affecting significant gains in student achievement.

The curriculum workshop provided information on methods and materials appropriate for use with American Indian youth. Since many Chilocco students were not responding to current curricular and instructional approaches, workshop sessions highlighted strategies that stressed "process" rather than "content." Such emphasis took cognizance of the faculty’s need to develop a working knowledge of how to effect compromise and adaptation before dealing with content. The total range of in-service experiences recognized that attempts at student remediation without the necessary instructional skills and understandings on the part of teachers will usually result in limited gains for students.

Pre-testing was conducted during the second week of February 1971. Post-test results were obtained during the first week of May 1971. Many students were reluctant to engage in standardized testing at the beginning of the project. Faculty encouragement reduced these fears and subsequent administration of the informal San Diego Quick Assessment Check established the population’s reading levels. Sixty-two students were enrolled in the corrective reading program. Of this number, five left school and four dropped the course. Table II shows student performance when evaluated by the informal measure)

Table III shows the total reading scores by grade for the Nelson-Denny Reading Tests. The low N reported for the ninth and twelfth grade classes may contribute to the values shown for these groups.

The results of total group performance on vocabulary, comprehension and total score are reported in Table IV.

In all cases significant gains are reported. Vocabulary scores are significant at the .01 level. Comprehension and total scores are significant at the .001 levels. The results reported in Table IV reflect student performance after 12 weeks of class instruction. The anticipated student growth for the duration of this project would be .3 of school year. As shown in Table IV, the mean range of increase is 1.2 years. Some individuals increased their skills in excess of 3.5 years.

In general, the findings suggest that the techniques utilized in this comprehensive instructional program resulted in significant achievement gains. "Significance" levels reflect positive gains in reading ability; nevertheless, their interpretation should only be considered indicative of the success of the procedures utilized with this group of learners. Inferences are further limited by the unavailability of control groups and the restricted number of cases reported. The following general conclusions may be tentatively drawn from the project.

Two factors emerged from the project that seemed to account for the successes obtained—namely, increased student motivation and greater faculty commitment to remedial education. The comprehensive reading improvement program and concomitant in-service activities for staff reinforced the behaviors necessary to attain these goals.

1 LaPray, Margaret and Ramon Ross, "The Graded Work List: Quick Gauge of Reading Ability," Journal of Reading 4, (January, 1969), pp. 305-307.

2 Burnett, Richard W., "Reading in the Secondary School: Issues and Innovation," Journal of Reading 9, (April, 1966), pp. 322-328.

3 Herber, Harold L., Teaching Reading in Content Areas, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1970.

4 Early, Margaret, "An Interview with . . . Ruth Strang," Journal of Reading 11, (May, 1968).

5 Smith, Richard J. and Wayne Otto, "Changing Teacher Attitudes Toward Teaching Reading in the Content Areas," Journal of Reading 12, (January, 1969), pp. 299-304.

Contributors to this article are: Robert D. Alley, Associate Professor of Education, and Ronald G. Davison, Assistant Professor of Education, both at Wichita State University in Kansas; Walter T. Kelley, Director of the Title I (ESEA) Program at the Chilocco Indian School; and Raymond L. Kimble, Associate Professor of Education at Wisconsin State University, La Crosse.