Organization of Qualitative Data

Foertsch (1998) organized the qualitative data from a local evaluative study in the following manner:

Teachers' Beliefs about Reading and Reading Instruction

"As part of the individual interviews, teachers were asked to characterize their philosophy of learning, reading, and instruction. At the elementary level, the majority of teachers felt that:

• Balance is important. [Teachers] must balance the need for phonics knowledge with comprehension-focused instruction.
• [Teachers should] emphasize comprehension and the use of reading strategies.
• [Teachers should] emphasize decoding within the context of a story.
• We say we don't teach phonics, but we do. [We're] always talking about letters and sounds, but it's done within a meaningful context.

One of the critical attributes of the primary program that engendered a great deal of discussion is developmentally appropriate practices, although there was some disagreement about what 'developmentally appropriate' means in the classroom. There was more agreement among teachers at the primary level about what the term means than between the primary and elementary levels.

When asked about the current program at the middle school level, the majority of middle school teachers reported that:

• Good readers have many different strategies and are able to monitor their own comprehension.
• No one approach works for everyone.
• Students should be able to respond personally and critically and make connections with a variety of texts.
• Reading should be done within a content area.
• It's important to have a variety of opportunities to interact with text.
• Reading and writing are vehicles for thinking.

In a related interview question, teachers also were asked to explain what they think is the most important thing (or things) students need to learn in order to be good readers. Responses at the elementary level including the following points:

• It is important that students develop phonetic awareness. We need a systematic approach to phonetic awareness and phonics instruction.
• Students must be able to decode.
• Students must be able to connect what they read to their personal experiences.
• As students mature and develop reading skills and strategies, comprehension should become the focus of instruction.

At the middle school level, responses included the following:

• Students should have a repertoire of strategies in order to make meaning.
• [Teachers] must give students opportunities to read a variety of different types of books.
• Students must be able to see that what they are learning is interesting and relevant to their lives.
• Scaffolding and modeling are important aspects of strategy instruction.

Teachers also were asked to share their opinion of the current reading program, and to describe which aspects of the program were easiest and which were the most difficult to implement and why. Responses highlighted many different aspects of the programs in District 31. Elementary teachers made a number of positive points about the current program included the following:

• The current program is exciting for students, and the books are great.
• We like having the freedom to make decisions.
• The current program really motivates students to read.

A number of concerns regarding the elementary reading program were also expressed:

• We don't have enough time to work with students who are struggling readers.
• At the early levels, there isn't enough emphasis on decoding.
• There aren't enough books to accommodate the range of readers typically found in a classroom.
• There should be more structure to the program at the primary level, especially for teaching nonreaders. Having a basal available as a resource might help solve this problem.
• The program is not as strong as it was before the introduction of whole language.

Similarly, middle school teachers emphasized several positive key points, such as the freedom they enjoy in terms of instructional decision making. Other positive comments include the following:

• Students are given lots of opportunities to read a variety of texts.
• [There is] good collaboration among staff in planning for instruction.
• [There is] a rich variety of materials from which to choose.
• Students are really challenged.

However, middle school teachers also voiced concerns with the current program:

• Too many students are reading texts at their frustration level rather than at their instructional level.
• The influx of bilingual and ESL students will necessitate changes in the current program.
• The curriculum does not provide teachers with strategies for addressing reading problems.
• The program is reading-based, but it is not really a reading program.
• Not enought time is actually spent on the teaching of reading.
• Many students seem to lack the necessary strategies for dealing with text." (pp. 22-24)

References