Date of Award

8-2014

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Executive Leadership

First Supervisor

Richard D. Valenti

Second Supervisor

Pamela Njapa-Minyard

Abstract

Education is a key factor linked to a nation’s economic potential. Since the No Child Left Behind Act was signed into law, much of the empirical research investigating the reading achievement of millions of students across the nation suggest that American students are not equipped with the advanced literacy skills to enter the 21st century workforce, specifically urban adolescents attending schools in economically disadvantaged areas. Although scholars have examined the critical concern for reading achievement, little is known about the factors contributing to the reading achievement of urban middle school students. Despite radical education reform efforts, there still exists a significant number of urban middle school students that are not meeting state reading proficiency standards. While scholarly focus has been on investigating practices that support struggling readers, this quantitative study examined the correlation between a student’s reading motivation, perception of parent engagement, and student engagement in literacy class as it relates to a student’s end of year average in literacy class. Approximately 135 grade 7 students in a New York City public middle school were surveyed using the Reading Engagement Instrument for Adolescents. The present study revealed that reading motivation had the only statistical significance on a student’s end of year average in literacy class.

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