Relationship of school culture survey responses from reading first coaches to the Missouri Assessment Program third grade communication arts proficiency

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This study investigated relationships between elements of a collaborative school culture, as perceived by Missouri Reading First coaches, and student reading achievement. The primary purpose was to determine if there were predictive relationships between particular subscales of the School Culture Survey (SCS, Gruenert & Valentine, 1998) and the schools' MAP-CA percentages of proficient third grade students. Another purpose was to determine if Missouri Reading First coaches' experience had an effect on MAPCA percentages of proficient students. Experience factors included: Years as Reading Coach, Prior Job, and Total Years as Educator. A nonexperimental survey correlation design was used. Participants included 31 Missouri Reading First coaches who completed an online survey. The study found that SCS subscales of Collaborative Leadership, Collegial Support, Teacher Collaboration, and Learning Partnership were predictive of schools' MAP-CA percentages of proficient students for the sample population. A surprising finding, which warrants further research, was the inverse relationship of Collaborative Leadership and Teacher Collaboration to reading achievement. This study also found that Reading First coaches in this study who became coaches after the state's first year of Reading First implementation, had been a classroom teacher just prior to becoming a Reading First coach, and had more total educator experience had higher percentages of third grade MAP-CA proficient students.