The differences in the attitudes toward and perceptions of reading in successful and struggling middle school readers

by Ludwig, Angie.

ii Cindy Hendricks, Advisor The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not there was a significant difference in the attitudes toward and perceptions of reading between the highest performing and lowest performing readers in three middle schools serving sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. All three middle schools were from one school district. The survey was administered to all students in the schools whose teachers agreed to participate, and the respondents’ STAR reading assessment results were used to determine which students’ responses were used in the study. All successful readers (identified by STAR scores as the top 15% of the total population) and all struggling readers (identified by STAR scores as the bottom 15% of the total population) were given consent letters for parents and students to sign. The responses for all participants who agreed to participate comprised the data collected and evaluated for this study. Comparisons were made (based on the number of students responding in agreement or disagreement with 20 survey statements) that dealt with attitudes or perceptions of middle school readers. A chi square test for independence was used to determine whether or not the better readers’ responses differed significantly from those who are lower performers. Results of the study show that of the 12 statements that were related to attitudes and interests, five did differ significantly. With alpha at .05, these responses had a p-value of less than .05. There were seven of the responses related to perceptions of reading. Four of the responses showed a significant difference (p-value less than .05) between the top readers and those from the lower-performing group. This work is dedicated to Mom, Scott, and Brody. iii