Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2002

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Kerensky, Vasil M.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between reading gains and the following demographic variables: economic status, ethnicity, and gender. The reading gains of limited English proficient (LEP) and English-fluent students in the school district of Palm Beach County, the fourth largest school district in Florida, were examined for two consecutive years. The researcher also sought to determine if LEP status affected the relationship between reading gains and the variables identified. The sample included 51,590 English-fluent and 11,907 LEP students in the first year. In the second year of the study, the sample included 53,400 English-fluent and 12,830 LEP students. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the correlations and significance of the predictor variables for the subgroups, LEP and English-fluent students. Factorial analysis of variance was used to determine if there was an interaction between LEP status and the regression models for each of the predictor variables. The results indicated that yearly reading gains of English-fluent and Limited English Proficient students in Palm Beach County Schools could not be predicted from the predictor variables used during the years of the study. The results of multiple regressions revealed that a very small percentage of the criterion variable could be explained by the predictor variables (R 2 values ranged from .000 to .003). In the cases where the regression model was statistically significant, the results were not practically significant but the product of a trivial relationship between the variables, perhaps due to the size of the sample. After examining the interaction of LEP status with each of the predictor variables, it was concluded that the interaction between LEP status and each of the predictor variables did not increase significantly the predictive value of the models. No significant difference was found in the regression slopes between LEP and English-fluent students for any of the predictor variables.

Extent

128 p.

Comments

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2002.|College of Education|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2002.

Identifier

FADT12019

Format

pdf

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