Teacher opinions about the nature and treatment of reading deficits in adolescents

The high incidence of adolescents with significant reading deficits has been documented: the latest report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (Donahue, et al., 1998) revealed that approximately a quarter of eighth and twelfth grade students were not proficient at a basic skill level of reading. Yet, based largely upon evaluation of narrative data and speculation, it has been assumed that high school teachers think it is either untenable or too late to address the reading problems of these students. This study attempted to provide a quantitative investigation of teacher opinion about the nature and treatment of adolescents with significant reading deficits. The survey was divided into sections reflective of proposed constructs asking teachers their opinions about several topics: the contribution of student attributes and external influences to the lack of reading progress; predicted student reactions to attempts at assisting them; the importance of specific practices aimed at improving decoding and/or comprehension skills; the use of accommodations; responsibilities of educators; the present state of their own knowledge about reading; current practices; and, willingness to receive training. The responses of 213 participants to a survey consisting of 119 Likert type items and 8 demographic variables were analyzed. Item reduction techniques (Principal Components Analysis and reliability analysis) were applied in order to explore the structure of the data and to provide a basis for the comparison of two teacher subgroups: 113 regular and 99 special educators. The PCA resulted in 17 subscales that closely approximated the proposed constructs. Group differences were found on 5 subscales, indicating overall agreement on most of the measures. Teachers agreed about endorsement and implementation of practices designed to remediate the reading deficits of adolescents, and disagreed that present school programs were effectively meeting these students needs. Results were inconsistent with previous findings that teachers would have negative attitudes about reading instruction for the adolescent poor reader, and indicate that high school educators may be receptive to information and training about issues related to reading development and remediation. However, the convenience sample used in this study warrants caution in extending these findings to a larger population