Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Lynn E. Cohen, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Ruth V. Guirguis Ed.D.

Third Advisor

Efleda Tolentino Ph.D.

Abstract

The nationwide literacy crisis has been in existence for decades. Numerous governmental acts, research, and studies have yet to positively affect the nationwide literacy policies and instruction in schools. The Science of Reading, a body of research from many disciplines inclusive and exclusive of education, has illustrated how structured literacy can positively affect reading outcomes. One of the skills under literacy, phonemic awareness, is an instrumental foundational reading skill that researchers have identified as critical to early literacy and eventual reading proficiency. Historically, many districts have not been mandated to utilize instructional tools or practices grounded in research or evidence. This exploratory, comparative, quasi-experimental, ex-post facto, retrospective design study explored the impact of three programs being used in a district: (1) Heggerty/Bridge to Reading, (2) Magnetic Reading Foundations and (3) teacher-made programs on the phonemic awareness abilities of kindergarten students as demonstrated by the pre- and post- i-Ready computer-adaptive assessment. Longitudinal data were collected through the Diagnostic Results report and analyzed using ANCOVA, Repeated Measures Logistic Regression, Cochran Mantel Haenszel, and Fisher’s Exact tests to compare if any program yielded a statistical difference in achievement gains for students. The results demonstrated that there was a lack of statistical significance in the means and proportion differences between programs. The results demonstrated that Magnetic Reading Foundations had the most equitable outcomes for ELLs and non-ELLs while teacher-made programs produced the highest mean and overall proportion mastery. The results imply that utilizing a structured literacy program with some teacher input is the optimal method to produce the best outcomes for students’ phonemic awareness gains.

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