My Dissertation Topic: Increasing elementary school students reading achievement through the use reading rewards programs.

The topic I chose for the purpose of this assignment is: Increasing elementary school students reading achievement through the use of a reading rewards program. My research questions are: Will student reading achievement increase through the use of a reading rewards program? Which primary school reading rewards programs have been proven effective? How can primary school teachers effectively implement a reading rewards program into their curriculum? Will the reading rewards program translate into higher
standardized test scores for the students who participate? This topic was chosen
through my own personal observation inside my 3rd grade classroom
during my third year of teaching. A student of mine had the highest amount of
accumulated “Renaissance Place” reading points. Renaissance Place is the reading rewards program used by my teaching district to track students reading, and to reward them for an accumulated amount of points earned throughout the year. This particular student not only tested “above level” at the end of his third grade year, he also had the highest state standardized reading test scores out of the entire third grade population of students at the school I
worked at. After observing these coincidental events by my third grade student,
it left me with my interest in this topic.  I have mentioned this to other colleagues and they too think this would be a good area to gather research in. I eventually want to create a groundbreaking reading rewards program to spread throughout schools nationwide.

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