Teachers' perceptions and attitudes regarding the integration of personalized reading collections with commercially prepared reading programs

The purpose of the study was to describe kindergarten teachers' perceptions regarding the effectiveness and feasibility of creating personalized reading collections in addition to adhering to district-mandated commercially prepared literacy curricula. The two primary questions addressed in this study were: (1) What are teachers' perceptions and attitudes regarding integrating the use of personalized reading collections with their required commercially prepared reading program? (2) What kind of knowledge base and experience do teachers perceive they will need in order to effectively implement this type of differentiated literacy instruction? The theoretical basis of the study was an adaptation of the literacy instruction research of Sylvia Ashton-Warner (1963).; The participants in this study were three kindergarten teachers who taught in urban school settings. Each of these three teachers selected five students they considered to be at-risk with regard to literacy development. This qualitative study was conducted through the use of pre-treatment and post-treatment interviews and weekly Feedback Forms. All data was coded and analyzed for patterns and trends, using grounded theory.; The results of the study indicated all teacher participants found the personalized reading collection to be highly effective and feasible with all at-risk students in the study. The participants expressed concern regarding the practicability of expanding the use of this strategy to a larger number of students.; Teacher participants expressed their beliefs that peer mentoring and instructional modeling would be the most effective way for others to implement the instructional strategy. Teacher participants also recommended that educators should have appropriate classroom management practices and experience with reading instruction prior to implementation.; The findings also indicated the method strengthened students' peer literacy interactions and interactions with families. Additionally, teachers perceived positive changes in students' confidence and motivation to read for all at-risk groups including students with limited English proficiency.; Further research is needed to measure specific areas of students' literacy skills and examine personalized reading instruction effectiveness with specific groups such as students with limited English proficiency.