| The purpose of this study was to compare the achievement (reading, language arts, mathematics) of the Reading Excellence Act Program schools' students and Non-Reading Excellence Act Program schools' students to determine if there were significant differences in the academic achievement of the two types of schools.; A combined casual-comparative and quasi-experimental research design methodology was used. The Georgia Criterion-Referenced Competency Test was used to collect data from the two types of schools. The sample for the study consisted of 207 third grade students from the Georgia Reads schools and 109 from the Non-Georgia Reads schools for a total of 316.; The statistical package for the Social Sciences, Version X (SPSS-X) was employed to analyze the data for this study. The Analysis of Covariance, the t-test for Independent Means, The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the Newman-Keuls Multiple Range Test were employed to generate the comparative findings. Significance was established at the .05 level of probability.; The major findings were summarized as follows: (1) The academic performance of the Reading Excellence schools' third grade students were significantly higher than the academic achievement of the Non-Reading Excellence Schools. (2) The Georgia Reads male and female student's mean reading scores were significantly higher than Non-Georgia Reads female and male students. (3) The analysis by gender yielded disparities in that the Non-Georgia Reads females students achieved a higher mean reading score than their female counterparts. (4) The mean mathematics scores for both Georgia Reads female and male Students were more than eleven points higher than the mean scores for the Non-Georgia Reads. (5) There were no statistical differences between the mathematics achievement of Georgia Reads and students and Non-Georgia Reads students based on gender. (6) Economics were not a primary factor blocking the academic achievement of Georgia Reads and Non-Georgia Reads students. (7) The additional funding to Georgia Reads schools increased the available resources for professional development, parent training, and other resources. |
