Teachers' perceptions and use of effective strategies in reading instruction for children from disadvantaged home settings

The purpose of this case study was to investigate tenured teachers' perceptions regarding students from disadvantaged home settings. In this study the students from disadvantaged home settings were homeless children and children whose parents are substance abusers in one suburban elementary school in southeastern Pennsylvania. This study also examined reading strategies utilized by tenured teachers for students from disadvantaged home settings and effective strategies used to improve reading achievement of homeless children and children of parents who are substance abusers. The participating subjects of the study were six tenured teachers representing kindergarten, first, second, and third grades. Each of the participating teachers has at least one student of the researched population in their classroom. Using a qualitative method, the researcher utilized the sources of surveys, interviews, and Qualitative Reading Inventory III tests on the researched population. The results of the survey revealed that the participating teachers did not have sufficient information about the needs of the homeless children. The teachers were split in their knowledge about the needs of the children of parents who are substance abusers. The majority of the teachers agreed that a child's emotional state does affect how a child learns. The results from the survey showed that all the participating teachers agreed on the following strategies that low-achieving students need help integrating and learning new material by relating to prior experiences. In the case of the researched population, an effective reading strategy was a phonemic awareness curriculum that aided the students in improving their reading skills. All students of the researched population did show some growth with implemented reading strategies.