DIFFERENCES IN THE READING PERFORMANCE OF TEXAS GRADE 4 STUDENTS ENROLLED IN TITLE I, PART A AND NON-TITLE I, PART A SCHOOLS AS A FUNCTION OF GENDER AND EMERGENT BILINGUAL STATUS: A MULTIYEAR, STATEWIDE INVESTIGATION

The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to determine the degree to which enrollment in a Title I, Part A school was related to the reading performance of Grade 4 students on the Texas state-mandated reading assessment. Specifically examined was the extent to which boys and girls enrolled in Title I, Part A schools and non-Title I, Part A schools and Emergent Bilingual and non-Emergent Bilingual students enrolled in Title I, Part A schools differed in their reading performance during the 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019 school years. A causal-comparative research design was present for all three studies (Johnson & Christensen, 2020). Archival data were collected through a Public Information Request form submitted to and fulfilled by the Texas Education Agency Public Education Information Management System for the 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019 school years. After conducting statistical analyses, Texas Grade 4 students enrolled in Title I, Part A schools were determined to have statistically significantly lower reading scores than Texas Grade 4 students who were enrolled in non-Title I, Part A schools. With respect to gender, boys and girls enrolled in Title I, Part A schools had statistically significantly lower reading test scores than their peers enrolled in non-Title I, Part A schools. In all three Reading Reporting Categories and all grade level performance standards (i.e., Approaches Grade Level, Meets Grade Level, and Masters Grade Level), boys and girls enrolled in non-Title I, Part A schools outperformed their peers enrolled in Title I, Part A schools. Effect sizes for the Reading Reporting Categories for boys and girls for all three school years were moderate. Regarding language status, Emergent Bilingual students enrolled in Title I, Part A schools performed statistically significantly lower on the Grade 4 STAAR Reading exam than their non-Emergent Bilingual peers enrolled in Title I, Part A schools. In all three Reading Reporting Categories and all grade level performance standards, Emergent Bilingual students enrolled in Title I, Part A schools had lower reading skills than did non-Emergent Bilingual students. Effect sizes for the Reading Reporting Categories were small for all three school years.