Busch, Steven D.2015-08-162015-08-16May 20132013-05http://hdl.handle.net/10657/958Children who are not reading by the end of first grade have a substantial chance of never becoming proficient readers. The challenging decision for school administrators is to select a literacy program in which the needs of all students are addressed and in which sustained reading success will occur. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate differences of two instructional programs, guided reading and direct instruction, on the fluency and comprehension outcomes of first grade students. A quantitative research design was utilized to determine the impact of each reading program. In this quasi-experimental investigation, a nonequivalent group design was used. The sample consisted of first grade students in regular education classrooms from two elementary schools in a large urban school district. The outcomes were measured using the Texas Primary Reading Inventory (TPRI). To determine whether statistically significant differences were present, paired samples t-tests were conducted between the beginning-of-year stories and the end-of-year stories for each school. The findings of this study revealed that statistically significant improvements were achieved in comprehension and fluency in both reading programs.application/pdfengThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).Reading comprehensionFluencyGuided readingDirect instructionLiteracy leadershipLiteracyProfessional leadership2015-08-16Thesisborn digital