DOCUMENT RESUME ED 053 880 RE 003 768 AUTHOR Halamandaris, P.G. TITLE Reading in Manitoba Schools:A Survey. INSTITUTION Manitoba Teachers' Society, Winnipeg. PUB DATE 71 NOTE 241p. EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF-$0.65 HC-$9.87 DESCRIPTORS *Elementary School Students, *Foreign Countries, Questionnaires, *Reading Achievement, *Reading Instruction, Reading Research, *State Surveys ABSTRACT In November of 1965, the Provincial Executive of the Manitoba Teachers' Society established a commission made up of principals, teachers, and university professors to study reading in the Manitoba schools, including (1) reading teaching, (2) reading ability of elementary and secondary school pupils,(3) results of research elsewhere,(4) instruction of teaching Leading methods at educational institutions in the Province, and (5) public hearings at which members of the educational or lay public may submit their studies and opinions. An extensive questionnaire was developed and sent to all teachers in grades 1,2, 3, and 6 in the Province. A sample of approximately half the students in grades 1, 2, 3, and 6, a total of 30,973, was administered the Stanford Achievement Test in Reading (SRAT) and the Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test. The results showed Manitoba children to be below the SRAT norm group. Intercorrelations of the variables, regression analysis, and analysis of variance were among the analyses performed. The commission suggested careful study of the following:(1) crucial variables affecting reading,(2) early detection of learning problems, (3) careful selection of reading materials, and(4) educational philosophy. A bibliography, tables, and appendixes (including the study questionnaire) are included. (BM) '4; The publishing cost of this Study has been paid for by a grant from THE WINNIPEG FOUNDATION from funds provided by the DONALD VERNON SNIDER MEMORIAL FUND U. S. DEPARTMENTOFFIOF E OF HEALTH. EDUCATIONEDUCATION & WELFARE PES,.,0:4THis cc UR ORS: N RURODUCED EXACTLY ASRECEIVED FROMTHE 74z>gt1! 073POSITIONSI1:..) Gv OR Nvf POLICY. Nt..t3StitILYTION ORIGINATING RErRESENT IT.OFFICIALPOINTSP70 OFFICE OF VIEW OFOREDUCATION OPINIONSP m.--1>003 0 0G)E > to fin m=-11 .Ft,Zg0 El az>E < CCD cla 73 044 rn0to z5 FA Printed by SAULTS & POLLARD LIMITED 1499 Buffalo Place, Winnipeg 19, Manitoba 1971 THE MANITOBA TEACHERS' SOCIETY READING COMMISSION ROSS L. DONALD, B.A., M.Ed. (Manitoba).Chairman, Principal, River Heights Junior High School.Chairman, The Manitoba Teachers' Society Brief to the Royal Commission on Education.Past President, The Manitoba Teachers' Society.Winnipeg, Manitoba. WALTER G. CHOMICHUK, B.A.,B.Ed.(Manitoba).Principal, Van Belleghem School.Executive Member, Reading Council of Greater Winnipeg.St. Boniface, Manitoba. ROBERT J. COCHRANE, B.A., M.Ed. (Harvard).Member of School Board.PastChairman,CurriculumCommittee, TheManitoba Teachers' Society.Past President, Manitoba Educational Research Council.Past President, The Manitoba Teachers' Society.Winnipeg, Manitoba. MISS EVELYN D. COX, B.A., M.Ed. (Manitoba).Principal, Lord Roberts School. Primary Supervisor, Winnipeg Schools. Winnipeg, Manitoba. LILLIAN M. LOGAN, Ph.D. (Wisconsin).Professor of Language Arts, Curriculum Development and Social Studies, Brandon University. Consultant to the National Council for Education of Young Children, U.S.A. CLARENCE SWAINSON, B.A., B.Ed. (Manitoba).English Department Head and Teacher of English, Senior High School.Founding member of the Manitoba Association of Teachers of English (MATE). Past President of MATE. Winnipeg, Manitoba. Staff Advisor EMERSON L. ARNETT, B.A., B.Ed. (Manitoba).General Secretary, The Manitoba Teachers' Society, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Consultant CARL BRAUN, Ph.D. (Minnesota).Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Manitoba.Research Associate for the Coordinating Centre for the Cooperative Research Program in Second- Grade Reading Instruction (1965-66).(Contract U.S. Office of Education, 0 EC37 - 001651 - 0472.) Director PANDELIS G. HALAMANDARIS, Ph.D. (Indiana).Associate Professor of Research and Psycholinguistics, Director of Educational Research, Brandon University.Principal Investigator for research project, "A Study of the Speed of Understanding Sentences as a Function of Sentence Structure," 1968, U.S. Office of Education, No. 7 - E - 146. PREFACE THE ORIGIN OF THE PROJECT On November 13, 1965 the Provincial Executive of The Manitoba Teachers' Society established a commission to study the problem of reading in the schools of Manitoba. Appointed to the commission by the Provincial Executive were the following members: 1. Mr. Eward H. MorganChairman.Retired director of High School Instruction in Seven Oaks School Division No. 10 and formerly Assistant-Superintendent of Winnipeg Schools. 2. Mr. R. J. Cochrane.Retired principal of Kelvin High School, Winnipeg, Manitoba and a member of the Winnipeg School Board. 3. Mr. R. L. Donald.Principal, River Heights Junior High School, Winnipeg, Manitoba. 4. Dr.L. M. Logan,Professor,Faculty ofEducation, Brandon University. 5. Mr. C. T. Swainson, Teacher, Garden City Collegiate, Seven Oaks School Division No. 10. As its December meeting the Executive appointed Mr. R. L. Donald as chairman in place of Mr. Morgan who could not accept the chairmanship but agreed to act as a member of the commission.Mr. E. L. Arnett, General Secretary of the Society, was appointed as staff member to act as liaison to the commission.During the term of the commission's activity several changes took place in its personnel.In April, 1967, Mr. E. H. Morgan resigned from the commission and was replaced by Miss Evelyn Cox, principal of Lord Roberts School in Winnipeg.In June of 1969 Mr. Swainson, who had acted as secretary of the commission since its origin, resigned and was replaced by a member of The Manitoba Teachers' Society Provincial Executive, Mr. Walter Chomichuk, principal of Van Belleghem School, St. Boniface, Manitoba. The terms of reference of the commission as set out and agreed to by the Executive were as follows: (i)a study of how reading is actually being taught in Manitoba ; (ii)a study of the state of reading in the Province at the present time in terms of the reading ability of pupils in the elementary and junior high and senior high schools of the Province; (iii)a study of the results of research into these fields elsewhere, including research now being planned in Ontario ; (iv)a study of instruction given in reading methods at the teacher education institutions in Manitoba ; (v) public hearings at which members of the educational or lay public may submit their studies and opinions. i ll111 41, A preliminary survey of the terms of reference and the existing resources soon revealed that this was a very ambitious project and that a very great deal of money would be required to carry it out.The most immediate requirement seemed to be to engage a consultant who could lay out the details of the study.Dr. Marion Jenkinson, who at that tine was an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta was engaged as consultant.The Manitoba Teachers' Society advanced three thousand dollars as an original grant to launch the study.At this time Dr. J. W. Peach of the Faculty of Education of the University of Manitoba was asked to sit in on the commission meetings as an advisor. In June of 1966 Dr. Jenkinson produced an outline of what would be involved in order to carry out the survey according to the terms of reference. Her estimate of cost was one hundred thousand dollars.This would pay for the salary of a research director, tests, clerical help, office space, computerization of results, interviews, etc., and publication of a final result. The Commission then approached the Executive of The Manitoba Teachers' Society for a grant to begin the study.In April of 1968 the Annual General Meeting of The Manitoba Teachers' Society approved a grant of $15,000.00 to be used to engage a project director whose first task would be to raise the necessary funds tc carry out his work.During the spring months advertisements were placed in the daily newspapers and in professional magazines.Several applications were received, but after those with qualifications were interviewed, none was considered suitable to carry out the project.The Commission decided to begin the task of raising the money by itself.Appeals to national and international founda- tions were not successful and after about fifty written appeals to business, etc., only $26,750 was raised. In the meantime Dr. Pandelis G. Halamandaris, of Indiana University, was engaged as project director, effective September, 1968. It WRS obvious from the first that the complete project could not be carried out due to the difficulty of raising funds, so it was decided im- mediately that terms (i) and (ii) would be carried out but limited to grades one, two, three and six.Terms (iii) and (iv) would be fulfilled if possible and term (v) would have to be postponed for the present. During the winter of 1968-69, tests were selectedStanford Achieve- ment Test in Reading, Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test and F'intner- Cunningham.It was decided that in view of the cost of testing the whole school population (about 240,000) at about 40 cents pEr test, the Reading Commission would use a fifty percent sample of grades one, two, three and six.Dr. Halamandaris made a trip to Harcourt, Brace and World, the publishers of the tests in New York and secured their cooperation in the testing program for special prices and aid in scorir g andrim in istering the tests.One of their staff came to Winnipeg and aded in d series of work- shops with teachers.The support of the Department of Youth and Education of the Manitoba government was solicited and secured with a grant of $5,000 and also a pledge of clerical help and aid in the cost of purchasing tests and processing the data. In September of 1967, Dr.