Teaching Assistant: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Reading Recovery Program - Dissertation Example

Executive Summary
This study has been generated through working in year 1 as a Teaching Assistant (TA) in a multicultural, diverse inner London primary school.
There are many ways in which the primary teachers and school leaders could further improve the learning abilities of less competitive students. As part of discussing strategic ways on how the RRP can be improved, this study highlighted several ways on how the primary teachers and school leaders could take advantage of strengthening their individual leadership skills when dealing with lower ability pupils.

In analyzing the individual perspective of primary teachers and school leaders in the proposed further improvements of the existing RRP, the researcher managed to reflect on her personal experiences on RR sessions aside from critically analyzing the gathered literature review. By doing so, the researcher was able to draw on the practical and theoretical advantages and disadvantages of leadership management in the teaching profession.

Acknowledgments
I would like to take this opportunity to thank first of all Allah, for giving me the strength and courage to complete this full-time MA Education and Leadership program along with working full-time in a Primary school.

Thank you Abbu, Ammu, and my siblings for giving me unconditional love and support in allowing me to complete my MA degree. I would like to express gratitude to my wonderful uncle Faruque for motivating me time and time again to take this MA program, and for believing without a doubt that I can achieve it. Special thanks to my wonderful and loving husband Ron, without his continuous support and sacrifices I will not be able to complete this course. Also, to my in-laws whose patience will always be remembered.
In addition, I would like to thank all my fellow colleagues and pupils who participated in this study. Without your valuable contribution, it could be more difficult for me to complete this research study. Lastly, I would like to express immense gratitude to my dissertation tutor, Agnieszka Bates, and my module convenor Anthony Thorpe for their support and guidance throughout my MA. Your help in every step and effort throughout this course is sincerely appreciated.

CHAPTER: 1
Increasing the literacy rate of our primary pupils is the key to eliminating the poverty rate in our society. Despite the importance of improving the literacy rate of Key Stage I pupils, the increasing number of children who were less interested in reading a book is surprisingly increasing. After inviting 2,000 adults and close to 700 children to participate in a research study that was conducted by Reader’s Digest, it was reported that approximately 1 out of 20 young individuals were never given the opportunity to read a book (The Telegraph, 2010).

Because of the improvements and ready access to handheld or online computer games, several news reports revealed that the number of school-age children who no longer find reading a pleasure increases (The Telegraph, 2010; Paton, 2009). Failure to encourage children to read a book increases the chance wherein this group of young individuals could suffer from being unable to read or spell simple words correctly. Likewise, having less exposure to reading books also makes the Key Stage I pupils suffer from using wrong grammar as they reach the higher stage in education (Paton, 2009). This also explains why “more than 535,000 five-year-olds” cannot even write simple three-letter words or even hold a pencil correctly (Paton, The Telegraph, 2007).