International Reading Association Outstanding Dissertation Award 2010

The International Reading Association’s Outstanding Dissertation Award, 2010, has been awarded to Dr Eithne Kennedy, Education Department, St Patrick’s College for her PhD dissertation:  Improving Literacy Achievement in a Disadvantaged Primary School: Empowering Classroom Teachers Through Professional Development.  This prestigious award attracts a high level of interest worldwide and recognises exemplary literacy research. The award was presented by Dr Kathy Au, president of the International Reading Association at the Reading Research Conference, April 26th, during the annual conference: Reading in Many Languages in Chicago, USA.

Using a mixed methods design, the study investigated how best to narrow the well-documented achievement gap in literacy between children in disadvantaged schools and their more affluent peers. Over two school years, a customised on-site multi-faceted professional development programme was offered to the Band One DEIS school which collaborated in the research.  Drawing on the lessons from a wide body of international research, a coherent, cognitively challenging, integrated, balanced literacy framework suitable for the particular school and classroom contexts was designed and implemented in collaboration with teachers.  A synergy of factors at school and classroom levels was identified as contributing to the significant gains in reading, writing and spelling achievement and the powerful changes in children’s motivation and engagement that were in evidence at the end of the study.

This study indicates that when professional development is customised rather than pre-packaged, takes place over an extended period of time and utilises a range of research-based approaches, including a strong ongoing focus on student achievement, that professional development for teachers can have a major impact on student achievement, motivation and engagement.  In addition, it can enhance teachers’ self-efficacy and confidence; raise expectations; and can contribute to the evolution of a school into a professional learning community. The provision of responsive high-quality professional development holds much promise for the future in the bid to narrow the achievement gap.  

St Patrick’s College extend warmest congratulations to Dr Kennedy and to her supervisors, Dr Gerry Shiel, Educational Research Centre, and Professor Jackie Marsh, University of Sheffield, on a momentous achievement.

Press Release:

 

NEWS RELEASE

International Reading Association honors

St. Patrick’s College professor for outstanding dissertation

Newark, Delaware, USA––Eithne Kennedy, a teacher educator at St. Patrick’s College in Drumcondra, Dublin, Ireland, has received the Outstanding Dissertation of the Year Award for 2010 from the International Reading Association (IRA). The US$1,000 award is supported by a grant from SchoolRise, LLA, and recognizes an exemplary dissertation in reading or related fields.

The dissertation, “Improving Literacy Achievement in a Disadvantaged Primary School: Empowering Classroom Teachers Through Professional Development,” will be summarized in the October/November/ December issue of the IRA journal Reading Research Quarterly.

Kennedy’s research focuses on effective approaches to improving achievement in literacy in high-poverty schools. She is particularly interested in working collaboratively with schools to implement research-based approaches to literacy instruction that motivate and engage children as readers, writers and thinkers.

Prior to joining the faculty at St. Patrick’s, Kennedy was a classroom teacher for many years in her native Dublin and in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. She also worked as a reading specialist in New York City, where she completed her master’s degree in special education at Fordham University.

Kennedy currently resides in Dublin.

The International Reading Association is a community of reading professionals united by the mission to promote higher levels of literacy, reading, and communication by advancing the quality of instruction and research worldwide. A network of 1,200 councils and more than 50 national affiliates forms the working foundation for the Association.

 

 

 

 

 

Last Updated: Tuesday May 25 2010