The effect of using Renzulli Learning on student achievement: An investigation of Internet technology on reading fluency and comprehension

Date of Completion

January 2007

Keywords

Education, Educational Psychology|Education, Technology of

Degree

Ph.D.

Abstract

Renzulli Learning is an on-line educational profile and matching database geared to provide enrichment resources, creative productivity, and high-end learning that matches student interests, learning styles, and expression styles with a vast array of educational activities and resources designed to enrich the student learning process.^ In this research study, quantitative research procedures were used to investigate the use of Renzulli Learning on oral reading fluency, reading comprehension, science achievement, social studies achievement, and attitudes about school and reading in two schools (n = 383), an urban middle school where nearly half of all students are considered to be at risk due to poverty or other factors, and a suburban elementary school in a middle class neighborhood. Classes of students in grades 3–5 (n = 185) and grades 6–8 (n = 198) were randomly assigned to use Renzulli Learning for 2–3 hours each week for a 16-week period. Students in the treatment groups were compared to students who did not have the opportunity to use Renzulli Learning in control classes in the same schools. ^ A two-way repeated-measures ANOVA was used to explore differences between treatment and control students. After only 16 weeks, students who participated in Renzulli Learning demonstrated significantly higher growth in reading comprehension (p < .001), significantly higher growth in oral reading fluency (p = .016), and significantly higher growth in social studies achievement (p = .013) than those students who did not participate in Renzulli Learning. No differences were found for science achievement and attitudes about reading and school.^

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