The Impact of Teachers' Professional Development on Students' Reading Comprehension
This study will address the problem that it is not known whether teachers' professional development affects students' outcomes on reading comprehension tests. It has been shown that students of elementary age are challenged by reading comprehension. The problem in a lack of reading comprehension is related to an absence of motivation from teachers and parents. The issue is how teachers can motivate and challenge students of elementary age with their reading. Guthrie and Humenick (2005) state that it is unknown whether reading motivation predicts reading comprehension growth in classroom contexts, and it is this uncertainty that will be exploited in the proposed research to determine whether either it can or cannot be linked to teacher development.
Reading comprehension is vital to students' success, not only during their school years but also in all areas of their lives from that point forward. Academic success is strongly predicated on a student's reading ability, with a lack of such ability exerting an adverse impact not only on reading comprehension achievement but also on the student's academic performance overall and good reading ability leading to successful reading comprehension achievement and good academic performance overall (Coleman, 2003, p. ii). Thus, regardless of subject matter or venue, reading comprehension is an essential component of success in school. Reading ability is not only necessary for successful communication but is needed for solving life's daily problems, comprehending traffic signals and road signs, warning labels, telephone books, maps, newspapers, and more (Coleman, 2003, p. 9). Given the substantial importance of reading comprehension for students, both in the present and in the future, it is incumbent upon researchers to ascertain whether teachers' professional development has any measurab...