Culturally Responsive Instruction as Computer-Based Reading Engagement and Literacy Among Native American Students

Abstract

The chapter presents a review of the literature on Native American education and the use of culturally responsive instruction to guide the implementation of a computer-based reading program to increase engagement and reading levels for Native American secondary students for a quantitative single-case study on the effects of using Achieve3000 while using a culturally responsive model for selecting reading samples. Study findings noted though student reading levels increased and reading engagement improved in some key areas, no significant difference was found between groups. The implications of these findings are that use of a culturally responsive pedagogy to select self-relevant materials for a computer-based reading program may help Native American students to increase their reading levels and reading engagement scores, but not at a significant rate. Future research should consider whether these pedagogies and other strategies may improve Native American reading literacy.