A Causal-Comparative Study of Reading Motivation and Reading Achievement in Middle School Special Education Students of Black, Hispanic, and White Descent

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study is to determine if there is a difference between reading motivation and reading achievement of middle school special education students of Black, Hispanic, and White descent. The importance of this study was to close reading gaps between ethnic groups. This study was conducted in four middle schools in a suburban area in Northeast Georgia. Participants included 58 Black=Group 1, 35 Hispanic=Group 2, and 33 White=Group 3 middle school special education students with a total of 126 students. The research questions guided this causal-comparative study with the following: (a) Is there a difference between reading motivation scores among middle school special education students of Black, Hispanic, and White descent? and (b) Is there a difference between reading achievement scores among middle school special education students of Black, Hispanic, and White descent? The reading motivation was measured by the Adolescent Motivation to Read Profile (AMRP) reading survey and the reading achievement was measured by the I-Ready reading assessment. This causal-comparative study sample involved middle school students who qualified for special education services in one of the twelve eligible exceptionality categories approved by the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE). There were two one-way ANOVA’s conducted to analyze the differences among one independent variable with the three ethnic groups. Results showed that there was no significant difference between reading motivation scores and no significant difference between I-Ready reading scores among middle school special education students of Black, Hispanic, and White descent.