The problem being investigated was to determine the effects of Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) on academic achievement in reading comprehension, vocabulary and spelling. This study also examined the effects of using the cooperative learning strategy CIRC on student self-esteem. The subsample of students identified as learning disabled and those in the low reading group (n = 19) provided an additional focus for this research study. Data were collected on 88 students in four elementary school classrooms in two schools during the 1989-1990 school year.
Two regular classroom teachers and one Resource Room teacher were given two days training in Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition and two days training in other cooperative learning methods and philosophies. The experimental teachers were asked to implement CIRC for a duration of twenty-four weeks. Two control teachers were asked to continue their normal teaching patterns. All teachers used the same basal reader and spelling materials for reading and spelling instruction.
Measures of the effect included: Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) subscale scores for reading comprehension, vocabulary and spelling, and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. The duration of the study will be from September 1989 through March 1990.
Data were analyzed by using individual-level ANCOVAs with appropriate pretest scores used as the covariate to increase the power of analyses. Raw scores were transformed to z-scores.
This study found statistically significant, positive self-esteem effects favoring the experimental students. A treatment effect was not evidenced for the subpopulation of learning disabled and low achieving students. However, the analyses of reading comprehension test scores for this subpopulation did approach significance.
The results of this study did not support those found in the two field experiments on CIRC conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins University. The implementation of CIRC did not produce significantly different reading comprehension, vocabulary, and spelling standardized test scores for third grade students. However, it did provide a basis for improved self-esteem in the experimental classes.