A COMPARISON OF READING LEVEL CHANGE SCORES FOR TRADITIONAL AND COMPUTER ASSISTED TEACHING METHODS IN CORRECTIONAL EDUCATION

This study used pre and post Tests of the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) to trace learning progress in two literacy programs at a correctional facility in California. The literacy element tested in this study was reading. The subjects in the first group consisted of inmates who were enrolled in traditional Adult Basic Education (ABE) classes. These classes met 31.5 hours, per week. The comparison group was composed of inmates who were not enrolled in regular classes but were assigned to the computer literacy lab two hours per week on a call-out basis from work assignments, and used computer programs to facilitate literacy improvement. Pre and Post composite reading grade level scores on the (TABE),per 10 hours of classroom/computer lab time and for weeks elapsed between pre and post TABE tests were compared and analyzed to determine rates of change in reading level from pre to post test for the two treatment methods. Demographic frequencies, including age, racial/ethnic group, and education prior to first conviction, were extracted from a questionnaire given previously to representative samples from traditional ABE classrooms and the computer learning lab students, and frequencies were analyzed to determine homogeneity of the two populations.

The data show that the mean change score for the lab sample (0.208) was significantly higher (p<.05) than the mean change score for the class room sample (-0.012).