Hallie Shumway and Professor James Jacobs, Teacher Education Department

My research was to compare the difference of print-rich classroom environments at a school in America and a school in New Zealand. I used a 33 point scale created by a BYU alumnus to grade each classroom. I then randomly chose a representative grade from each level, Kindergarten through sixth, and compared the overall data from each school.

I began my research at Midway Elementary School in Midway, Utah. I used the scale for the first time in my own assigned 2nd grade classroom. I then realized how monotonous it would be to sit down in each classroom and complete the scale, which took 40 minutes to complete. It would also inconvenience the teacher of the classroom, requiring them to wait as I use their classroom. I looked over the items each scale was evaluating and decided that taking pictures would cover almost all points of the evaluation.

I met with the assistant principal and requested that he send an email to the staff informing them of my research. He was concerned the teachers would feel intimidated or uncomfortable with me taking pictures, so he explained in the email my purpose for the evaluations was to better my own teaching, not to judge. For the remaining classrooms at Midway I arrived to school early and took pictures with the permission and presence of each teacher. I found the teachers to be willing to share their classroom with me.

Two months later I was in New Zealand, at Pomaria Primary School, with the same range of grades and about the same number of students. It was closer to the beginning of the school year, so the walls were not as full as they would be at the three month mark, when I evaluated Midway. I noticed right away, however, that the classrooms were generally more print-rich than Midway classrooms. There was more wall space and there was a greater focus on student work.

I took pictures of each classroom before school began, as I did at Midway. There was not an email sent, teachers offered their classrooms openly and I felt the culture was more accepting of my presence in their classrooms. Pomaria did not have as much money as Midway: there were less books and texts available. This was compensated in other areas, however.

I realized there was only one way to equally rate the two schools. The classrooms of Pomaria are split level classrooms, so I chose a grade to be a representative grade and chose one of each grade, K through 6th. I had one of each grade represented from Midway as well.

I went to the Mac lab in the McKay Building to use their large screen monitors to enlarge the classroom images. Then, one classroom at a time, I went through each point on the scale and used the pictures of the classroom. I found it to be a better option than sitting in the classrooms and taking up the teacher’s time. However it didn’t show the books behind the cupboards, which I hope did not skew the results. Only one scale of the 33 within the evaluation asked about amount of literature.

After evaluating grades K-6 for Midway and New Zealand, I entered the data on a spreadsheet and made graphs to compare the overall school averages between the seven classrooms. New Zealand’s classrooms had a larger total overall. I hope to further my research by comparing each of the 33 scales, showing what area Midway and Pomaria are strongest and weakest in. I expect to complete the remainder of my research by the end of the year.

To conclude, I found my hypothesis to be correct. New Zealand is known for its worldwide leadership in literacy. The print-rich environment I observed and evaluated from the classrooms of Pomaria Primary School showed its contribution to this. It did not show Midway Elementary School as lacking in literacy; it simply showed the “above and beyond” work that goes into the classrooms at Pomaria Primary School.