HELPING STRUGGLING READERS TO READ: THE IMPACT OF THE CARE FOR THE NON-READERS (CRN) PROGRAM ON FILIPINO PUPILS’ READING PROFICIENCY

This study determined the impact of the Care for the Non-Readers Program on the reading performance of struggling readers in all elementary schools of Dumingag II District, Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur, Mindanao, Philippines for School Year 2016-2017. Fifty teachers and 465 parents were selected as respondents of the study. It employed the descriptive comparative research method with the questionnaire-checklist as data-collection instrument. Both the descriptive and inferential statistics were employed in analyzing and interpreting data. The findings of the study disclosed that teachers and parents considered the Care for the Non-Readers Program as “Very Effective” in improving the reading performance of pupils . “Fuller Technique,” “Independent Reading,” “Directed Reading Thinking Activity,” and “Say Something” were the leading strategies applied by teacher s during the program implementation. Majority of the pupils still belonged to the "Frustration" level. However, significant improvement occurred in pupils’ reading performance for three school years. Teachers encountered "Serious" problems in implementing the program while the suggested solutions were considered as "Very Effective." Furthermore, an insignificant difference existed between the respondents’ assessments on CNR program ’s effectiveness .


A. INTRODUCTION
he ability to read is the key to knowledge; it is the key to knowing the world around us and ourselves. Without reading skill, life can be nearly impossible. The future of today's students depends on how well they understand and use a wide range of texts in a thoughtful way. It also relies on their ability to use reading skills to think critically and pass on orally and in writing their thoughts and opinions (Department of Education, 2013).
Acknowledging the importance of reading, many developed countries have established reading programs to promote reading and develop the reading skills of young students (Adler & Fischer, 2001;Lonigan & Shanahan, 2009). These programs differ in design and content.
Some focus on enhancing the quality of reading instruction that is provided by teachers and parents while others attempt to improve the quantity of available reading materials (Lonigan & Shanahan, 2009). implementation, the school division personnel shall conduct yearly monitoring to look for the best CNR Implementing School. Some schools shall build CNR buildings to cater to struggling readers properly. CNR, as a program, is known as the clinic classroom because it combines non-readers from different classes or different grades with one teacher in lower grades and one teacher in higher grades. The selection of CNR recipient pupils is based on the result of EGRA (Early Grade Reading Assessment) and Phil-IRI pretest. The success of pupils catered by CNR will reflect later in conducting posttest in EGRA and Phil-IRI assessment tools (Department of Education, 2013).
The study of the CNR Program is one of the significant studies not only now but in the future as well. Some educators say that children, as of today, lack interest in reading books, novels, and other reading materials because they engage and enjoy playing high-tech gadgets.
Their interests in reading are converted into nonsense activities, which are common among younger children aged five and above. Non-readers are a failure for teachers and schools and an obstacle in school as well as the teachers' performance. As a teacher, one should know what techniques he/she is going to use in encouraging the pupils to read and fostering their love in reading. Pupils have different skills. However, the most important is how they comprehend to what is learned.
Such reasons prompted the researchers to conduct a study on the impact of the Care for the Non-Readers (CNR) program on the reading performance of struggling readers in all elementary schools of Dumingag II District, Dumingag, Zamboanga del Sur during the School Year 2016-2017. In particular, it identified the efficacy of the Care for the Non-Readers program in improving the reading performance of pupils as measured by teachers and parents; the strategies employed by teachers in implementing the program; the reading performance of pupils over the three years of program implementation; and the rate of decline in the reading performance of pupils enrolled in the three-year program. This also described the issues that teachers face when implementing the program and their proposed responses, and the major disparity between the ratings of the two groups of respondents on the program's effectiveness.  Millrood (2001) describes reading as a visual and cognitive process by interpreting written text, processing formation, and comparing it to real experience. Willis (2009) adds that reading is the behavioral result of interaction through distributed networks across multiple structures in the brain. Evidence peaks for systems that appear particularly metabolically active for visual and auditory responses, emotional processing, long-term memory storage, and activation of executive functions. Carter and Nunan (2000) recommend reading privately. It is a cognitive process that involves a reader trying to follow a message from a writer who is distant in space and respond to it. Regardless of anonymity, a writer's reading and response is not explicitly observable. Grabe (2001) defines Goodman's view of reading as an active learning process where pupils need to be taught techniques to learn more effectively, to guess from context, to identify expectations, to draw inferences about the text, and to skim ahead to fill in the environment.
Nonetheless, Paran (2000) rejects Goodman's view of reading as a "practice involving constant assumptions that are later rejected or verified, implying that one does not read all the phrases in the same way, but relies on multiple words -or "cues" -to get an idea of what kind of phrase is likely to follow." Children with impaired reading skills in their lives face numerous difficulties and may be at risk for cognitive, metal, and behavioral disorders. If pupils in early elementary years receive little support, learning to read becomes increasingly difficult as they progress through school.
For a long time, academic failure was described as the key trait of children with low reading abilities. As a group, educators are facing unprecedented increase in the frequency of destructive and intimidating activities that significantly hinder instruction and student learning, an increasingly growing percentage of pupils who have failed to develop competent reading skills (Blackburn, 2009). It is impossible for pupils with behavioral difficulties to obtain access to the core curriculum and engage in the learning experiences without the ability to read and learn as they advance through school (Stobbe, 2001). The low reading achievement puts children at risk for negative outcomes, including failure at school, behavioral difficulties, and rejection by peers and teachers.

Reading Comprehension
The "nature of reading" is comprehension (Gibson, 2006). It is a dynamic process that demands that the reader create meaning from the text. Chen (2009) views reading comprehension as "the method of extracting and constructing meaning simultaneously through Volume 6, Number 02, December 2020 199 contact and engagement with written language." It incorporates a wide variety of expertise and techniques. A reader's ability to get the meaning, point, or key concept out of a text is the core aspect of reading comprehension. Through Chen's point of view, the reader is unable to draw inferences, compare discrepancies within and across parts of a text, or engage in critical thinking about textual ideas without an opportunity to grasp the text's context. Van der Velde and Ernst (2009) suggest that comprehension is divided into three distinct fields of expertise: 1) literal interpretation skills; 2) interpretation skills deduced; 3) logical and evaluative interpretation skills. The latter two competence areas are related to the author's intentions; the author himself or herself does not find implied and critical readings, in this case.
Defining understanding in terms of the author's probable intentions comes with its own set of complexities -not the least of which is deciding what the author's likely intentions were, a topic that is discussed as part of a methodology review. Cotter (2011) describes comprehension as the process of extracting and creating meaning simultaneously through the contact and engagement with the written language. It is composed of three elements: reader, text, and intention. It is the connection among text, writers, and context that contributes to greater understanding using reading comprehension strategies. Pinto (2009) argues persuasively that comprehension is a dynamic interactive mechanism, requiring the use of past experience to create meaning in response to a text. Developing student comprehension processes relies on the ability of an instructor to include a range of forms of text with rich experiences. Schoolchildren will often learn to facilitate word identification, vocabulary, and context awareness which improve comprehension. Yet reading alone may or may not yield professional understanding; thus, effective understanding of reading will need to be learned by specific methods of teaching.
It is not reading without comprehension or knowing. Most kids can pronounce words fluently but they are unable to respond when asked what they've just read. Despite being able to score high in terms of reading rate or fluency, they are not strong readers.
How is it that makes a reader good? A good reader is someone with a read intent, whether it is to look for useful knowledge or to read for fun. A good reader participates as she or he reads in a complex thought process. There are approaches to help children become engaged, purposeful readers. Research has shown that students receiving explicit instruction in these techniques are making significant gains in reading comprehension tests. All readers benefit greatly from direct instruction on how to communicate with a text and process information, no matter what their skill level. The reasoning for specifically teaching comprehension skills is that understanding can be strengthened by encouraging pupils to use different cognitive techniques Adapon, Mangila, Helping Struggling… 200 or creatively reason when they experience obstacles to understanding what they are reading.
Explicit or formal guidance has been shown to be highly effective in improving understanding while implementing comprehension approaches (National Reading Panel, 2000). Research over 30 years has shown that comprehension training can help students understand what they are reading, recall what they are reading, and connect with others about what they are reading (Hock, 2005). Yet what do comprehension strategies mean?

Comprehension Strategies
These are deliberate plans -collections of steps used by good readers to make sense of the text. Instruction on comprehension strategies helps pupils become purposeful, involved readers who are in-charge of their perception of reading (Hock, 2005). Research has shown that understanding text can be increased by guidance that lets readers use these strategies. This means that one can teach pupils how to use techniques (Pinto, 2009).
What do techniques translate to a reader while reading? A good reader is typically an internally driven, self-regulated learner. He reads for interest in or curiosity, information and learning, not because of the distinctions from outside. Each reader sets his or her personal goals in order to get the essence and meaning before engaging in reading. Furthermore, this type of reader is typically a good comprehender who uses metacognitive techniques skillfully and expertly as tools to achieve a higher degree of reading comprehension than a poor reader (Chen, 2009

Reading Clinics
We draw on the distinction between patients and readers at risk or with disabilities. As patients visit clinic seeking treatment, readers who are depressed or disabled visit clinics seeking cure of some kind. By contrast, too, as medical clinics often diagnose and prescribe medical care in collaboration with medical laboratories, reading clinics diagnose and prescribe remediation, often in collaboration with other professionals, speech therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and experts in reading.
The reading clinic is an organization whose primary purpose is to diagnose and prescribe readability, and to provide remediation. A reading clinic can be defined in terms of the function and services that is provides to the struggling reader community. It could be a center attached Volume 6, Number 02, December 2020 201 to a college whose purpose is to prepare and train teachers to become experts in reading (Bevan, 2004). Reading clinics are most frequently viewed as testing units attached to universities where reading is studied and tested. A reading clinic is in some cases a remedial learning course that helps at-risk pupils overcome their reading impairments (Bevan, 2004).
Reading clinics currently exist in many parts of the world. While clinics vary, many of them have commonalities. Bevan (2004) indicates that some of these commonalities are: relying on the group to identify and enroll students who are struggling to learn, taking a reading course in tandem with the reading clinic, the length of clinical services, and hiring teachers and supervisors who track and advise pupils in the clinical setting to enhance the instructional decision-making ability of pupils. Staff, teachers, graduate, and undergraduate students engaged in data collection or study inside the reading clinic community is another similarity.
In summary, modern reading clinics are located in departments of education and act as a training ground for teachers as well as a learning aid for reluctant students. Clinical training is typically the culmination of schooling for graduate students who are either in reading programs or working for credentials in reading schooling. The remedial readers of clinics typically engage in services for at least one quarter/semester, during which they are assessed by a battery of assessments and provided with sufficient guidance for their learning abilities (Mosenthal, 2000).
Clinics are also called the "safety net" for struggling students, and they offer a place for parents, teachers, and community leaders to access for these kids.

C. METHOD
This study employed the descriptive comparative research method in gathering the data needed to accomplish the sole purpose of this investigation. It was being used because this method involves fact-finding and thorough interpretation of the data collected from the respondents of the study. Ariola (2006) states that the descriptive comparative method is employed to provide an explanation about the extent or degree of the relationship between two or more quantifiable variables. It is also used to examine the similarities or differences among the variables in the study.
A total of 50 teachers and 465 parents from the elementary schools of Dumingag II District were the respondents involved in this study. The teachers were the in-charge of the CNR Program while the parents were either the parents or guardians of those pupils enrolled in the program.
It utilized the purposive sampling method in determining the total number of respondents who were included in this study. This method was suitable to use in this study because particular Adapon, Mangila, Helping Struggling… 202 subjects for inclusion are consciously chosen by the researcher to make sure that the subjects will have certain characteristics relevant to the study.

It employed both the self-made questionnaire-checklist and the Philippine Informal
Reading Inventory (Phil-IRI, 2013-2016 in collecting the needed data. The researcher employed the self-made questionnaire-checklist to determine the assessments of the teachers and parents on the effectiveness of the CNR Program, the strategies employed by teachers in the program, the problems they encountered and their suggested solutions while the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory was used as source of the data on the reading performance of the pupils for three school years. To establish consistency, the instrument was presented to the Research Committee for recommendations and suggestions. Items found unclear were revised and improved. Suggestions for the committee were incorporated in the final revision of the instrument.
The questionnaire-checklist that was used in this study consisted of several parts. Part I contained the instrument which was used in ascertaining the assessments of the teachers and parents on the effectiveness of the CNR Program in improving pupils' reading performance. It consisted of ten predetermined statements regarding the program which were taken by the researcher from the related literature reviewed. To determine the effectiveness of the program in improving the pupils' reading performance as assessed by teachers and parents, the following five-point adjectival scale was used: To obtain accurate interpretation of the data gathered, both the descriptive statistics such as percentage and Weighted Average Mean and the inferential statistics like the Z-test were employed by the researchers. Table 1 presented the data on the assessment of the teachers on the effectiveness of the Care for the Non-Readers Program in improving the pupils' reading performance.

Effectiveness of the Care for the Non-Readers Program as Assessed by Teachers
The data revealed that the teachers "Strongly Agreed" that the Care for the Non-Readers varied Weighted Average Mean but were all described as "Strongly Agree," interpreted as "Very Effective".
Analysis of the findings clearly revealed that the teachers generally considered the Care for the Non-Readers Program as "Very Effective" in improving pupils' reading performance as supported by the overall mean of 4.63 with the corresponding adjectival equivalent of "Strongly Agree". Furthermore, the foregoing findings became consistent with a major finding made by Ness, Couperus, and Willey (2013) in their study that the support provided by teachers on a reading program significantly contributed to an improved performance of the students in reading.  Mean obtained but all had the same corresponding adjectival equivalent of "Strongly Agree", interpreted as "Very Effective".

Effectiveness of the Care for the Non-Readers Program as Assessed by Parents
Analysis of the findings implied that the parents generally regarded the CNR Program as "Very Effective" in enhancing pupils' reading performance as supported by the overall mean of 4.51 with the corresponding adjectival equivalent of "Strongly Agree". Moreover, the Adapon, Mangila, Helping Struggling… 206 foregoing finding affirmed one of the major findings made by Kim (2007) in a previous study which revealed that parents' explicit involvement in a reading program such as the provision of the needed reading materials significantly improved students' reading test scores.  Table 3 showed the data on the strategies employed by teachers in the implementation of the Care for the Non-Readers Program.

Strategies Employed by Teachers in the Implementation of the CNR Program
The data revealed that of the 15 strategies identified in this study, "Fuller Technique" obtained the highest Weighted Average Mean of 4.64; closely followed by "Independent Reading," 4.62; "Directed Reading Thinking Activity" and "Say Something," 4.60; "Know-Want-Learn" and "Big Books," 4.58; "Dialogic Reading," 4.56; "TELLS," 4.52; "Drill" and "Sentence Jigsaw," 4.50; "Language Experience Approach," 4.46; "Read Aloud" and "Question and Answer Relationship," 4.44; "Written Conversation," 4.30; and "SQ3R" which earned the lowest Weighted Average Mean of 4.28. The following strategies yielded varied Weighted Average Mean but they all received the same corresponding adjectival equivalent of "Always," that was verbally interpreted as "Constantly Applied".
Analysis of the findings elucidated that the said strategies were constantly applied by teachers in the implementation of the Care for the Non-Readers Program as evidenced by the Volume 6, Number 02, December 2020 207 overall mean of 4.51 with the corresponding adjectival equivalent of "Always". The said findings were supported by the results of the study conducted by Gao, Mo, Shi, Wang, Kenny, and Rozelle (2017) which indicated that properly designed treatments such as independent reading, directed reading thinking activity, among others significantly improved the reading outcomes and skills of students. Furthermore, the scaffolding provided by teachers to students afforded students multiple opportunities to apply and generalize reading skills and strategies to core class material (Hock, Brasseur-Hock, Hock, & Duvel, 2017).   Generally, the findings revealed that majority of the pupils still belonged to the "Frustration" level in terms of their reading performance throughout the three school years.

Pupils' Reading Performance for Three Years of CNR Program Implementation
However, the findings revealed that there was a marked improvement on the reading performance of the pupils after they had been enrolled in the Care for the Non-Readers Program. These findings were consistent with the results of the study of Hausheer, Hansen, and Doumas (2011) which indicated that a school reading program is effective in improving students' reading fluency and comprehension significantly across the academic years.    Year 2015-2016, which resulted to an overall average decrease of 45.03% during the three school years. The given results implied that there was a significant improvement on the reading performance of the pupils within the 3 year-implementation of the CNR program. Moreover, the results were consistent with the major findings made by Fernandez (2015) that a reading program improved the reading proficiency of readers-at-risk in terms of book and print awareness, mastery of the alphabet, phonemic awareness, and other aspects of reading. Problems Encountered by Teachers during the Implementation of the Program Table 6 presented the data on the problems encountered by teachers during the implementation of the Care for the Non-Readers Program.
The results revealed that of the 10 problems identified in the study, problem 6, "Unfavorable attitudes of the pupils toward reading" ranked first as it garnered the highest Weighted Average Mean of 4.32; closely followed by problem 4, "Irregular attendance and tardiness of the pupils who are recipients of the program" which earned the Weighted Average Mean of 4.24, which both received the same corresponding adjectival equivalent of "Strongly Agree", interpreted as "Very Serious". Meanwhile, other problems identified in this study obtained varied Weighted Average Mean but they all received the same corresponding adjectival equivalent of "Agree", interpreted as "Serious".
Analysis of the findings entailed that the teachers generally considered the problems they encountered during the implementation of the Care for the Non-Readers Program as "Serious" as reflected on the overall mean of 4.07 with the adjectival equivalent of "Agree". The findings conformed with the major findings made by Gündoğmuş (2018) that parental indifference, students' unreadiness, lack of professional experience, student absenteeism, students' lack of interest, and physical inadequacies were the serious problems that were commonly encountered by remedial reading teachers in Turkey. In addition, the said findings were supported by Kasran, Toran, and Amin (2012) who identified teachers' workload, lack of funds, non-conducive learning environment, and lack of support from school administrators as common problems faced by remedial reading teachers.  Table 7 displayed the data on the suggested solutions to the problems encountered by teachers during the implementation of the Care for the Non-Readers Program.

Implementation of the Program
The data revealed that of the 10 solutions suggested, solution 3, "Involve parents and other stakeholders in planning and conducting the activities" ranked first as it earned the highest Weighted Average Mean of 4.88; closely followed by solution 2, "Allocate additional budget for the procurement of books and other reading materials," 4.84; solution 1, "Require all CNR In-Charge to attend trainings and seminar-workshops related to the program," 4.80; solution 4, "Conduct home visitation and/or classroom meetings to discuss the said matter with the parents," 4.78; and solution 10, "Provide varied, challenging, and interesting activities that will arouse pupils' interests," 4.76, which all received the same adjectival equivalent of "Strongly Agree", interpreted as "Very Effective". Other suggested solutions yielded varied Weighted Average Mean but they also had the same adjectival equivalent of "Strongly Agree", interpreted as "Very Effective".
Analysis of the findings connoted that the teachers generally regarded the suggested solutions as "Very Effective" in solving the problems they had encountered during the implementation of the Care for the Non-Readers Program as strongly evidenced by the overall mean of 4.73 with the corresponding adjectival equivalent of "Strongly Agree". The foregoing results were consistent with the findings made by Gündoğmuş (2018) that parents' education and cooperation with them, carrying out suitable activities for students, consideration of students' readiness level, and improvement of physical conditions as doable solutions to the problems encountered by remedial reading teachers. Moreover, the said results were supported by Kasran, Toran, and Amin (2012) who found that training of remedial teachers, reducing their workload, and providing financial assistance for infrastructure and teaching aids as doable solutions to the problems they encountered in implementing a reading program.  Table 8 presented the analysis on the significance of the difference between the assessments of the teachers and parents on the effectiveness of the Care for the Non-Readers Program.

Respondents on the Effectiveness of the Care for the Non-Readers Program
As distinctly shown, the result clearly revealed that the computed Z-value of 1.24 was less than the critical Z-value of 1.96 at 0.05 level of significance with the standard deviation of 0.05 and 0.09 and the mean of 4.63 and 4.51 for teachers and parents, respectively. Therefore, there was an enough evidence to accept the null hypothesis.
The foregoing result disclosed that the assessments of the two groups of respondents on the effectiveness of the Care for the Non-Readers Program did not significantly differ.
Volume 6, Number 02, December 2020 215 Table 8. Significance of the difference between the assessments of the two groups of respondents on the effectiveness of the Care for the Non-Readers program

E. CONCLUSION
In light of the findings derived from this study, it could be concluded that the Care for the Non-Readers Program is "Very Effective" in improving the reading performance of struggling readers. All reading strategies are constantly applied by teachers throughout the implementation of the program. Although the pupils still commit several mistakes in reading and demonstrate withdrawal in accomplishing the given reading tasks, there is a substantial improvement on their reading performance. Teachers encounter serious problems during the implementation of the program while the solutions suggested are considered "Very Effective" in addressing the problems they encounter during the program implementation. Moreover, the assessments of the teachers and parents on the effectiveness of the Care for the Non-Readers Program do not significantly differ.