Effects of the Higher Order Thinking Skills Program on At-Risk Young Adolescents' Self-Concept, Reading Achievement, and Thinking Skills

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) program versus a traditional Chapter 1 program on fourth and fifth grade students' reading achievement, self-concept, and higher order thinking skills. The effects were measured longitudinally over one school year in a single school district in the state of Georgia. The subjects included 175 fourth and fifth grade Chapter 1 eligible students, 113 students in the experimental HOTS group and 72 students in the Chapter 1 group. The dependent measures used to assess the relative effectiveness of the treatments were the Self-Description Questionnaire-I, a measure of self-concept; the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, a measure of reading achievement; and the Ross Test of Higher Cognitive Processes, a measure of higher order thinking skills. The scores on the instruments in this investigation were compared using analysis of covariance procedures. The findings suggest that the HOTS program is effective in raising...