Co-Principal Investigator(s): Rupley, William; Vaughn, Sharon

Purpose: In this project, the researchers proposed to refine a professional development (PD) program for grade 4 social studies teachers to help them integrate reading comprehension into instruction. The researchers also aimed to pilot test the fully developed version of the PD. The PD was  case situated and to help teachers learn and use evidence-based practices.

Structured Abstract

THE FOLLOWING CONTENT DESCRIBES THE PROJECT AT THE TIME OF FUNDING

Setting: Teachers for each phase of the study will be obtained from Texas schools, specifically, 2 independent school districts outside of Austin (1 with 6 elementary schools and the other with 16 elementary schools).

Population: These school districts serve a large proportion of students from low socioeconomic areas and have a high concentration of students at-risk of reading difficulty. The school population in the smaller district is largely minority: 67 percent Hispanic, 17 percent White, and 15 percent African American. More than 70 percent of the students receive federal lunch subsidies. The school population of the larger district is 37.8 percent Hispanic, 34.9 percent White, and 26.5 percent African American. Overall, 60.2 percent of these students are considered economically disadvantaged with 10.8 percent of the students English language learners. Students with severe hearing, vision, or cognitive impairments that limit their ability to benefit from typical classroom social studies instruction will be excluded from the study.

Intervention: The content- and case-situated professional development model (a) uses a needs-based assessment of fourth-grade teachers' content-area comprehension, (b) refines and conducts face-to-face institutes on pedagogical strategies from Fourth Grade Texas Reading Academies,(c) builds on-demand and virtual mentoring and coaching systems, using appropriate video footage on an as-needed basis, (d) establishes and implements processes for teacher study teams to reflect on practices and outcomes, and (e) evaluates the effects of the model on teachers' instruction and students' comprehension.

Research Design and Methods: This series of studies focuses on the instructional strategies of their respective social studies teachers and reading comprehension development of fourth-grade students. At all sites, teachers at each school will be randomly assigned to content- and case-situated or typical social studies professional development. In phase 1, the teachers will develop and pilot cases based on identified needs of 10 content-area teachers. In phases 2 and 3, 40 fourth-grade teachers from 10 schools each phase will be randomly assigned to either case-based professional development or typical practice. Phase 3 will be a refinement and replication of the phase 2 experiment with 10 different schools.

Control or Comparison Condition: Teachers in the control condition will receive the social studies professional development available in the districts. The nature of the practices in the control classrooms will be documented via the same measures used in the experimental condition.

Key Measures: Student measures will include standardized, formal measures of reading comprehension and formative content assessments from social studies textbook chapters and content and concept knowledge measures. Teacher measures will include classroom observations, teacher interviews, and teacher electronic logs and journals.

Data Analytic Strategy: Questions will be addressed using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and structural equation modeling. The focus will be on the effects of professional development on teachers' application of evidence-based practices in classrooms, fourth grade student reading comprehension and content knowledge, factors that mediate or moderate implementation and effects, and feasibility of use.

Related IES Projects: Examining the Efficacy of Differential Levels of Professional Development for Teaching Content Area Reading Strategies (R305A150407)

Products and Publications

ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.

Select Publications:

Journal articles

Hairrell, A., Rupley, W.H., Edmonds, M.S., Larsen, R., Simmons, D., Wilson, V., and Vaughn, S. (2011). Examining the Impact of Teacher Quality on Fourth-Grade Students' Comprehension and Content-Area Achievement. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 27(3): 239–260.

Hairrell, A., Rupley, W.H., and Simmons, D. (2011). The State of Vocabulary Research. Literacy Research and Instruction, 50(4): 253–271.

Simmons, D., Hairrell, A., Edmonds, M., Vaughn, S., Larsen, R., Willson, V., Rupley, W.H., and Byrns, G. (2010). A Comparison of Multiple-Strategy Methods: Effects on Fourth-Grade Students' General and Content-Specific Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Development. Journal of Research on Education Effectiveness, 3(2): 121–156.

** This project was submitted to and funded under Teacher Quality: Reading and Writing in FY 2005.