Dr. Roger Chesswas, REL Pacific; Dr. Johannes M. Bos, BPA
Study Purposes and Questions:
The study involves the implementation of a professional development program for 4th and 5th grade teachers who teach English language learners (ELLs) and assesses whether the proposed high-quality professional development model will have measurable impacts on teacher and student outcomes. In particular, the study addresses the following research questions: Do teachers who participate in the intervention improve their content knowledge and classroom instructional skills? Does reading comprehension of students of these teachers improve? (The target populations for the intervention are 4th and 5th grade teachers who teach self-contained classes. The target content area is reading comprehension instruction.)
Intervention:
The intervention Pacific Communities with High-performance In Literacy Development (Pacific CHILD), builds on PRELs professional development program fro early literacy in the last REL contract. It will provide intensive year-round training that combines comprehensive systematic learning of explicit reading comprehension skills, a 10-day annual summer institute, peer-support groups, monthly observations, and individualized coaching by trainers.
Design and Samples:
The study adopts a cluster random assignment research design in which the unit of random assignment is the school. Approximately 50 schools (about 250 teachers and 5800 students) in seven jurisdictions across the Pacific region will be sampled, with half of the schools in treatment and half in the control condition. All 4th and 5th grade teachers in each of the program schools will be recruited to participate in PRExC-ELL for 2 years. Control group teachers will not receive these services for 2 years, after which they will be eligible for them.
Outcome Measures:
Teachers' content knowledge, measured by an assessment test.
Teachers' pedagogical practices, measured by classroom observations.
Student achievements, measured by standardized tests (Gates-MacGinitie Reading tests and others to be identified).
Study Period:
April 2006 to March 2011; Design & Pilot: April 2006 to June 2007; Intervention: July 2007 to June 2009 (2 years); Data Collection: March 2007 to June 2010 (baseline plus three yearly follow-ups)
Evaluation of Principles-Based Professional Development to Improve Reading Comprehension for English Language Learners