Skip Navigation
Funding Opportunities | Search Funded Research Grants and Contracts

IES Grant

Title: Identifying the Conditions Under which Large Scale Professional Development Policy Initiatives are Related to Teacher Knowledge, Instructional Practices, and Student Reading Outcomes
Center: NCER Year: 2005
Principal Investigator: Roehrig, Alysia Awardee: Florida State University
Program: Teaching, Teachers, and the Education Workforce      [Program Details]
Award Period: 2 years Award Amount: $500,000
Type: Exploration Award Number: R305M050122
Description:

Co-Principal Investigator(s): Brownell, Mary; Schatschneider, Christopher; Torgesen, Joseph

Purpose: In this project, the researchers' goal was to identify professional development activities and coaching practices associated with Reading First efforts that predicted teacher and student outcomes. The teacher outcomes of interest were knowledge of reading instruction and use of instructional practices congruent with research on reading. The student outcomes of interest were oral reading fluency, reading comprehension, and phonological awareness skills.

Structured Abstract

THE FOLLOWING CONTENT DESCRIBES THE PROJECT AT THE TIME OF FUNDING

Setting: This project takes place in K to grade 3 Florida schools that obtained Reading First grants before 2005. In general, Reading First schools in Florida serve high proportions of low SES (57percent) and minority (65 percent) students.

Sample: Several samples will be used to complete the study. In phase 1, the pilot sample will contain a convenience sample of 60 kindergarten through third grade teachers who will give feedback on a professional development opportunities survey being developed. The full phase 1 sample will consist of 10 kindergarten through third grade teachers from each of 100 Florida Reading First schools (a total of 1000 teachers). In phase 2, the pilot sample will consist of teachers, coaches, and students at 10 high and 10 low professional development opportunity schools as identified by the FCRR site visit team in phase 1. Designation of a school as high or low in professional development opportunities will be established empirically by associating opportunity measures with teacher knowledge and practices and student achievement outcomes. The full phase 2 study will be based on a sub-sample of the phase 1 sample, including at least 4 teachers and the reading coach from each of 60 schools identified as high or low (30 and 30) in professional development opportunities.

Intervention: Reading First professional development opportunities and coaching practices occurring in Florida schools.

Research Design and Methods: This correlational study analyzes data obtained as part of Reading First by the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR). In phase 1, there will be multistage random sampling of districts, then schools, and then teachers to ensure a geographically heterogeneous sample. A set of surveys assessing the independent variables of professional development opportunities and the dependent variables of teacher knowledge and instructional practices will be piloted and then administered to the full sample on-line. Data on student reading outcomes will be obtained at the end of phase 1 and analyzed as dependent variables. In phase 2, an interview protocol will be piloted then administered to the subsample of teachers and reading coaches at the schools identified during phase 1. Also, in phase 2, coaches will complete the teacher knowledge assessment.

Key Measures: Teacher measures include content knowledge for teaching reading questionnaire, self-report literacy logs, and instructional content emphasis revised (ICE-R). Student measures include selected subtests from the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), Stanford Achievement Tests, 10th edition (SAT-10). Coaching measures include structured phone interviews regarding types of coaching practices with teachers and coaches and teacher knowledge assessment.

Data Analytic Strategy: The central questions will be addressed within the hierarchical linear modeling framework.

Products

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

Select Publications:

Journal articles

Roehrig, A.D., Bohn, C.M., Turner, J.E., and Pressley, M. (2008). Mentoring Beginning Primary Teachers for Exemplary Teaching Practices. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(3): 684–702.

Roehrig, A.D., Duggar, S.W., Moats, L., Glover, M., and Mincey, B. (2008). When Teachers Work to Use Progress Monitoring Data to Inform Literacy Instruction: Identifying Potential Supports and Challenges. Remedial and Special Education, 29(6): 364–382.

Roehrig, A.D., Turner, J.E., Grove, C.M., Schneider, N., and Liu, Z. (2009). Degree of Alignment Between Beginning Teachers' Practices and Beliefs About Effective Classroom Practices. The Teacher Educator, 44(3): 164–187.

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


Back