Differential effects of English language learner training and materials—On Our Way to English (OWE) and Responsive Instruction for Success (RISE)
Intervention description
RISE is a professional development program of training and support for teachers of English language learner students. Its content aligns with Fillmore and Snow's (2000) proposal for what teachers need to know about language to help English language learner students meet the high levels of language proficiency required for success in school. OWE is a comprehensive, three-component program for elementary classrooms (kindergarten through grade 5) designed to provide English language learner students with comprehensive literacy instruction and standards-based content area information and to advance their English oral language development. It provides teachers with a structure, sequence, and set of materials for language and literacy instruction for English language learner students. RISE was designed to complement the classroom program by providing teachers with sustained adult learning opportunities to become familiar with and understand the content of the OWE classroom program, the rationale for its structure, and practical strategies for its use.
OWE and RISE have been widely used as standalone products. State-level data from their publisher reveals that RISE professional development courses have been offered in every state in the country and that since 2000 about 3,400 schools in more than 1,400 districts across the United States have purchased RISE, OWE, or both.
The research-based evidence on the effectiveness of OWE materials is mixed. In a four-month quasi-experimental study the pre-to-post reading achievement gains for second and fourth graders in OWE and non-OWE classrooms were compared using the Language Assessment Scales (LAS; Educational Research Institute of America 2004). Grade 2 students in OWE classrooms scored significantly higher on most sections of the LAS than students in other classrooms did. But grade 4 students in OWE classrooms scored the same or only slightly higher on different sections of the assessment. An addendum report on a Nevada school found similar results (Marketing Works 2005).
In a randomized controlled trial researchers examined reading achievement gains for second and fourth graders in bilingual and English Immersion ELL programs using the Standardized Test for Assessment of Reading (STAR; Renaissance Learning 2003) and the oral IDEA Proficiency Tests (IPT; Ballard and Tighe 2001). There were no statistically significant differences in STAR achievement between students who received OWE curriculum and those who did not in either grade 2 or grade 4. The researchers noted, however, larger overall gains in scores for students from the English immersion classroom using OWE than for students in bilingual classrooms using OWE. This indicates a potential interaction with the structure of instruction delivery. The oral IPT yielded encouraging results: 16 percent of students were considered fluent in English at pretest in OWE classrooms, compared with 44 percent at posttest; 26 percent of fourth graders were fluent at pretest in OWE classrooms, compared with 74 percent at posttest.
Little empirical evidence has been collected on the effectiveness of RISE. When this study was proposed, it was anticipated that the results of other research examining changes in teacher knowledge and skills as a result of RISE participation, under way at the time, would be available to inform this study. But that research was discontinued because of lack of funding. Although not produced specifically to support OWE, RISE can be used in conjunction with OWE. Harcourt Achieve, the developer of both interventions, is encouraging this combination, as illustrated through the use of videotaped lessons of teachers and students using OWE materials as part of RISE training. No research has been conducted to examine the impact of using the OWE program materials in conjunction with the RISE professional development course.