Project Activities
The researchers will: (1) develop instructional procedures and materials that can be integrated into literacy methods courses offered to pre-service teachers, in the interest of increasing their exposure to and understanding of scientifically-based reading instruction; and (2) pilot the materials developed, in collaboration with pre-service teacher educators at a variety of institutions. The researchers will also gather preliminary data on the impact of the instructional materials in enhancing pre-service teachers' knowledge of teaching practices for early literacy development. The intervention that the researchers will use is based on the Interactive Strategies Approach, which emphasizes phonetic instruction and decoding in teaching children to read.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The research will take place in New York State.
Sample
Participants will be pre-service teacher educators and their undergraduate students at Schools of Education.
The researchers will: (1) develop instructional procedures and materials that can be integrated into literacy methods courses offered to pre-service teachers, in the interest of increasing their exposure to and understanding of scientifically-based reading instruction; and (2) pilot the materials developed, in collaboration with pre-service teacher educators at a variety of institutions. The researchers will also gather preliminary data on the impact of the instructional materials in enhancing pre-service teachers' knowledge of teaching practices for early literacy development. The intervention that the researchers will use is based on the Interactive Strategies Approach, which emphasizes phonetic instruction and decoding in teaching children to read.
Research design and methods
In Year 1, 50 expert early literacy teachers will be compared on the Knowledge of Literacy Instruction measure with 50 undergraduate pre-service teachers (novices) in order to calibrate items and to insure the validity of this instrument (semester 1). The instrument will then be used to collect baseline data on pre-service teachers (semester 2). During Year 2, a first trial of the Interactive Strategies Approach Pre-Service Components will be implemented, in pre-service courses taught by the 10 Teacher Educator Collaborators. To examine the potential effect of the Interactive Strategies Approach on Knowledge of Literacy Instruction among pre-service teachers, teachers' Knowledge of Literacy Instruction will be evaluated before and after exposure to the intervention program, and compared to their baseline scores and scores of the comparison group subjects.
Control condition
Pre-service teachers in the control condition will receive the existing teachers' education curriculum on literacy instruction.
Key measures
The researchers will develop a measure of teacher Knowledge of Literacy Instruction. This instrument will assess declarative knowledge (e.g., components of literacy instruction), procedural knowledge (e.g. instructional strategies), and conditional knowledge (e.g., understanding under what conditions certain instructional "moves" are likely to be most effective). Pre-service teachers' Knowledge of Literacy Instruction scores will be measured before and after exposure to the program, in comparison to scores of baseline subjects and comparison group subjects.
Data analytic strategy
Hierarchical linear modeling analytic techniques will be employed.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Products: Products from this project include evidence regarding the impact of a literacy instruction program for pre-service teachers, and published papers.
Book
Scanlon, D.M., Anderson, K.L., and Sweeney, J.M. (2010). Early Intervention for Reading Difficulties: The Interactive Strategies Approach. New York: Guilford Press.
** This project was submitted to and funded under Teacher Quality: Reading and Writing in FY 2006.
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
