Project Activities
The researchers will replicate FG-PALS in kindergarten classrooms and (conventional TD implementation vs. innovative TD/BU implementation) to explore and potentially strengthen the sustainability and scalability of FG-PALS. In 4 consecutive years (across four cohorts), the research team will randomly assign kindergarten teachers and their students within schools and in equal numbers to three conditions: FG-PALS-TD, FG-PALS-TD/BU, and control. The researchers will test the students in the three conditions before and shortly after program implementation with commonly used reading measures (used in prior PALS research) of recognized reading and literacy constructs. The researchers will interview and observe FG-PALS-TD and FG-PALS-TD/BU teachers in cohorts 1 through 3 in the next academic year to explore whether the two teacher groups differ in degree and quality of sustained PALS use. They will test program effects among the three conditions, explore if pretreatment reading moderates effects, conduct exploratory subgroup analyses, describe fidelity of implementation, assess whether it interacts with effects, and conduct analyses of costs and cost-effectiveness by study condition.
Structured Abstract
Setting
Teachers and students will be drawn from public schools in three clusters: Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Southwest.
Sample
This project includes 140 kindergarten teachers approximately 2,800 kindergarten students (before assent or consent and attrition) in naturally constituted classrooms.
FG-PALS was designed as an enrichment program to supplement teachers' core curricula. It has been empirically validated for use with first-grade students and in this project, the researchers are implementing it in kindergartens because its content, in comparison with Kindergarten PALS (K-PALS), is more comprehensive. FG-PALS was designed as an extension of K-PALS. In FG-PALS, teachers implement the program in 35-minute sessions, three sessions per week, for 18 weeks (31.5 instructional hours). Teachers in FG-PALS-TD implement the researcher-designed program. Teachers in FG-PALS-TD/BU implement the researcher-designed program (25 minutes) andtheir own "PALS-like" activities (10 minutes).
Research design and methods
This impact efficacy replication is a randomized controlled trial conducted across 4 consecutive school years (and four cohorts) with teachers and their students in each cohort randomly assigned within schools and in equal numbers to three study conditions: FG-PALS-TD, FG-PALS-TD/BU, and control. The researchers will contrast the TD and TD/BU approaches because prior evidence in Grades 2–5 suggested that the collaborative TD/BU approach yields more impressive student reading achievement than the conventional TD approach. They will also explore pretreatment reading as a moderator of program impact to understand for whom FG-PALS may be more and less beneficial. In addition, the researchers will explore a mediation effect whereby FG-PALS effects are influenced by the extent to which FG-PALS affects the instructional environment of classrooms (e.g., encouraging more direct explicit instruction, greater opportunity to respond and receive constructive feedback, and peer-mediated activity).
Control condition
Teachers in the control condition will continue to use their typical ("business-as-usual") reading or literacy programs with no changes in their reading instruction.
Key measures
Key measures include students' pretreatment and post-treatment performance on commonly used reading measures (also used in prior PALS research of kindergarten and first-grade populations); multiple measures of teacher and student fidelity of implementation that index adherence and quality of implementation; multiple, structured interviews of all FG-PALS and control teachers; systematic observations of all study classrooms during reading and language arts instruction; FG-PALS teachers' post-intervention ratings of FG-PALS effectiveness; and ongoing cost data.
Data analytic strategy
The researchers will use two-level hierarchical linear model with students nested within classrooms with fixed effects to estimate the effect of FG-PALS on reading outcomes and by treatment group. The team will use the same model but include cross-level interaction term between student pretest measure and an indicator for assignment into one of the two treatment groups to determine if effects are moderated by pretreatment reading performance. The researchers will also conduct a fixed effects test for approximate replication.
Cost analysis strategy
The research team will conduct a cost analysis using the ingredients approach and the Standards for Economic Evaluation of Educational and Social Programs which serves as a key resource under the IES Standards for Excellence in Education Research. After calculating the per-pupil costs of the program treatment (FG PALS-TD and FG PALS-TD/BU) and control conditions, the research team will pair the incremental cost estimates (differences in cost between each treatment and the control condition, respectively) with the primary impact estimates on student reading achievement to estimate the cost effectiveness of the program treatment arms.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Products and publications
This project will result in evidence of the impact of a fully developed, clearly specified FG-PALS program on kindergartners' early reading. Additionally, a lesson manual for teachers with guidelines will be produced. Other products will include a final dataset, peer-reviewed publications and presentations, and additional products for education practitioners and policymakers.
Project website:
Publications:
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
Related projects
Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigators: Fuchs, Douglas; Day, Billie; Chamberlain, Steven
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
