Teacher Education and Reading Instruction

Foundational research

Producing Teachers Who Understand, Believe, and Care

Goodlad, J. (1997, February 5). Producing teachers who understand, believe, and care. Education Week, p. 48.

From Education Week:
The release in September [1996] of "What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future," the 151-page report of the National Commission on Teaching & America's Future, stimulated for too brief an interlude serious discussion of the country's prospects for preparing a teaching corps equal to the challenges that confront it. Because better teaching lies at the heart of all efforts to improve the schools, expanding such a discussion should be a top priority for all those engaged in reform efforts.

With that in mind, Education Week begins this week an occasional series of Commentaries dealing with issues of teacher quality and teacher preparation raised in the commission's report. This essay is the first of a two-part examination of current problems in teacher education by one of that field's leading scholars, John I. Goodlad. The second installment will appear in our next issue.

• Go to article

Teachers' Perceptions of Their Undergraduate and Graduate Preparation

Lyon, G., Vaasen, M., & Toomey, F. (1989). Teachers' perceptions of their undergraduate and graduate preparation. Teacher Education and Special Education, 12, 164-169.

This study assessed the extent to which teachers' perceptions of their relationships with young students varied as a function of child and teacher characteristics in a large, demographically diverse sample of 197 preschool and kindergarten teachers and 840 children. Children were evenly divided between boys and girls. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the relation between teachers' perceptions of their relationships with students and (a) teacher ethnicity, (b) child age, ethnicity, and gender, and (c) the ethnic match between teacher and child.

Child age and ethnicity and teacher-child ethnic match were consistently related to teachers' perceptions, explaining up to 27% of the variance in perceptions of negative aspects of the teacher-child relationship, specifically teacher-child conflict. When child and teacher had the same ethnicity, teachers rated their relationships with children more positively. The results are discussed in terms of classroom social processes related to children's adjustment and the measurement of teacher-child relationships.

• See information on print version (online version not available)

Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science: What Expert Teachers of Reading Should Know and Be Able to Do

Moats, L. C. (1999). Teaching reading is rocket science: What expert teachers of reading should know and be able to do. Washington, DC: American Federation of Teachers.

This report discusses the current state of teacher preparation in reading. It reviews the reading research and describes the knowledge base that is essential for teacher candidates and practicing teachers to master if they are to be successful in teaching all children to read well. Developed by the American Federation of Teachers(AFT).

• Download full report (320K PDF)*

What Education Schools Aren't Teaching About Reading and What Elementary Teachers Aren't Learning

Walsh, K., Glaser, D., and Dunne Wilcox, D. (2006). What Education Schools Aren't Teaching About Reading and What Elementary Teachers Aren't Learning. National Council on Teacher Quality: Washington DC.

When some children are learning to read, they catch on so quickly that it appears effortless. It does not seem to matter what reading curriculum or teachers they encounter, for they arrive at school already possessing the important foundational skills. For other children, though, the path to literacy is far more difficult and by no means assured. It matters very much what curriculum their schools use and who their first teachers are.

• Full report

Additional articles

Waiting Rarely Works: Late Bloomers Usually Just Wilt

American Federation of Teachers. (2004). Waiting Rarely Works: Late Bloomers Usually Just Wilt. American Educator: Washington, D.C.

Until about a decade ago, the idea of a child being a "late bloomer" was accepted among researchers and educators as a valid reason for a child learning at a slower pace than peers. It was thought that these children would eventually bloom in their reading, but that they would just do it a bit later than their peers. Known as the "developmental lag theory," it justified the common practice of delaying the diagnosis of reading problems until they were quite severe. But more recently, long after many teachers ended their formal education training, researchers have been able to put the developmental lag theory to rest. Rather than a lag, early reading weakness is now defined as a skill deficit.

• Full article

Teaching Teachers to Teach Reading: Paradigm Shifts, Persistent Problems, and Challenges

Anders, P., Hoffman, J., & Duffy, G. (2000). Teaching teachers to teach reading: Paradigm shifts, persistent problems, and challenges. In M. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, P.D. Pearson, & R. Barr (Eds.). Handbook of Reading Research, Vol.3 (pp. 721-744). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

• Purchase book

An Evaluation of Computer-assisted Instruction in Phonological Awareness with Below Average Readers

Barker, A.B., & Torgeson, J.K. (1995). An evaluation of computer-assisted instruction in phonological awareness with below average readers. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 13, 89-103.

Abstract:
The use of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) to train phonological awareness skills in at-risk first graders was evaluated. Fifty-four children ranging in age from six years two months to seven years eight months participated in an eight-week training study. There were three experimental conditions. The first group received approximately twenty-five minutes a day, four days a week with two phonological awareness training programs. The second group received the same amount of training with a program designed to train alphabetic decoding skills. The third group served as an attentional control group and spent equal time on the computer with several programs designed to provide practice on basic math skills.

The children exposed to the phonological awareness training programs made significantly greater improvements on several measures of phonological awareness and on a measure of word recognition, when compared to children in the other two groups. Tentative conclusions were drawn about the use of CAI as means of training phonological awareness skills with at-risk students.

• Go to purchase information

Teacher Quality and Student Achievement: A Review of State Policy Evidence

Darling-Hammond, L. (2000). Teacher quality and student achievement: A review of state policy evidence. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 8 (1).

Abstract:
Using data from a 50-state survey of policies, state case study analyses, the 1993-94 Schools and Staffing Surveys (SASS), and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), this study examines the ways in which teacher qualifications and other school inputs are related to student achievement across states. The findings of both the qualitative and quantitative analyses suggest that policy investments in the quality of teachers may be related to improvements in student performance. Quantitative analyses indicate that measures of teacher preparation and certification are by far the strongest correlates of student achievement in reading and mathematics, both before and after controlling for student poverty and language status.

State policy surveys and case study data are used to evaluate policies that influence the overall level of teacher qualifications within and across states. This analysis suggests that policies adopted by states regarding teacher education, licensing, hiring, and professional development may make an important difference in the qualifications and capacities that teachers bring to their work. The implications for state efforts to enhance quality and equity in public education are discussed.

• Go to article

Teaching Reading Well: A Synthesis of the International Reading Association's Research on Teacher Preparation for Reading Instruction

International Reading Association. (2007). Reading Well: A Synthesis of the International Reading Association's Research on Teacher Preparation for Reading Instruction. Newark, DE: Author.

This report synthesizes the findings of research efforts focused on identifying essential qualities of effective teacher preparation programs for reading instruction. It finds that good teacher prep programs provide students with excellent instructional content; faculty and teaching; apprenticeships, field experiences, and practica; diversity; candidate and program assessment; and governance, resources, and vision.

• Download full report (296K PDF)*

Effective Schools and Accomplished Teachers: Lessons About Primary-grade Reading Instruction in Low-income Schools

Taylor, B.M., Pearson, P.D., Clark, K.M., & Walpole, S. (2000). Effective schools and accomplished teachers: Lessons about primary-grade reading instruction in low-income schools. The Elementary School Journal, 101, 121-165.

• Purchase article

Literacy Instruction in Nine First-grade Classrooms: Teacher Characteristics and Student Achievement

Wharton-McDonald, R., Pressley, M., & Hampston, J.M. (1998). Literacy instruction in nine first-grade classrooms: Teacher characteristics and student achievement. The Elementary School Journal, 99, 101-128.

• Purchase article