Institute to Launch Major Study

Established earlier this year, IRA’s new Status of Reading Instruction Institute is working on two major initiatives, reports Karen Douglas, the institute’s director. As this issue of Reading Today was going to press, the decision was being finalized on a contractor to conduct a national study titled “Description of Reading Instruction in the United States.”

Based on an extensive literature review prepared by Barbara Taylor and colleagues at the Minnesota Center for Reading Research, the study will survey teachers about classroom reading instruction in a nationally representative sample of classrooms. “It’s really hard with survey techniques to get at some of the student–teacher interactions that are so important to measure,” Douglas notes. To address this need, Minnesota will also contribute to the study by conducting classroom observations that provide a richer picture of instruction.

“There have been many studies on the effect of teacher preparation and teacher experience on student achievement,” says Douglas. “These studies have not looked at what teachers actually do in the classroom. It’s important that teachers are trained properly, but that alone will not improve reading instruction. It’s what happens in the classroom that is critical. No one has looked for this kind of information on a national scale.”

The plan is for the study to be repeated every three years in order to track trends in reading instruction, says Douglas. Subsequent studies will link student achievement and classroom teacher practice.

Douglas is making presentations at several major conferences to discuss the study and other Institute activities. In November, Douglas and Taylor will present findings from the literature review and plans for the study at the National Reading Conference in Austin, Texas.

At IRA’s Reading Research Conference in 2008, innovative ways to give researchers access and input into the project tools will be provided. Douglas and Taylor, along with the selected contractor, also will give a full description of the study at a featured research session during the IRA Annual Convention.

The other major activity of the Institute is disseminating the findings of Teaching Reading Well: A Synthesis of the International Reading Association’s Research on Teacher Preparation for Reading Instruction. The synthesis identifies six essential features for creating and sustaining preparation programs that produce teachers who teach reading well. It also provides examples of teacher preparation programs that exemplify these features. The six essential features are as follows:

Content—The programs draw on an integrated body of research focusing on how students become successful readers and how teachers support students with instruction.

Faculty and teaching—The faculty is committed to effective instruction that delivers appropriate content and models successful instructional techniques for students.

Apprenticeships, field experiences, and practica—The programs move teachers through systematically arrayed field experiences that are closely coordinated with their coursework and expose them to excellent models and mentors.

Diversity—The programs are saturated with an awareness of diversity, their faculties and students reflect diversity, and they produce teachers who know how to teach diverse students in diverse settings.

Candidate and program assessment—The programs intentionally and regularly assess their students, graduates, faculty, and curriculum to guide instructional decision making and program development.

Governance, resources, and vision— The programs are centered on a vision of quality teaching that produces a community of future leaders in reading education. The governance gives faculty appropriate control for realizing that vision.

None of these six elements is surprising, says Douglas, and none of the six alone is enough for a successful program. “The important point is that it’s difficult to find programs that embody all of these elements,” she says, and all are necessary in preparing teachers to offer effective instruction in the classroom. Look for a poster session at next year’s IRA Annual Convention that further explores this topic. Cathy Roller, director of Research and Policy for IRA, and Douglas will lead several sessions at upcoming conferences to discuss how best to disseminate and encourage implementation of these features.

For further information about the Status of Reading Instruction Institute or to download a copy of the Teaching Reading Well report, visit the Institute’s page on the IRA website at www.reading.org/resources/issues/status.html. Watch future issues of Reading Today for updates on the Institute’s activities.

Institute to launch major study. (December 2007). Reading Today, 25(3), 1, 7.