Closing the Gap: Fostering Successful Research‐Practice Partnerships in Counselor Education

Research‐practice partnerships offer counselor educators an opportunity to generate scholarship that can promote client welfare and create systemic change in practice and policy. The purpose of this article is to articulate strategies for building and sustaining research‐practice partnerships, as well as suggest methods for evaluating these partnerships.     

Using the 6S Pyramid to Identify Research‐Based Instructional Practices for Students with Learning Disabilities

To optimize students’ learning outcomes, educators are increasingly expected to use instructional practices shown to be effective by credible research. To help make this possible, organizations and scholars are producing resources that summarize research related to various instructional practices. However, as the collection of resources grows in size and complexity, it can be difficult and frustrating for practitioners to locate and utilize this information. In this article, we describe the 6S Pyramid (DiCenso, Bayley, & Haynes, 2009), a framework for efficiently and accurately prioritizing different types of research evidence. We also identify and briefly summarize Internet resources corresponding with each level of the Pyramid that can be used to identify research‐based practices for students with learning disabilities. To illustrate how the 6S Pyramid can be used in school and classroom settings, we begin and end the article with vignettes featuring a pair of co‐teachers seeking to improve instruction for their students who struggle with reading.     

Exercising ‘The Right To Research’: Youth‐Based Community Media Production as Transformative Action

This article explores the participatory media practices used by the Center for Urban Pedagogy, a non‐profit community‐based media organisation in New York City. Taking as her point of departure a digital media investigation into bodegas in the south Bronx (neighbourhood grocery stores), the author explores how CUP uses the power of art and design to cultivate civic engagement among youth, in part by strengthening participants’ public speaking, digital media and research skills. In interviews with participants, the author finds that this work mitigates participants’ expressed fears of being dismissed as boring when speaking with public officials, a fear taken seriously through a reading of the work of child psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott. Winnicott worried that the person who felt boring too often retreated from participating in civic life. If, argues the author, youth are to claim what Appadurai describes as the fundamental ‘human right to research’ in the public realm, then the civic as well as the psychological dimensions that enable participants to engage in transformative action must be strengthened.     

Integrating Scenario‐Based and Component Reading Skill Measures to Understand the Reading Behavior of Struggling Readers

In recent years, researchers, educators, and policy makers have called for a new generation of reading comprehension assessments (e.g., Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2008). Advocates of this movement argue for a deeper type of reading assessment, one that captures students’ ability to not only understand single texts in isolation but also to engage in purposeful, multisource integration of sources. While this shift in how we define and measure reading comprehension is laudable, assessments must also measure the fundamental reading skills that may impede higher‐level comprehension processes. This article presents data from two assessments that were designed to work in tandem to provide a more complete picture of reading comprehension. Middle school students were given a component skills battery which measured core reading skills such as word recognition, decoding, vocabulary, and morphology, as well a second assessment designed to measure reading comprehension. Reading comprehension was measured using a scenario‐based assessment approach, which required students to read a range of sources to fulfill a particular reading goal. The results indicate that students, including struggling readers, were able to read, understand, and problem solve in complex learning environments, but students’ ability to do so was often tempered by their basic reading skills. We argue that including a measure of component skills alongside a measure of higher‐level comprehension is beneficial in interpreting student performance. Accordingly, we present the results on the scenario‐based measure as a function of reading component skills and argue for the value of using this approach for struggling readers.     

The Targeted Reading Intervention: Face‐to‐Face vs. Webcam Literacy Coaching of Classroom Teachers

The targeted reading intervention (TRI) is a professional development program for rural kindergarten and first grade classroom teachers to help them provide effective reading strategies with struggling readers. In two randomized controlled trials, the TRI was delivered two ways: (1) literacy coaches provided support for classroom teachers through face‐to‐face classroom meetings or (2) coaches provided support to classroom teachers through live webcam technology. The purpose this study was to examine how face‐to‐face versus webcam coaching was related to teacher and struggling reader outcomes. Regression results suggested greater benefits with webcam literacy coaching for teacher fidelity and efficacy. Both struggling reader groups made equivalent gains across literacy measures, although there were greater gains on one child literacy measure in the webcam group.     

Response to Intervention: Providing Reading Intervention to Low Income and Minority Students

With a renewed focus on early intervention, teachers must address the difficulties students are having as early as possible to promote their progress. Culturally and linguistically diverse students may not respond to universal interventions that have shown efficiency for mainstream populations. In order for Response to Intervention to be effective, we need to include diverse populations when researching all tiers of instruction.     

图式理论的阅读教学实践

语言教师的首要任务 ,是将语言相关的背景知识作为一个必不可少的组成部分融入教学实践中。因此 ,就图式理论在阅读教学中的作用和拓宽方式进行探讨。     

Examining the Impact and School‐Level Predictors of Impact Variability of an 8th Grade Reading Intervention on At‐Risk Students’ Reading Achievement

The purpose of the present article is to report on a large‐scale investigation of six school districts’ implementation of an initiative aimed at reducing dropout rates by improving reading achievement in the middle grades. Data for the Middle School Intervention Project (MSIP) were collected in 25 middle schools across the state of Oregon. We examined (a) the degree to which the schools improved reading achievement for struggling readers in 8th grade, and (b) whether we could account for school differences in the treatment effect through measured explicit and intensive intervention factors. At the end of 8th grade there was no evidence of significant or positive effects on the two primary reading outcome measures.     

Construct Equivalence of PISA Reading Comprehension Measured With Paper‐Based and Computer‐Based Assessments

For many years, reading comprehension in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) was measured via paper‐based assessment (PBA). In the 2015 cycle, computer‐based assessment (CBA) was introduced, raising the question of whether central equivalence criteria required for a valid interpretation of the results are fulfilled. As an extension of the PISA 2012 main study in Germany, a random subsample of two intact PISA reading clusters, either computerized or paper‐based, was assessed using a random group design with an additional within‐subject variation. The results are in line with the hypothesis of construct equivalence. That is, the latent cross‐mode correlation of PISA reading comprehension was not significantly different from the expected correlation between the two clusters. Significant mode effects on item difficulties were observed for a small number of items only. Interindividual differences found in mode effects were negatively correlated with reading comprehension, but were not predicted by basic computer skills or gender. Further differences between modes were found with respect to the number of missing values.     

English Reading Effects of Small‐Group Intensive Intervention in Spanish for K–1 English Learners

In this article we report small, but statistically significant, effects of brief supplemental instruction on English reading by Spanish‐speaking kindergartners (N = 37) who performed poorly on a bilingual battery of phonological‐processing tasks. Intervention design was compatible with the Reading First initiative and with research on use of multitiered intervention strategies for preventing reading failure among young monolingual students (e.g., L. S. Fuchs & Vaughn, 2003). We describe a Core Intervention Model (CIM) comprised of specific instructional behaviors that teachers might easily learn and employ regardless of curriculum, and discuss implications of our findings for building multitiered preventative instruction for young English learners.     

Disciplinary and Contextually Appropriate Approaches to Leadership of Teaching in Research‐Intensive Academic Departments in Higher Education

This paper reports aspects of an international study of leadership of teaching in 19 departments with outstanding teaching records in 11 research‐intensive universities. Leadership was found to take different forms in different discipline areas, in different organisational cultures, and in response to major problems affecting the department. While most of the heads conceived of leadership of teaching in similarly sophisticated ways, and there were other common themes across contexts, how these conceptions were evident in action to support and develop teaching was highly context‐dependent. To illustrate this point, two departments are contrasted in terms of leadership activities found most frequently across all 19 departments. It is clear from this comparison that teaching excellence was achieved in entirely different ways involving widely contrasting leadership behaviour. The paper argues that advice and guidance for heads of department on their leadership of teaching should pay careful attention to the context rather than make assumptions about the general applicability of leadership theory or advice.     

Helping Head Start Parents Promote Their Children's Kindergarten Adjustment: The Research‐Based Developmentally Informed Parent Program

Head Start enhances school readiness during preschool, but effects diminish after children transition into kindergarten. Designed to promote sustained gains, the Research‐based Developmentally Informed (REDI) Parent program (REDI‐P) provided home visits before and after the kindergarten transition, giving parents evidence‐based learning games, interactive stories, and guided pretend play to use with their children. To evaluate impact, two hundred 4‐year‐old children in Head Start REDI classrooms were randomly assigned to REDI‐P or a comparison condition (mail‐home math games). Beyond the effects of the classroom program, REDI‐P promoted significant improvements in child literacy skills, academic performance, self‐directed learning, and social competence, demonstrating the utility of the approach in promoting gains in cognitive and social‐emotional skills evident after the transition into kindergarten.     

Evaluating Evidence‐Based Practice Behaviors in Team Contexts

The article explores the application of the Hall and Hord (2010) levels of use model to the context of interprofessional teams in health care settings. The discussion provides a framework for evaluating the progression of evidence‐based practice behaviors over time. Although several forms of guidance exist for measuring the strength and characteristics of health care teams, there do not appear to be frameworks in place for assessing the evolution of evidence‐based practices in a team context.     

The Effectiveness of a Color‐Coded,Onset‐Rime Decoding Intervention with First‐Grade Students at Serious Risk for Reading Disabilities

This study was an investigation into the effectiveness of a color‐coded, onset‐rime–based decoding intervention with first‐graders at serious risk for reading disabilities using a single‐subject multiple probe design. Students increased their ability to decode instructional words on average 73% over baseline. For novel words from instructed rime patterns, scores increased by an average of 56%. Transfer at the vowel level to uninstructed rime patterns was limited, with scores improving by an average of 29%. Students maintained decoding gains at 1‐week and 1‐month maintenance. While acknowledging the difficulty in predicting reading disabilities based on first‐grade performance, the effectiveness of the early intervention is a promising step in finding an instructional approach that is successful with the most at risk or disabled students who often do not respond to effective remedial programs.     

Research‐capacity building,professional learning and the social practices of educational research

There have been numerous attempts in the past few years within education research—and social science research more generally—to alter the character of research practice(s). In particular, there has been a systematic effort to address perceived shortcomings in research practice through a series of ‘research‐capacity building’ initiatives, aimed at the restructuring of professional learning. In this article the authors explore empirically the ways in which different modes of professional learning are implicated in the social practices of education research. These considerations lead to the conclusion that the currently dominant approaches to research‐capacity building are based on an underestimation of the difficulties in influencing the professional learning of educational researchers significantly and, thereby, changing the practices of educational research. More realistic expectations of these forms of research‐capacity building, in turn, suggest the need to develop alternative approaches that acknowledge the exigencies of the current social organisation of educational research more fully.     

Effects of an Attachment‐Based Intervention on Child Protective Services–Referred Mothers' Event‐Related Potentials to Children's Emotions

This study examined the neurobiology of maternal sensitivity to children's emotions among mothers involved with Child Protective Services (CPS) and low‐risk comparison mothers (M_age = 31.6 years). CPS‐referred mothers participated in the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch‐up (ABC) intervention or a control intervention. Mothers' event‐related potentials (ERPs) were measured while they categorized images of children with crying, laughing, and neutral expressions. CPS‐referred ABC mothers (n = 19) and low‐risk comparison mothers (n = 30) showed a larger enhancement of ERP responses for emotional faces relative to neutral faces than CPS‐referred control mothers (n = 21). Additionally, the magnitude of ERP responses to emotional faces was associated with observed maternal sensitivity. Findings add to the understanding of the neurobiology of deficits in parenting and suggest that these deficits are changeable through a parenting intervention.     

How to Analyze Interpersonal and Individual Effects in Peer-Tutored Reading Intervention

Reading strategy interventions relying upon peer tutoring are a common way to foster poor readers' comprehension skills. Those interventions are based on the assumption that tutees benefit from the (higher) reading skills of their tutors. However, this interpersonal effect has not yet been tested explicitly because the effectiveness of peer tutoring is commonly analyzed separately for tutees and tutors or with aggregated data. The present study illustrates how interpersonal and individual effects of a peer-tutored reading strategy intervention can be estimated using dyads as units of analysis in structural equation modeling. To demonstrate the application of the model, data from an experimental intervention study comparing the effects of a peer-tutored reading strategy training and a control condition in Grade 4 (N = 68 dyads) were analyzed.