Mentoring teachers in systematic phonics instruction: effectiveness of an intensive year-long program for kindergarten through 3rd grade teachers and their students

Teaching systematic phonics effectively to beginning readers requires specialized knowledge and training which many primary grade teachers lack. The current study examined effects of a year-long mentoring program to improve teachers’ knowledge and effectiveness in teaching phonics and the extent that it improved students’ achievement in reading and spelling. Teachers in urban, lower SES schools completed a 45 h course followed by 90 h of in-school training. Mentors (N = 29) worked with kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade teachers (N = 69) twice a week for 30 weeks during the year. Each visit included a 45 min prep period plus 45 min of modeling and feedback in the classroom. Mentors taught teachers how to provide systematic phonics instruction to their students (N = 1,336). Monthly ratings by mentors revealed that teachers improved their phonics teaching skills with many reaching the highest ratings by May. Teachers who were non-native speakers of English took a bit longer to learn the English sound system for letters, mainly because they lacked sufficient knowledge of English sounds and had to learn them. Given the increasing diversity of the teacher work force, future research is needed to study this difficulty, its solution, and impact on students. Teachers’ agreement with principles of phonics instruction remained strong or increased from fall to spring. Students’ reading and spelling skills showed large gains during the year and far exceeded effect sizes from comparable data sources. Students met grade-level expectations at the end of kindergarten and first grade but fell short in second and third grades. General education students outperformed bilingual/ELL and special needs students although all subgroups made large gains. Findings reveal the effectiveness of an intensive mentoring model of professional development applied to a subject that is difficult to teach and to a student population known for lower reading achievement. Findings point to the need for better pre-service teacher preparation coupled with appropriate curricula and PD from districts in order to improve students’ reading achievement.     

The effectiveness of a mass screening procedure in an early intervention program

The effectiveness of a mass screening procedure was examined within the context of a preventively oriented school-based treatment program. Mass screening consisted primarily of teachers rating the frequency of all primary grade children's acting-out, moody-withdrawn, and learning problem behaviors. While teachers directly referred 6.9% (n = 48) of the primary grade population of three inner-city schools (n = 698), mass screening subsequently identified an additional 9.7% (n = 68) of this population. Furthermore, both referred and screened-in groups were rated by teachers on the Child Activity Rating Scale (CARS) as behaving much less adaptively relative to a normative group (n = 285; ps < .001). As expected, the referred children evidenced greatest overall dysfunctioning with most pronounced acting-out and learning problems according to ratings by teachers. In addition, further evidence of the validity of the CARS rating form was demonstrated by the agreement between staff predictions of CARS scores and actual ratings by teachers. The mass screening procedure employed is discussed as an effective procedure and suggestions are offered which could increase its utility.     

Student perceptions and instructional effectiveness of deaf and hearing teachers

The study examined the views of deaf and hard of hearing secondary-level students when asked about their preferences for deaf vs. hearing teachers. It also compared elementary- and secondary-level students' achievement scores based on the hearing status of their teachers. Deaf and hard of hearing secondary-level students showed greater preference for deaf teachers, with deaf students showing greater preference for deaf teachers than hard of hearing students did. No significant differences were found in the achievement levels of students based on differences in teacher hearing status. The study supports the limited research done in the past.     

The effectiveness and retention of teachers with prior career experience

As schools and districts seek to recruit teachers, individuals in non-teaching professions are an appealing possible pool. These potential teachers come with work experience and may have expertise that would serve them well in the classroom. While there has been substantial rhetoric assailing the virtues of teachers with prior professional experience, no research that we know of has assessed the effectiveness of these teachers in terms of student learning. This study uses data from New York City to assess the relative effectiveness and retention of career-switchers. It provides some evidence that these teachers are no more effective than other new teachers, and, in fact, they appear to be less effective at raising math scores of elementary and middle school students. There is little difference in overall transfer or leave rates between teachers with prior experience and other teachers, although career-switchers from college recommended programs do appear more likely to transfer schools.     

When intentions and reality clash: Inherent implementation difficulties of an induction program for new teachers

New teachers are often required to go through an induction program in order to become fully certified. Induction programs are varied and the overall picture regarding their implementation is uneven. The present paper addresses the gap between program policy and implementation regarding various aspects of the Israeli teacher induction program. Data obtained from program documents, interviews, questionnaires, and observation in a large-scale formative evaluation revealed discrepancies between intentions and implementation regarding all program components. Implementation difficulties are discussed mainly in relation to obstacles inherent in the education system.     

Integrating qualitative and quantitative methods to monitor an intervention program

Teachers in one-teacher schools have often experienced problems when implementing enquiry-based science programs. An innovation was developed to address these problems in isolated one-teacher schools in the far-west of NSW. It consisted of 18 science kits and an associated teaching sequence. Each kit contained 15 student activity sheets, equipment and supplementary resources. An intervention program was designed to support the implementation of the innovation. The purpose of this study was to monitor the teacher's process of change and to ascertain the outcomes of the intervention program in one of the schools. Data were collected using, diagnostic dimensions from the Concerns-Based Adoption Model Project as well as qualitative methods. The results indicated that the teacher's concerns about the innovation focused on how it affected the students. The teacher used the innovation to support her student-centred teaching methods and the students had positive perceptions about learning science. Specializations: K-6 Science and Technology curriculum and instruction.     

生物学教师专业发展途径探寻

本文结合实施新课程的体会,试对生物教师专业发展途径作探寻。     

The effectiveness of a learning disabilities inservice program

Forty-three regular classroom teachers were provided with four one-hour inservice sessions related to the field of learning disabilities. Pre- and posttest administrations of the Learning Disabilities Information Inventory were utilized to measure change resulting from these sessions. Twenty-four control subjects did not participate in these sessions but did complete the dependent measure. An analysis of covariance with pretest scores serving as the covariate indicated that the inservice treatment did result in improved performance on the dependent measure. Approximately 50% of the experimental subjects completed a follow-up questionnaire and most indicated that the sessions increased their knowledge of learning disabilities and provided them with techniques and materials useful in their classroom settings. It is concluded that such inservice sessions are a viable means of increasing classroom teachers' information concerning learning disabilities and the Learning Disabilities Information Inventory is sensitive to the effects of such inservice.     

The significance of circumstances for college students' ratings of their teachers and courses

Although firm generalizations and conclusions cannot yet be drawn from the extant research on the effects on teacher and course ratings of the circumstances surrounding these evaluations, at least some studies have shown that college students' ratings of their teachers and courses are somewhat higher when students remain anonymous rather than identifying themselves, when the purported use of the ratings is an official or administrative one for use in salary, promotion, or tenure considerations rather than otherwise, and when the instructor is present rather than absent during the rating session. (The differences between each of these contrasted circumstances are usually rather small and do not inevitably appear across studies.) Certain variations in rating format have been found to make a difference in the ratings obtained, whereas other have not. From limited evidence, the exact timing (or occasion) of evaluation appears not to be important to ratings. Variability in sampling procedures, as it affects the composition of students available to complete rating forms, may or may not turn out to be a generally important element in ratings (as directly relevant data are collected). The analysis concludes with a discussion of (1) the presumed bias in ratings produced in certain of the rating conditions and (2) the more general issue of the comparability of ratings made in different circumstances of evaluation.     

The effectiveness of a transitional prekindergarten program on later academic achievement

Transitional, or extra year, classes have become a widely implemented intervention in many schools. This study investigated the academic effectiveness of a prekindergarten program in a suburban, predominantly Caucasian upper middle class school system. Ninety matched pairs of children were selected for the study based on a “developmentally immature” score on the Gesell School Readiness Test. Children who spent an extra year in prekindergarten were matched with youngsters who proceeded directly to regular kindergarten based on gender, date of birth, and Gesell score. No significant differences were found between the two groups of students on the basis of Stanford Achievement Test scores (second grade), Pupil Evaluation of Progress scores (third grade), placement in a first grade remedial reading program, review by the building level Pupil Service team, or classification by the Committee on Special Education. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Development of an instrument to evaluate the effectiveness of teachers in guiding small groups

In many student-centred curricula, teacherswork in small groups with students. Guidingsmall groups is rather complex. Teachers needto aim to stimulate students in these groupstowards constructive, self-directed, contextualand collaborative learning. It is alsoimportant that teachers demonstrate adequateinterpersonal behaviour towards students. Inthis study, an instrument was developed toprovide teachers with feedback about theirperformance to improve their behaviour. The aimof this study is to report on the development,reliability and validity of an instrument toevaluate teachers' performance in guiding smallgroups.The items of the instrument were based on fivetheoretical dimensions: constructive,self-directed, contextual and collaborativelearning and the teacher's interpersonalbehaviour. Students were asked to fill out thisinstrument and evaluate the performance of theteacher guiding the small group at the end ofseveral courses. The instrument was tested in apilot-study. Confirmatory factor analysis andgeneralizability studies indicated that theinstrument is fairly valid and reliable whensix student responses are available perteacher. Teachers receive detailed feedbackabout their performance indicating strong andweak aspects. Further research is needed todetermine whether this feedback indeed leads toimprovement of teachers' behaviour.     

The next decade of research on the effectiveness of early intervention.

The effectiveness of early intervention programs for children with developmental disabilities and for children at biologic risk was reviewed and analyzed. A general pattern indicating important effects of early intervention programs was noted, with effect sizes averaging between one-half and three-quarters of a standard deviation. The ability of early intervention programs to minimize declines in development was identified as a significant outcome. The effects of specific program features--age of start and family involvement--were selected for more detailed examination, and the moderating influence of the levels of severity of children's disabilities was also analyzed. Future directions for improving the effectiveness of early intervention include using the emerging knowledge of biobehavioral and child development research, as well as enhancing children's social competence.     

Research productivity and scholarly accomplishment of college teachers as related to their instructional effectiveness: A review and exploration

This analysis reviews the research that has been done on the connection between research productivity or scholarly accomplishment of faculty members and their teaching effectiveness (as assessed by their students). On average, there is a very small positive association between the two variables. To understand this relationship better, extant research was explored for factors that might mediate either positive or inverse associations between research productivity and teaching effectiveness and those that possibly could be common causes of them. Pedagogical practices and dispositions of faculty members, as well as certain course or class characteristics (size of class, electivity of course), were examined as potential mediating factors. Potential common causes investigated were academic rank and age of faculty members, their general ability, their personality characteristics, and the amount of time or effort they spend on research activities. The association between research productivity and teaching effectiveness was explored further by considering whether its size and direction varies by career stage of faculty members, their academic discipline, and the type of college or university in which they teach.     

The effects of a comprehensive teaching assistant training program on teaching anxiety and effectiveness

This experiment investigated the effects of a comprehensive teaching assistant (TA) training program on the teaching anxiety and effectiveness of TAs. Twenty-seven TAs in the English department of a research university were divided into experimental and control groups. Both groups participated in a one-week workshop and a sixteen-week theory and pedagogy course during a fall semester. TAs in the experimental group also participated in a consultant observation program and peer mentoring activities. Data resulting from the completed pretests and posttests for teaching anxiety and effectiveness were analyzed using either at-test or an analysis of covariance. Conclusions from the study include: (1) Declines in teaching anxiety for TAs in the experimental group were significantly greater. (2) Neither group of TAs improved in teaching effectiveness, as measured by general student evaluations. However, based on posttest means for these student ratings, the teaching effectiveness of the experimental group was rated significantly higher. (3) Student ratings of teaching effectiveness in composition for TAs in the experimental group were significantly higher. (4) There were no significant differences between pre- to posttest changes in the self-appraisals of teaching effectiveness for the groups.