Are preservice teachers prepared to teach struggling readers?

Reading disabilities such as dyslexia, a specific learning disability that affects an individual’s ability to process written language, are estimated to affect 15–20% of the general population. Consequently, elementary school teachers encounter students who struggle with inaccurate or slow reading, poor spelling, poor writing, and other language processing difficulties. However, recent evidence may suggest that teacher preparation programs are not providing preservice teachers with information about basic language constructs and other components related to scientifically based reading instruction. As a consequence preservice teachers have not exhibited explicit knowledge of such concepts in previous studies. Few studies have sought to assess preservice teachers’ knowledge about dyslexia in conjunction with knowledge of basic language concepts. The purpose of the present study was to examine elementary school preservice teachers’ knowledge of basic language constructs and their perceptions and knowledge about dyslexia. Findings from the present study suggest that preservice teachers, on average, are able to display implicit skills related to certain basic language constructs (i.e., syllable counting), but fail to demonstrate explicit knowledge of others (i.e., phonics principles). Also, preservice teachers seem to hold the common misconception that dyslexia is a visual perception deficit rather than a problem with phonological processing. Implications for future research as well as teacher preparation are discussed.     

Supplemental reading strategy instruction for adolescents: A randomized trial and follow-up study

In this study, the authors examine the impact of a yearlong supplemental reading course involving daily instruction in the learning strategies curriculum on lower achieving adolescent students' reading achievement and motivation. Using a multiple-cohort randomized treatment-control group design over 4 years, they compared achievement and motivation outcomes for 605 sixth-grade students who participated in the intervention with 530 students who did not participate and 593 ninth-grade students who participated in the intervention with 535 students who did not participate. Results indicated significant impacts of the intervention on reading achievement for ninth-grade students but not for sixth-grade students. Significant impacts on reading motivation were found for both sixth- and ninth-grade students. An exploratory follow-up study indicated potential benefits of a second year of intervention for sixth-grade students who are still low achieving after 1 year of intervention.     

High and low implementers of content literacy instruction: Portraits of teacher efficacy

This study used a teacher efficacy framework to describe the perceptions of high and low implementers of content literacy instruction in the context of a year-long professional development program. Interviews from middle and high school content teachers illustrated efficacy differences between teachers who demonstrated high and low levels of content literacy implementation. High implementers exhibited higher levels of general, personal, and collective efficacy, whereas low implementers exhibited lower levels of efficacy for literacy teaching. Although both high and low implementers perceived content literacy positively, high implementers were characterized by persistence in overcoming barriers associated with content literacy implementation.     

Factors Affecting Science Teaching Efficacy of Preservice Elementary Teachers

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Professional Development of Nonformal Environmental Educators Through School-based Partnerships

Abstract

Although natural resource professionals are adept at managing resources, they often lack the skills and the desire to fulfill their roles as nonformal environmental educators. School-based partnerships are a potential vehicle for enhancing skills for delivering environmental education. Research shows that teachers benefit from partnerships, but the benefits of partnering for nonformal educators are unknown. This exploratory study investigated (a) if partnerships enable natural resource professionals to better perform their roles as nonformal environmental educators, and (b) if partnerships benefit natural resource agencies and their employees in other ways. Widespread development was self-reported during interviews, both in environmental education practices and in workplace-related job performance, especially in interpersonal skills, thinking and basic skills, and managing resources and information.     

“Nothing Like Pretend”: Difference,Disorder, and Dystopia in The Multiple World Spaces of Philip Pullman’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">His Dark Materials</Emphasis>

This article examines the multiple worlds in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy in light Pierre Bourdieu’s “space of possibles” and the combination of chance and choice that impact Lyra and Will’s decisions. Rather than viewing chance or destiny as disempowering, this article considers how the protagonists’ choices also encourage readers to confront their own notions of space in the world outside the narrative. As Lyra and Will work to escape and restore the dystopic multiverses through which they travel, Pullman’s text challenges readers to recognize and repair the dystopias in their own worlds and to accept the Keatsian “negative capabilities” of ambiguity and mystery in place of facile escape. Given this pedagogical imperative, Pullman’s enclosure of Lyra and Will in their separate worlds lies at the heart of his resistance to escapist tendencies of fairy-tale endings. Fantasy must be grounded in reality because Pullman’s readers must also continue the struggle for wisdom in their own worlds no less than Lyra and Will.