Elementary Education and Teaching Commons^™

Understanding Primary Level Learner Progression In Scotland: Insights From Scottish Online Formative Assessments (Sofa) Data From The Highland Local Authority, Alexander Towne, Sladana Krstic

Assessment and Reporting

This report presents findings from more than 30,000 Scottish Online Formative Assessment (SOFA) assessments completed across one Scottish local authority during the 2024-2025 academic year. It demonstrates how SOFA can be used to monitor learning progression across numeracy, reading and writing, identify attainment gaps between learner groups, and provide detailed diagnostic evidence to support classroom practice, school improvement and local authority panning. Although based on a single local authority, the study illustrates how curriculum-aligned formative assessment can complement national assessment evidence by providing richer insight into learner development.

Professional Development And Coaching To Support Teachers In Implementing Reading Interventions To Students With Dyslexia In Catholic Schools, Payton Elise Bosma

Masters Projects

Students with dyslexia need explicitly designed and implemented instruction in order to combat deficits in phonological, language, and executive functioning processes, yet teachers in Catholic Schools may not have the necessary training for successful reading intervention due to a lack of dyslexia policy in private schools. This project aims to fill this need by providing one Catholic School in an urban setting with a year-long professional development series which includes 5 professional development sessions to be implemented alongside individual coaching sessions. The purpose of the professional development sessions is twofold. They were created to increase teacher awareness of the etiology …

Evaluating The Impact Of The Kentucky Read To Achieve (Rta) Initiative On School Reading Performance, Nicholas Gage, Erin Hogan, Todd Whitney, Terrance M. Scott, Amy S. Lingo

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

Kentucky reading achievement has remained below statewide goals, which prompted a revision to the Read to Achieve (RTA) initiative, a state-level grant-funded program aimed at improving student literacy outcomes. The revision prioritized the professional learning of administrators and K-3 reading instructional staff in the science of reading and the adoption of high-quality structured literacy-based resources and aligned intervention resources. This study uses nine years of panel data (2014–2015 through 2023–2024) from all public schools in Kentucky to evaluate whether the revised RTA initiative had a differential effect on school-level reading outcomes. We employ propensity score matching and a heterogeneous difference-in-differences …

Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge, Skills, And Perceptions Related To Data-Based Decision Making In Elementary Reading Instruction, Erin K. Washburn, Samantha A. Gesel, Miranda S. Fitzgerald, Corinne R. Kingsbery

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Teachers’ knowledge of and ability to use reading assessments and assessment data to inform instruction has long been recognized as a core teaching competency. Data-based decision making (DBDM) is a process by which educators examine assessment data to identify student strengths and needs and apply those findings to their practice. DBDM has been linked to student achievement/engagement and positive teacher self-efficacy. However, DBDM, specifically in reading, is a complex process for teachers. Preservice teacher preparation has been deemed a space for the introduction of DBDM in reading. However, few studies have explored how targeted instruction in reading-related DBDM may impact …

The Shifting The Balance Duology: A Book Critique From A Teacher Education Perspective, David Wolff

Essays in Education

Reading instruction has become a critical focus in many states in the country. Both in-service and pre-service teachers are adopting innovative approaches in reading instruction embedded in the Science of Reading. However, the transition to these new methods require a shift in practice that should be differentiated for both groups. In-service teachers have a wealth of knowledge and experience to draw upon, while pre-service teachers because of the lack of prior knowledge of past practices in literacy that include the Balanced Literacy approach. This book critique examines the Shifted the Balance duology, offering insights to its implications to Teacher Education.

Shifting The Balance: 6 Ways To Bring The Science Of Reading Into The Upper Elementary Classroom- A Review, Mary-Jo Morse

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

In recent weeks, the New York State Governor Kathy Hochul unveiled her “Back to Basics” plan to improve reading achievement in New York State. As part of her plan, Governor Hochul has proposed that millions of dollars be allocated in the state’s budget to train “20 thousand teachers in Science of Reading Instructional best practices and announced an expansion of SUNY and CUNY’s microcredentialing programs for teachers focused on the Science of Reading.” (Hochul, 2024). With the Science of Reading becoming a major component in reading instruction, this new text, Shifting the Balance: 6 ways to Bring the Science of …

A Study Of Preservice Teachers' Preparedness To Teach Reading, Kelli Williams-Page

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Only 35% of fourth graders in the United States can read at the proficient level, and only 34% of eighth graders can read proficiently (National Assessment of Educational Progress [NAEP], 2022). The purpose of this study was to determine how preservice teachers (PSTs) describe their experience of the methodology of teaching reading in their literacy courses. In addition, what specific strategies for teaching reading do PSTs describe as the focus for their teaching reading preparation, and how do PSTs describe the potential of the strategies learned in their coursework to help them teach reading in their future positions? This study …

Challenging Vocabulary Words In Graphic Novels: A Multimodal Content Analysis, Karyn Z. Mendez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recreational reading is in a decline for upper elementary aged readers, and along with this decline comes consequent declines in students’ ability to make meaning from what they read and their acquisition of different language forms, including the acquisition of new vocabulary words. However, one reading format is increasing in popularity: graphic novels. As graphic novels, along with other texts with both textual and visual elements, become an increasingly prevalent way of reading in the 21st century, it is important to look at the possibilities multimodal texts have for foundational literacy skills, such as vocabulary acquisition. To date, however, the …

An Alternating Treatment Design Comparing Small Group Reading Interventions Across Early Elementary Readers, Madison Billingsley-Ring, Kayla Bates-Brantley, Hailey Ripple, Mallie Donald, Daniel L. Gadke, Sarah Harry

Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education

Learning how to read accurately and fluently is a critical component for a student’s future academic success. Reading fluency is a skill that many students struggle to master. In addition, many students missed out on key skill development due to the loss of instruction from COVID-19. As schools begin to recover from these educational losses, small group reading interventions offer an efficient solution to service multiple students at once. Small group reading interventions such as Repeated Readings (RR), Listening Passage Preview (LPP) and LPP with RR (LPP+RR) have all been demonstrated to be effective methods for increasing reading fluency. Yet …

Research Conference 2023: Becoming Lifelong Learners. Proceedings And Program, Kylie Burns (Ed.)

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

We know learning in the early years sets the foundations for people’s ongoing academic, cognitive and socio-emotional development. Education across those formative first 12 years is currently segmented, with children often starting fresh in new systems. How can each of us make learning in the early childhood and primary years more effective? Research Conference 2023 will examine research around how we can improve the continuity of learning from birth to 12 years. It will bring together leading international and Australian researchers to provide insights into the best ways to identify, conceptualise, develop and assess these new linkages for learning.

Staying “Above The Fray” With Julia B. Lindsey’S Insights On Effective Reading Instruction, Troy Hicks, Emma Chappel, Kirstin Fish, Anne Hosking, Jill Johnston, Jodi Juergens, Georgianna Murray, Lindsay Picarski, Heidi Turchan, Meghan K. Block, Chad Waldron

Michigan Reading Journal

In this crowdsourced, collaborative book review, participants in an online book club share their insights on Julia B. Lindsey's 2022 Scholastic Professional text, Reading Above the Fray.

From Read 2 Rap: Moving From Words On A Page To Standing On Stage, Nate Whitsett

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Creativity will abound in your classroom as you tap into your students’ hidden talents. Learn how to use Rap, Rhyme & Poetry to teach Key vocabulary in Reading, Writing and Performance Arts Education. Teachers at all levels can benefit from seeing how enjoyable teaching is when students are actively engaged in the learning process.

Student Teachers As Readers: The Reading Experiences And Reading Pedagogy Of Finnish And British Student Teachers, Juli-Anna Aerila, Merja Kauppinen, Teresa Cremin, Mari Siipola, Sarah Jane Mukherjee, Johanna Lähteelä

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

As the pedagogy of teachers depends partly on their earlier life experiences, investigating the prior reading practices of student teachers is crucial. This study investigated Finnish and English student teachers’ (N = 353) own reading, the importance of their own reading to their reading pedagogy, and the relationship of these to teachers’ content knowledge of reading pedagogy. The data were collected via an online questionnaire and analysed via quantitative methods. According to the findings, nearly all the student teachers enjoy reading, have a positive attitude towards reading, and consider the teachers’ own reading important for the pedagogy they implement. However, …

Perceptions Of Out-Of-School Reading Motivation For Female Middle School Students, Danielle Porch

Dissertations

Literacy engagement and motivation to read is lacking in middle school reading classrooms. Educators struggle with the challenge of motivating students to read and actively engage with text both inside and outside of school. Research indicates that female and male middle school students have unique characteristics and habits as readers. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the perspectives of female middle school students regarding their out-of-school recreational reading time, their attitudes towards reading, and their reading habits. The themes derived from this study indicated the students’ desires to have their reading instruction personalized and have their reading …

Teaching With The Genius In Mind: Enacting Literacy As A Civil Right, Katie Glupker, Pam Gower, Angela Knight

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

Because literacy is a civil right, educators are responsible for designing and implementing literacy education that is designed with the excellence of all students in mind. In order to learn about ways to ensure that literary practices are equitable for all students, the authors joined an educators’ book club to read Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy by Gholdy Muhammad. Muhammad describes the Black literary societies of the past and challenges educators of today to enhance classrooms by upholding equity and excellence through a five-layered framework: Identity, Skills, Intellect, Criticality, and Joy.

We studied Muhammad’s …

Reading Knowledge Transfer From The Pre-Service Teaching Phase To The Novice Teaching Phase: A Phenomenological Study, Natalie Sajko

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

This qualitative study explored the experiences of eight novice teachers as they transferred knowledge of reading instruction from their teacher education programs (TEPs) into their first classrooms in a rural district. Specific mechanisms for learning transfer (prior knowledge, motivation, context, and culture) and their perceived influences were also explored. Phenomenology was utilized to help explore these experiences and perceptions. Social constructivism, Situated Learning Theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and critical pedagogies (hooks, 2014; Love, 2019) were used to interpret findings in this study. This study centered on the following questions: (1) how do elementary novice teachers perceive reading knowledge transfer …

Successful Instructional Reading Practices For African American Male Third-Grade Students, Kimberly D. Whaley, Steve Wells, Nancy Williams

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

African American male third graders in U.S Title I schools frequently fail to read on grade level. However, in three Title I schools in East Texas, this demographic demonstrated exceptionally high reading ability. This explanatory case study investigated the instructional strategies and practices linked to high reading achievement for these students. The study is grounded in Ladson-Billings’s theory of culturally relevant pedagogy and supported by Vygotsky’s theory of social and cognitive constructivism. The research questions were used to examine the instructional strategies and practices used on each campus that may have resulted in such high reading achievement. This study engenders …

Validation Of A Scale To Measure Phonological And Morphological Knowledge And Skill Of Speech-Language Pathologists And Elementary Teachers, Susan S. Perry

Dissertations

Phonological and morphological skills are crucial to the process of reading. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have received advanced trained in these basic foundations of language and could be an untapped resource in our school systems for teaching beginning reading skills. The purposes of this research were to examine SLPs’ and general education elementary (K-6) teachers’ attitudes toward SLPs taking part in reading instruction, to compare the differences in phonological and morphological knowledge and skill among SLPs and teachers, and to assess the performance of the Revised Basic Language Constructs Surveywhen administered to SLPs and teachers.

Results indicated that, although fewer …

Instructional Reading Practices For Third Grade African American Males, Kimberly Dawn Whaley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American males often struggle to read on grade level. However, 3 East Texas Title I schools demonstrated exceptionally high levels of reading proficiency with this population. This study addressed the knowledge gap of understanding the instructional practices linked to high reading achievement of third grade African American males in Title I schools in East Texas. Guided by Ladson-Billings's theory of culturally relevant pedagogy, which builds upon academic success, cultural competence, and development of critical consciousness, and supported by Vygotsky's theory of social and cognitive constructivism, the reading instructional practices of the 3 schools were investigated. Research questions focused on …

Translanguaging And Responsive Assessment Adaptations: Emergent Bilingual Readers Through The Lens Of Possibility, Laura Ascenzi-Moreno

Publications and Research

Through a case study, this article features how three teachers working with emergent bilingual students adapted formative reading assessments by creating a space for translanguaging within these assessments. The findings demonstrate that through these shifts, called responsive adaptations, teachers were able to construct an accurate portrait of these students’ reading development. In addition, when students’ translanguaging was welcomed into the reading assessment process, it became apparent that their bilingual abilities were essential to their development as readers. This article aims to inspire and aid teachers in identifying the language resources students bring to classrooms, integrating responsive adaptations into their reading …

Elementary Teachers' Beliefs Of Using Guided Reading Pedagogy And Student Data, Ivonne Miranda

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In today's classrooms, many teachers meet students' reading needs by providing guided reading. However, little is known about how teachers combine student data and pedagogical content knowledge to plan guided readings lessons. This study focused on understanding how elementary teachers use guided reading pedagogical content knowledge and student data when planning a guided reading lesson. The conceptual framework was based on Fountas and Pinnell's guided reading framework, and Clay's theory of data collection with respect to literacy processing. The research questions concerned how teachers' use, guide, and reflect on guided reading pedagogical content knowledge and students data when planning a …

The Effects Of Academic Parent Teacher Teams On Latino Student Achievement, Barbara Dee Bench

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Decades of research have noted the importance of parent involvement in students' academic success. Less is known about parent engagement models that aim to increase Latino students' reading achievement. This project study examined the effectiveness of a 2-year parent engagement program implemented to address poor reading achievement of Latino elementary school students in a small urban district. The purpose of this study was to determine disparities in student scores between those parents who participated in the program and those parents who did not participate. The research questions examined parent engagement levels in comparison to increased summative reading scores. Based on …

Book Review - Teaching African American Learners To Read, Tiffany A. Flowers

Journal of Research Initiatives

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Instructional Methods On Fourth Grade Reading Achievement, Benita Jessup

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a significant percent of 4th grade students read below the basic level. In one elementary school students participated in additional reading instruction as intervention for students scoring basic and below basic on the state standardized test. The purpose of this ex post facto non-experimental quantitative study was to determine the effectiveness of direct instruction versus fluency (repeated reading) instruction on the reading achievement of 4th grade students. This study is based on the theory of automatic information processing in reading and the theory of prosody. The overarching research question for this study …

Strengthening Tier 1 Elementary Reading Within A Multi-Tiered System Of Support, Carla N. Osborn

Masters Theses

Training teachers about the foundational reading skills is an important step in creating students who are proficient readers. However, training is not enough. Teachers need support through instructional coaching. Even with coaching support, sustainability of these practices will be a challenge if systems are not in place throughout the district to support ongoing implementation. By combining the processes of creating a Multi-Tiered System of Support, reading training, and instructional coaching, sustainability of practices can be possible. Research does not currently exist as to whether the combination of these efforts has increased student achievement in reading at the elementary level. This …

Literacy Choice In A First Grade Classroom, Lisa Marie Maletta

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to observe and note student performance on choice literacy activities. Students were given choice pertaining to writing assignments and publishing preferences as well as guided reading material. Students completed an interest inventory at the start of the research to better understand the types of literacy activities that may interest them. The students were allowed to exercise choice in their literacy activities when choosing a guided reading book from appropriately leveled choices and choosing their writing topic as well as publishing option such as a big book, a little book, or a step book. Student …

Teachers' Perspectives On Reading Interventions Implemented To Low Achieving Second Graders, Kendra Yvette Coles-Hart

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In a Mid-Atlantic school district, the administration of standardized assessments begins in third grade. Over the past 3 years, these assessments revealed that an average of 37% of third graders in the local district did not possess necessary reading skills, although over 86% of this group received intervention support in second and third grade. It is unclear how effective the implementations of various interventions are in instruction with struggling second graders to prepare them for the rigors of third grade. The purpose of this descriptive case study was to explore the perspectives of 9 second grade teachers on research-based interventions …

Teachers' Perceptions Of Differentiated Instruction In Elementary Reading, Olwen Suzette Stewart

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many teachers in a low socioeconomic school district in Florida struggle with differentiating instruction for the large at-risk population; however, one school has been identified as a high functioning school. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate how classroom teachers at the high functioning school are differentiating instruction and how their reading coaches are supporting the teachers in designing instructional interventions. Guided by the concepts of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and Tomlinson's differentiated instruction, this study examined the connection between these 2 concepts and explored approaches to the creation of an instructional model to support at-risk …

Imparting Practical Wisdom And Resilience To Our Students, Charles (Derrick) Lawson

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

The powerful impact of communicating a teacher’s belief in a student is presented. By sharing trade books and novels with metaphoric messages, teachers can impart practical wisdom and enable students to develop resilience when facing challenges.

The Value Of Student Choice In Reading. A Book Review Of Keep Them Reading: An Anti-Censorship Handbook For Educators, Christi R. Keelen

Democracy & Education

Keep Them Reading: An Anti-Censorship Handbooks for Educators is a must-have for elementary and secondary English and reading teachers, administrators, and librarians or media specialists. While the focus for this text is how to handle and avoid challenges on books, how to create an environment where reading is important and the students' ability to choose what they want to read is part of the classroom culture is also addressed.