Samantha A. Gesel

Teacher preparation programs (TPPs) can equip pre-service teachers (PSTs) with skills to implement evidence-based reading interventions with fidelity by engaging PSTs in carefully designed clinical experiences with feedback via coaching. To individualize support and facilitate a responsive approach to feedback centered on PSTs’ levels of fidelity, first, this study examined the impact of a multilevel coaching intervention on PSTs’ fidelity of implementation of an evidence-based reading intervention during a tutoring clinical experience. Second, this study examined PSTs’ perceptions of the feasibility, effectiveness, and future impact of the multilevel coaching intervention. Results of a single-case, multiple baseline across participants design indicated a functional relation between the multilevel coaching intervention and PSTs’ fidelity, inclusive of both structural and process dimensions. Furthermore, PSTs found the multilevel coaching intervention to be socially valid, indicating the intervention was feasible, effective, and impactful on their future teaching experiences. Major implications for teacher preparation and coaching support include (a) providing PSTs with authentic clinical experiences, inclusive of coaching support, when implementing EBPs; (b) viewing fidelity as a multidimensional construct that can inform coaching support and teacher practices; and (c) enhancing TPPs with experiences that impact PSTs’ perceptions about their own ability to teach reading.

The COVID-19 pandemic altered the ways that teacher educators could provide teacher candidates (TCs) with clinically-rich opportunities to build TCs’ skills and self-efficacy related to teaching reading. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the experiences of 19 TCs who participated in a semester-long virtual reading tutoring program during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted semi-structured interviews, then analyzed data through inductive and deductive coding. Four themes emerged, centering (a) the impact of the pandemic on typical clinical experiences, (b) the application of coursework within this virtual clinical experience, (c) TCs’ perceptions of program elements that supported their implementation, and (d) TCs’ perceived benefit of the program for their own development as a teacher and for the reading outcomes of the children with whom they worked. We discuss implications for future work related to enhanced clinical experiences related to TCs’ implementation of reading interventions for striving readers.

Although research related to the Science of Reading has documented the positive effects of explicit, systematic reading instruction for all students, students from historically marginalized groups often experience differential opportunities to learn and are likely to perform lower than their peers on large scale measures of reading achievement. These differences may be further exacerbated by summer learning loss (SLL), in which student academic progress stagnates or declines during the summer months. Providing summertime academic interventions, specifically in reading, has been one proposed solution for mitigating SLL. The present exploratory study examined the impact of a comprehensive approach to summer literacy intervention that included evidence-based reading instruction in foundational reading skills (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency) and more advanced disciplinary literacy skills on student reading-related outcomes for rising 1st-3rd grade students. on student reading-related outcomes for rising first, second, and third graders from an under-resourced, urban school. The majority of students who participated in the programming were from historically marginalized populations and low-income families and included students with diverse literacy needs. with 70% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, and included students with diverse literacy skills, students with developmental disabilities, and emergent bilingual learners. Students were assessed pre-post using norm-referenced assessments of phonemic segmentation, nonsense word reading, and oral reading fluency as well as curriculum embedded Mastery Tests. Results indicated that students made significant growth or maintained measured reading skills. Results indicated that rising first grade students made significant growth pre-post on measures of phonemic segmentation fluency, nonsense word reading, and Mastery Tests. Rising 2nd grade students demonstrated significant growth on Mastery Tests measures and maintained on other measures. Rising 3rd grade students demonstrated significant growth on aspects of nonsense word reading and maintained on other measures. Findings from this study indicate that a summer literacy intervention designed to address both foundational and disciplinary literacy skills may improve reading-related outcomes for students from economically and culturally diverse backgrounds.

Students with disabilities are served by both special and general educators, yet teachers often feel unprepared to meet the needs of these students in their classrooms. Using data from a nationally representative survey, we examined the sufficiency of teachers’ access to supports available for meeting the needs of students with high-incidence disabilities, their access to development opportunities, and the sources teachers used to access interventions. We explored differences in teachers’ experiences by grade band, service delivery model, and teacher preparation model. We found teachers of students with disabilities rated the sufficiency of access to supports between somewhat insufficient and somewhat sufficient, with the lowest ratings for planning/release time and training and information. Teachers reported greater rates of access to collaboration than professional development. Colleagues were sources for resources related to academic interventions and administrators were sources for nonacademic intervention resources. There were few significant differences in these results by teacher characteristics.

This exploratory investigation examined the transformation of a traditional summer reading intervention (SRI) to synchronous virtual format in response to school closures due to COVID-19. Goals were to adapt and describe the adaptation of the in-person intervention to the virtual environment, examine program outcomes, and understand tutor and caregiver perspectives of virtual SRI. SRI involved tutor training, coaching, implementation of evidence-based practices, and student access to physical and virtual learning tools. Thirty-five low-income rising second and third graders who read below grade level, 13 tutors, and five caregivers participated. In summer 2020, trained tutors implemented Sound Partners in 1:1 thirty-minute Zoom sessions for 22 days. Data included students’ pre and posttest reading outcomes, instructional fidelity, and tutor and caregiver perceptions. Key considerations for the transformation of the intervention centered on intervention content and learning environment, attendance, and tutor selection and training. Results indicated strong student attendance and tutor fidelity. Students maintained reading fluency and accuracy skills, and improved by approximately 10 percentage points on curriculum-based mastery tests (p <.001, d = 1.25 to 1.30). Tutors and caregivers reported virtual SRI was feasible and effective. Results highlight the potential for positive outcomes when SRI is provided virtually.

The purpose of this review was to synthesize research on the effect of professional development (PD) targeting data-based decision-making processes on teachers’ knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy related to curriculum-based measurement (CBM) and data-based decision-making (DBDM). To be eligible for this review, studies had to (a) be published in English, (b) include in-service or pre-service K–12 teachers as participants, (c) use an empirical group design, and (d) include sufficient data to calculate an effect size for teacher outcome variables. The mean effect of DBDM PD on teacher outcomes was g = 0.57 (p < .001). This effect was not moderated by study quality. These results must be viewed through the lens of significant heterogeneity in effects across included studies, which could not be explained by follow-up sensitivity analyses. In addition, the experimental studies included in this review occurred under ideal, researcher-supported conditions, which impacts the generalizability of the effects of DBDM PD in practice. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is a systematic, ongoing assessment framework that allows special educators to monitor students’ progress and determine the need for instructional adaptations. Jenkins and colleagues examined the accuracy and timeliness of six different schedules of CBM progress monitoring (PM). The authors found that weekly and intermittent PM schedules were similarly accurate and timely. This study replicated and extended the work of Jenkins and colleagues by examining the accuracy and timeliness of different PM schedules for 51 students with disabilities. Results indicated that the accuracy and timeliness of the PM schedules for the current sample was poorer than the accuracy and timeliness reported by Jenkins and colleagues. In line with the results of the original study, however, these results indicated that intermittent PM schedules sufficiently predicted student true growth compared to weekly PM schedule. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effects of providing mindset intervention in addition to reading intervention compared with only reading intervention for fourth graders with reading difficulties. Reading intervention was provided daily in 45 min sessions throughout the school year. Mindset intervention occurred in small groups for 24–30 min lessons. Multilevel structural equation modeling (SEM) via n-level SEM was used to account for the latent variable representation of constructs, and the complex nesting and cross-classification structure of the data. Students in the reading intervention plus mindset condition significantly outperformed the business as usual condition on nonword reading (d = 0.35) as did students in the reading intervention condition (d = 0.20), who also outperformed the business as usual condition on phonological processing (d = 0.28). There were no significant differences among students in the three conditions on nonword reading, word reading, phonological processing, reading comprehension, or growth mindset. Initial reading achievement, mindset, and problem behavior did not generally moderate these findings.