Purpose: On the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress reading test, 31 percent of Grade 4 students and 31 percent of Grade 8 students were at or above the proficient level in reading. Research indicates that, unlike spoken language, for most children, reading must be taught directly and explicitly. Indeed, some have argued that individualizing instruction according to students' language and literacy skills may result in improved learning because the effect of particular instructional strategies appears to depend on students' initial language and literacy skills.

In an earlier IES project, this team of researchers developed and conducted an initial evaluation of a web-based software system, Assessment-to-instruction (A2i), that enables teachers to individualize reading instruction according to students' language and literacy skills. Using algorithms to compute recommended amounts and types of instruction for each student, the Assessment-to-instruction (A2i) web-based system prepares instructional profiles for each child and based on the student instructional profiles, provides teachers with suggestions for organizing children into groups with similar instructional needs for small-group reading instruction. In the initial evaluation, the researchers tested the Assessment-to-instruction (A2i) system in first grade classrooms and found significantly stronger student reading outcomes in the Assessment-to-instruction (A2i) classes than in control classes. The purpose of this project is to test the effect of implementing this system for individualizing reading instruction in second and third grade classrooms, following two cohorts of children who participated in the evaluation of Assessment-to-instruction (A2i) as first graders.

Project Activities: The researchers will conduct a rigorous evaluation of the effect of Assessment-to-instruction (A2i) on children's reading abilities. Teachers will be randomly assigned to use the Assessment-to-instruction (A2i) system or to continue their regular teaching practices. Students will be assessed three times per year on a battery of language, literacy, and self-regulation tasks. Classrooms will be videotaped during literacy instruction three times per year. This randomized field trial will be conducted in Florida elementary schools located in two districts that have a high proportion of children living in poverty and are economically and ethnically/racially diverse.

Products: The outcomes of this research will include the evaluation of individualized literacy instruction, supported by Assessment-to-instruction (A2i) software. Published reports of this research will also become available.

Structured Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study, which follows the completion of an earlier IES award entitled Individualizing Student Instruction (ISI) is to replicate, in second and third grade, the first grade finding that individualizing literacy instruction, supported by Assessment-to-instruction (A2i) software, causes significantly stronger student reading outcomes than typical reading instruction and to examine the impact on achievement of receiving one, two or three years of individualized literacy instruction.

Population: Second and third grade students will be drawn from Florida elementary schools located in two districts: a middle-sized city district and a more rural district. Both districts have a high proportion of children living in poverty and are economically and ethnically/racially diverse.

Intervention: The researchers have developed and tested a method of individualizing student instruction based on models that incorporate child-by-instruction interactions, manipulating both time-on-task and literacy content, while encouraging effective literacy practices. The intervention includes Assessment-to-instruction (A2i) web-based software, which uses algorithms, based on their earlier research, to compute recommended amounts and types of instruction for each child in the classroom, as well as organization and planning software to support teachers' efforts to individualize literacy instruction. Teachers receive professional development as well.

Research Design and Methods: The researchers will use a longitudinal randomized cluster design with teachers randomly assigned to treatment and control conditions. A first grade replication randomized field trial is currently being conducted and is funded by NICHD. In this new project, the researchers will follow two cohorts of first grade students who participated in the initial evaluations of Assessment-to-instruction (A2i) into second grade. These students' second grade teachers will be randomly assigned to treatment or control conditions. The researchers will continue to follow students longitudinally into third grade and their third grade teachers will be randomly assigned to treatment or control groups. This research design allows the researchers to investigate the efficacy of individualizing student instruction within grades and dosage effects across grades.

Control condition: The researchers will use an alternative treatment control group, which will include monthly professional development on individualizing literacy instruction.

Key Measures: Students will be assessed three times per year, fall, winter, and spring, on a battery of language, literacy, and self-regulation tasks, including the Woodcock Johnson-III Tests of Achievement. Classrooms will be videotaped during literacy instruction three times per year. Classroom and student level coding of these videos will allow the researchers to closely examine teachers' implementation of individualizing student instruction using A2i and the specific instruction each student received.

Data Analytic Strategy: Using hierarchical linear modeling with children nested in classrooms, the researchers will be able to compare the achievement of children in treatment and control classrooms within grades. To examine student achievement over time, the researchers will use cross-classified random effects models. Using the coding results from the classroom videos in the HLM models, the researchers can examine teacher fidelity to the intervention, and how it is related to student outcomes.

Publications from this project:

Morrison, F.J., and Connor, C.M. (2009). The Transition to School: Child-Instruction Transactions in Learning to Read. In A. Sameroff (Ed.), The Transactional Model of Development: How Children and Contexts Shape Each Other (pp. 183–201). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Terry, N., Connor, C., Thomas-Tate, S., and Love, M. (2010). Examining Relationships Among Dialect Variation, Literacy Skills, and School Context in First Grade. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 53 (1): 126–145.