Eva Myrberg

The effect of formal teacher education on reading achievement of 3rd‐grade students in public and independent schools in Sweden

This study investigates the influence of teacher competence on 3rd‐grade students’ reading achievement in public and independent schools in Sweden. The data come from the Swedish participation in PIRLS 2001 (Progress in Reading Literacy Study 2001) and comprise some 10,000 students. Students in independent schools achieved better on the reading test than did students in public schools, but when parents’ education was controlled for, the effect on students’ achievement of school type disappeared. Teacher certification for teaching in the early grades had a strong effect on students’ mean reading test scores in both school types, while no significant effects of teacher experience, age, gender, in‐service training or cooperation could be established. Though school type had no influence of itself, it was a mediating factor for both parents’ education and teachers’ education. These effects, however, worked in opposite directions.

Inspections of Swedish schools: A critical reflection on intended effects, causal mechanisms and methods

The article outlines a programme theory for the Swedish school inspection. The theory has a format of ‘if … then … because’, whereby the last term states one or more generative mechanisms behind the reactions to inspection, and the former terms imply what the inspectorate does and which reactions it receives. The assumptions of the theory are tested regarding their precision of definition, consistency and empirical status. No research has as yet confirmed a general positive effect of the Swedish inspection on learning and school development. Programme theory, however, suggests that such effects are mostly context-dependent, and thus will vary between schools and school authorities. A complicating feature of the present inspection is its objectivist ethos, which is at odds with the Swedish tradition of a transactional ethos in inspections.

Teachers and tests: assessing pupils' reading achievement in primary schools

The purpose of the present study was to examine validity aspects of teachers’ judgements of pupils’ reading skills. Data come from Swedens participation in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2001, for Grades 3 and 4. For pupils at the same achievement levels, as measured by PIRLS 2001 test, teachers’ judgements of pupils’ achievement levels varied from one teacher to another. Moreover, there were significant differences between teachers’ judgements in Grades 3 and 4. Teachers in Grade 3 who had taught their pupils for almost 3 years showed higher correspondence between their judgements and pupil achievement within classrooms than 4th-grade teachers who, typically, had only taught their pupils for approximately 1 semester at the time of the data collection. The results indicate that teachers’ judgements and tests can be useful within classrooms, but that teachers may need external assessments to calibrate judgements over classrooms.

Valid inferences of teachers’ judgements of pupils’ reading literacy: does formal teacher competence matter?

The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether and, if so, how formal teacher competence relates to the relationship between pupil reading achievement and teachers judgements’ of pupils’ reading achievement. The data come from the Swedish participation in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2001 in Grade 3. Information was obtained from pupils (N = 5271) and teachers (N = 351). Analyses were conducted using multilevel structural equation modeling (SEM) with random slopes. Teacher competence was operationalized using multiple observed indicators and defined as a latent variable. A higher correspondence between teacher judgements and pupil reading achievement for teachers with higher competence was found. The results highlight the importance of teacher competence in assessment practice.

The Relation between Teacher Specialization and Student Reading Achievement

ABSTRACT This study investigates the relationship between teacher specialization and the reading achievement of fourth-grade students in Sweden. The empirical base is data from PIRLS 2011. The main method of analysis is a two-level regression. Results revealed a positive relationship between reading achievement and teacher education relevant for subject and grade level while there was no relationship between reading achievement and teaching experience. The relation between reading achievement and teacher specialization remained significant when the influence of parents’ educational levels and students’ early reading abilities were controlled for. A tendency of compensatory effects could be observed, with teacher specialization having a stronger effect in low-performing classrooms. The findings support the conclusion that relevant teacher education is of importance for teacher effectiveness.