Michael C. McKenna

The Relationships between Coaching and Instruction in the Primary Grades: Evidence from High-Poverty Schools.

In this study of 116 high-poverty schools, we explored teaching and coaching in grades K–3. We developed and validated observation protocols for both coaching and teaching. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were computed to identify and confirm factors that explained the protocol data. Three coaching factors were identified in both analyses: (1) collaboration with teachers, (2) coaching for differentiation, and (3) leadership support for coaching. Five teaching factors were identified in the exploratory factor analysis: (1) collaboration, (2) small-group management, (3) effective reading instruction, (4) read-alouds, and (5) assessment. In the confirmatory factor analysis the final teaching factors included (1) small-group work, (2) effective instruction, (3) read-alouds, and (4) management. Structural equation modeling indicated that each coaching factor was a significant predictor of at least one instructional factor, but there were differences by grade level. Implications of these findings for future research into causal relationships between coaching and enhanced instruction are discussed.

THE ELECTRONIC TRANSFORMATION OF LITERACY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE STRUGGLING READER

This article examines how changes in the nature of text, brought about by its electronic representation, will increasingly affect the circumstances of struggling readers. It is argued that the textual transformation now in progress holds great promise for such readers. The emerging view of reading disability based on developmental stage theory is discussed, and this perspective is used to recommend instructional approaches that are appropriate to successive stages of reading acquisition.

Technology and Literacy Education in the Next Century: Exploring the Connection Between Work and Schooling.

For over 10 generations in America, a traditional concept of literacy as the ability to read and write print on a page has dominated schooling and adequately served the literacy demands of the society and of the workplace (Venezky, Wagner, & Ciliberti, 1991). In this not-so-distant past, during industrial and print-based economic eras, students learned functional uses of literacy and a body of knowledge that directly applied to workplace positions and stable workplace affiliations that they were likely to experience throughout their lives (Papert, 1993). However, in the emerging digital economic era, spurred by the recent proliferation of

Planning and Evaluating Change at Scale: Lessons from Reading First.

The evaluation of Reading First, the U.S. Department of Education’s multibillion-dollar K–3 initiative, although flawed, nevertheless offers instructive guidance for gauging the impact of future initiatives. After providing an overview of the program, its evaluation, and the historical context of federal initiatives, the authors outline limitations in applying scientific principles at scale. They argue for more nuanced approaches, including meta-analyses across projects, the use of improved statistical approaches, and the incorporation of formative designs. They conclude with four recommendations for evaluating future initiatives. Such evaluations should (a) account for fidelity systematically, (b) include outcome measures that gauge school climate and administrative support, (c) include multiple designs and aggregate the results, and (d) account for the length of implementation.

Literacy Instruction in the Brave New World of Technology.

Technology integration into language arts instruction has been slow and tentative, even as information technologies have evolved with frightening speed. Today’s teachers need to be aware of several extant and unchanging realities: Technology is now indispensable to literacy development; reading with technology requires new skills and strategies; technology can support struggling students; technology can transform writing; technology offers a means of motivating students; and waiting for research is a losing strategy.

Disabled readers: their intellectual and perceptual capacities at differing ages.

To investigate the multiple relationships between selected measures of intelligence and perception and reading achievement a group of young, poor readers (MCA = 8.4 yr.) and a group of older, poor readers (MCA = 11.2 yr.) were given the Gates-MacGinitie Achievement Test, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Slosson Intelligence Test, Spatial Orientation Memory Test, and Auditory Discrimination Test. The combination of the four predictor variables accounted for a significant amount of the variance in reading vocabulary and comprehension for younger and older poor readers. Greater variance was accounted for in the reading achievement of younger students than of older students. Perceptual abilities related more strongly for younger students, while intelligence related more strongly for older students. Questions are raised about the validity of using expectancy formulae with younger disabled readers and the “learning disabilities” approach with older disabled readers.

The Promise of a Literacy Reform Effort in the Upper Elementary Grades

We compared year-long gains in fluency and comprehension in grades 3–5 in 3 treatment and 4 comparison schools. Treatment schools implemented a comprehensive school reform (CSR) program called Bookworms. The program employed challenging text and emphasized high text volume, aggressive vocabulary and knowledge building, and contextualized strategy instruction. Comparison schools used a traditional guided reading approach that matched children to instructional-level texts. We established feasibility of the CSR treatment through document review. Achievement levels were initially comparable in fluency and comprehension. Repeated-measures MANOVAs revealed that for reading fluency, the treatment group grew significantly more than the control group in grades 3 and 5 but not in grade 4. For comprehension, the treatment group exhibited significantly more growth at all 3 grades. Implications of the study are discussed.

Cloze and Closure: The Issue of Definition

Taylors use of the word cloze, from the Gestalt concept of closure, to describe the task of replacing words systematically deleted from a prose text is defended. The charge that the Gestalt view of closure was confined to a narrow perceptual sense is countered with citations from the principal Gestalt psychologists supporting a much broader view, one which would have included the cloze situation.