Susan B. Neuman

The Impact of Professional Development and Coaching on Early Language and Literacy Instructional Practices

This study examines the impact of professional development on teacher knowledge and quality early language and literacy practices in center- and home-based care settings. Participants from 291 sites (177 centers; 114 home-based) in four cities were randomly selected to: Group 1, 3-credit course in early language and literacy; Group 2, course plus ongoing coaching; Group 3, control group. Analysis of covariance indicated no significant differences between groups on teacher knowledge. However, there were statistically significant improvements in language and literacy practices for teachers who received coursework plus coaching with substantial effect sizes for both center- and home-based providers. Professional development alone had negligible effects on improvements in quality practices. Coursework and coaching may represent a promising quality investment in early childhood.

The Effects of Vocabulary Intervention on Young Children’s Word Learning A Meta-Analysis

This meta-analysis examines the effects of vocabulary interventions on pre-K and kindergarten children’s oral language development. The authors quantitatively reviewed 67 studies and 216 effect sizes to better understand the impact of training on word learning. Results indicated an overall effect size of .88, demonstrating, on average, a gain of nearly one standard deviation on vocabulary measures. Moderator analyses reported greater effects for trained adults in providing the treatment, combined pedagogical strategies that included explicit and implicit instruction, and author-created measures compared to standardized measures. Middle- and upper-income at-risk children were significantly more likely to benefit from vocabulary intervention than those students also at risk and poor. These results indicate that although they might improve oral language skills, vocabulary interventions are not sufficiently powerful to close the gap—even in the preschool and kindergarten years.

Access to Print for Children of Poverty: Differential Effects of Adult Mediation and Literacy-Enriched Play Settings on Environmental and Functional Print Tasks

This study examined the effects of adult mediation and literacy-enriched play settings on environmental and functional print tasks for 177 minority preschoolers reared in poverty. Eight Head Start classrooms were assigned to one of three conditions: (a) a literacy-enriched generic ‘‘office” play setting with an adult (referred to as “parent-teacher”) encouraged to actively assist children in learning about literacy; (b) a literacy-enriched office play setting with a parent-teacher asked to monitor the children in their literacy play, without direct intervention; and (c) a nonintervention group. Prior to, during, and following the 5-month intervention, the frequency of each child’s handling, reading, and writing of environmental and functional print was assessed through direct observation. Videotaped samples of the office play setting, collected weekly throughout the study, examined children’s uses of print and functional items and their interactions with peers and parent-teachers. Following the intervention, each child was administered environmental and functional print tasks. Results indicated that although no differences were found for children’s understanding of the functions of print items, parent-teachers’ active engagement with children in the office setting significantly influenced their ability to read environmental print and label functional items. Qualitative analyses further detailed activities and strategies used in representative play frames. These findings suggest that adult interaction in literacy-enriched play settings may represent an important opportunity for assisting minority children who live in poverty to think, speak, and behave in literate ways.

Educational Effects of a Vocabulary Intervention on Preschoolers' Word Knowledge and Conceptual Development: A Cluster-Randomized Trial.

A B S T R A C T The purpose of this study was to examine the hypothesis that helping preschoolers learn words through categorization may enhance their ability to retain words and their conceptual properties, acting as a bootstrap for self-learning. We examined this hypothesis by investigating the effects of the World of Words instructional program, a supplemental intervention for children in preschool designed to teach word knowledge and conceptual development through taxonomic categorization and embedded multimedia. Participants in the study included 3- and 4-year-old children from 28 Head Start classrooms in 12 schools, randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Children were assessed on word knowledge, expressive language, conceptual knowledge, and categories and properties of concepts in a yearlong intervention. Results indicated that children receiving the WOW treatment consistently outperformed their control counterparts; further, treatment children were able to use categories to identify the meaning of novel words. Gains in word and categorical knowledge were sustained six months later for those children who remained in Head Start. These results suggest that a program targeted to learning words within taxonomic categories may act as a bootstrap for self-learning and inference generation.

The Role of Knowledge in Early Literacy

Book reviewed in this article: Beating the Odds in Teaching All Children to Read. By Barbara Taylor, P. David Pearson, Kathleen Clark, and Sharon Walpole. September 30, 1999. The Contexts of Comprehension: Information Book Read Alouds and Comprehension Acquisition. By Laura Smolkin and Carol Donovan. June 30, 2000. The Interplay of Firsthand and Text-Based Investigations in Science Education. By Annemarie Sullivan Palincsar and Shirley Magnusson. March 31, 2000. The Scarcity of Informational Text in First Grade. By Nell Duke. August 31, 1999.

The Impact of Professional Development in Family Child Care: A Practice-Based Approach.

Research Findings: The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the efficacy of a practice-based approach to professional development for family child care providers working in low-income communities. This approach included a literacy coaching component that anchors knowledge in practice. One hundred and twenty-eight family child care providers were randomly assigned to three groups: a language and literacy course plus coaching, the course only, and control. Quantitative results revealed that providers who received the course plus coaching experienced statistically and educationally significant improvements in their literacy practice compared to the other two groups. Qualitative data described specific areas in early literacy that were improved as a result of this professional development intervention. Practice or Policy: Implications of these findings for child care policy and professional development programs for family child care providers are discussed

Toward a Collaborative Approach to Parent Involvement in Early Education: A Study of Teenage Mothers in an African-American Community

This study addresses the challenge of creating a collaborative approach to parent involvement. As part of a family literacy program, participants in the study were 19 African-American adolescent parents from low-income backgrounds whose children attended an early intervention program. Parents’ beliefs about learning and literacy were sought through a series of peer group discussions. The data revealed a continuum of perspectives ranging from behavioral to constructivist beliefs, suggesting important intragroup variability within this particular sociocultural group. The discussions also revealed shared goals that may be used to forge collaborative relationships between parents and professionals in the interest of improving African-American children’s early education. Illustrations from a family literacy program are used to show how parent beliefs may be incorporated into programmatic changes, building constructive relationships that work toward supporting children’s success in schools.

The Functions of Reading: A Cross-Cultural Perspective.

THIS STUDY examined the common functions of reading from a cross-cultural perspective. In the preliminary study, 8-, 10and 13-year-old students from 13 different countries were asked to write essays on why they liked to read. The authors analyzed the content of the 1,216 essays produced and identified 10 separate functions of reading. Statements from the essays were used to construct a 50-item scale. In Study 2, this scale was administered to students in 15 countries to determine whether the 10 functions were independent and whether the functions of reading were similar in different cultural settings. Unfortunately, not enough questionnaires were returned for 8-year-old students to include these data in the final analyses. An analysis of the pooled data for 10and 13-year-old students in all 15 countries (3,050 questionnaires) identified three distinct functions or factors: utility, enjoyment, and escape. Factor analyses of each of the national samples identified similar factors, although in some countries there were two utility factors, one educational and one moral. Most of the national samples also showed either two independent factors for enjoyment and escape or a single enjoyment/escape factor. These findings suggest that for 10and 13-year-olds reading may serve similar functions across a range of cultural settings.

How Vocabulary Interventions Affect Young Children at Risk: A Meta-Analytic Review

Abstract This meta-analytic review examines how word-learning interventions affect young children, at risk for reading difficulties, on vocabulary outcomes. We quantitatively reviewed 51 studies with 138 effect sizes (N = 7,403) to assess the association between vocabulary training and word learning. Using a random-effects model, we found a mean effect size of nearly 1 standard deviation indicating a strong training effect overall. Moderator analyses indicated that children from low-socioeconomic-status (SES) families experienced significantly lower word-learning gains than those from middle- and upper-SES families who had one or more risk factor (e.g., English Language Learner, language delays). This was true regardless of the total number of risk factors present. However, risk factors in addition to poverty did compound this SES disadvantage. Further, multivariate meta-regression analyses indicated that the sole risk factor associated with lower effect sizes was poverty controlling for all other risk factors. Subgroup moderator analyses indicated a number of instructional and pedagogical factors associated with greater effect sizes. Taken together, these results highlight the importance of creating interventions powerful enough to accelerate childrens vocabulary development if we are to narrow the reading achievement gap.

Developing Vocabulary and Conceptual Knowledge for Low-Income Preschoolers: A Design Experiment

The purpose of this design experiment was to research, test, and iteratively derive principles of word learning and word organization that could help to theoretically advance our understanding of vocabulary development for low-income preschoolers. Six Head Start teachers in morning and afternoon programs and their children (N = 89) were selected to participate in the World of Words, a 12-min daily supplemental vocabulary intervention; six classes (N = 89) served as a comparison group. Our questions addressed whether the difficulty of words influenced the acquisition and retention of words and whether learning words in taxonomies might support vocabulary development and inference generation. We addressed these questions in two design phases for a total intervention period of 16 weeks. Pre- and post-unit assessments measured children’s expressive language gains, categorical development, and inference generation. Significant differences were recorded between treatment and comparison groups on word knowledge and category development. Furthermore, children in the treatment group demonstrated the ability to infer beyond what was specifically taught. These results suggest that instructional design features may work to accelerate word learning for low-income children.