TY - JOUR
T1 - Improving Language-Focused Comprehension Instruction in Primary-Grade Classrooms
T2 - Impacts of the Let’s Know! Experimental Curriculum
AU - Language,
AU - Pratt, Amy
AU - Logan, Jessica
AU - Justice, Laura M.
AU - Lomax, Richard
AU - O’Connell, Ann
AU - Pentimonti, Jill
AU - Petrill, Stephen A.
AU - Piasta, Shayne B.
AU - Gray, Shelley
AU - Restrepo, Maria Adelaida
AU - Cain, Kate
AU - Catts, Hugh
AU - Bridges, Mindy
AU - Nielsen, Diane
AU - Hogan, Tiffany
AU - Bovaird, Jim
AU - Nelson, J. Ron
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York.
PY - 2014/9/1
Y1 - 2014/9/1
N2 - This quasi-experimental study was designed to test the impacts of a curriculum supplement, Let’s Know!, on the quantity and quality of language-focused comprehension instruction in pre-kindergarten to third grade classrooms. Sixty classrooms (12 per each of pre-K to grade 3) were enrolled in the study, with 40 teachers assigned to implement one of two versions of the experimental Let’s Know! curriculum and 20 assigned to a control condition, in which they maintained their typical language-arts curriculum. Classroom observations, 90 min in duration, were collected near the end of the first unit’s completion, about 4 to 5 weeks into the academic year. These observations were coded to examine impacts of Let’s Know! instruction on two outcomes: (a) teachers’ use of 18 language-focused comprehension supports and (b) general classroom quality. Study results using quantile regression showed that Let’s Know! teachers used a significantly higher number of language-focused comprehension supports during Let’s Know! instruction compared to the control teachers during language-arts instruction; the same finding was also true for general classroom quality. Quantile regression results showed the greatest differentiation in instructional quality, when comparing experimental and control teachers, for teachers in the middle of the distribution of general classroom quality. Study findings highlight the value of language-focused curricula for heightening comprehension-specific supports in pre-K to grade 3 settings.
AB - This quasi-experimental study was designed to test the impacts of a curriculum supplement, Let’s Know!, on the quantity and quality of language-focused comprehension instruction in pre-kindergarten to third grade classrooms. Sixty classrooms (12 per each of pre-K to grade 3) were enrolled in the study, with 40 teachers assigned to implement one of two versions of the experimental Let’s Know! curriculum and 20 assigned to a control condition, in which they maintained their typical language-arts curriculum. Classroom observations, 90 min in duration, were collected near the end of the first unit’s completion, about 4 to 5 weeks into the academic year. These observations were coded to examine impacts of Let’s Know! instruction on two outcomes: (a) teachers’ use of 18 language-focused comprehension supports and (b) general classroom quality. Study results using quantile regression showed that Let’s Know! teachers used a significantly higher number of language-focused comprehension supports during Let’s Know! instruction compared to the control teachers during language-arts instruction; the same finding was also true for general classroom quality. Quantile regression results showed the greatest differentiation in instructional quality, when comparing experimental and control teachers, for teachers in the middle of the distribution of general classroom quality. Study findings highlight the value of language-focused curricula for heightening comprehension-specific supports in pre-K to grade 3 settings.
KW - Classroom processes
KW - Language intervention
KW - Reading comprehension
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U2 - 10.1007/s10648-014-9275-1
DO - 10.1007/s10648-014-9275-1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84956693543
SN - 1040-726X
VL - 26
SP - 357
EP - 377
JO - Educational Psychology Review
JF - Educational Psychology Review
IS - 3
ER -