This blog post is part of our Research Article of the Month series. For this month, we highlight “Effects of Teacher Knowledge of Early Reading on Students' Gains in Reading Foundational Skills and Comprehension,” an article written by Tim Odegard—the keynote speaker at the Iowa Science of Reading Summit. Important words related to research are bolded, and definitions of these terms are included at the end of the article in the “Terms to Know” section. Find more information on terminology specific to literacy learning in our reading glossary. To learn more about Odegard and the summit, visit the summit webpage.
Key Takeaways
- Teacher knowledge of foundational literacy skills reliably affects student performance on foundational literacy skill assessments.
- Teacher knowledge of foundational literacy skills does not reliably affect student performance on reading comprehension assessments.
What Did the Researchers Examine?
The expertise that teachers bring to their classroom is highly important to the success of their students. Beyond knowing how to read, effectively teaching students to read requires specialized knowledge of the components of language and literacy. This study explored the effect of teacher knowledge of foundational literacy skills on students’ foundational literacy skill and reading comprehension assessments, addressing the following research questions:
- Does teacher knowledge of reading predict student reading performance in foundational skills at the end of kindergarten and first grade?
- Does teacher knowledge of reading predict student reading performance in reading comprehension at the end of kindergarten and first grade?
What Did the Researchers Find?
Assessments on the level of teacher’s knowledge of foundational literacy skills significantly affected student scores on foundational skills assessments. Educators who scored better on this measure of teacher knowledge saw higher student scores on their universal screening assessments for foundational literacy skills. However, educators scoring highly on this measure of teacher knowledge did not significantly correlate with higher student reading comprehension scores. At the teacher level, variables such as the number of years since a teacher was certified or the possession of advanced degrees did not significantly affect student scores on foundational skills assessments.
What Are the Implications of These Findings?
This study found a significant correlation between teacher knowledge and students’ foundational skills scores, supporting the idea that teachers who possess specialized knowledge about literacy learning deliver more effective literacy instruction. It is important that teachers acquire this knowledge through teaching education programs and professional development opportunities.
While foundational skills are regarded as the bedrock for developing reading comprehension skills, teacher knowledge of foundational skills alone may not be sufficient to result in gains in student reading comprehension. This suggests that teachers may also need specialized knowledge of reading comprehension in order to support students' learning needs.
How Did the Researchers Find This?
The researchers looked at universal screening data from 112 public schools throughout Arkansas. This sample consisted of 9,640 first-grade students and 512 classroom teachers. The universal screeners assessed domains including basic features of print, phonological and phonemic awareness skills, the ability to apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words, understanding a text read aloud, making inferences, determining central ideas, and identifying and using context clues to clarify the meaning of unknown words.
The researchers used an assessment that measured teachers’ knowledge of phonological sensitivity, phonemic awareness, decoding, encoding, and morphology. This assessment was administered at the beginning of the school year and also collected data on the teacher’s education and current role.
The researchers developed multi-level linear models to account for school, classroom, student, and teacher variables that can impact student reading scores.
What Are the Limitations of This Paper?
When interpreting the findings of this study, limitations should be considered. First, the sample of students and teachers used in the study was limited to a single state with a large number of rural schools. Therefore, results of this study may not be generalizable to the broader population.
In addition, this study did not measure the instructional practices that teachers employed in their classrooms, focusing only on teacher knowledge and student outcomes. Thus, the researchers have identified a need for further research on the relationship between teacher knowledge, instructional practices, and student outcomes. Likewise, as the teacher knowledge assessment used in this study only focused on assessing knowledge of foundational literacy skills, further research assessing the impact of teachers’ knowledge of reading comprehension skills is also needed. Overall, further research on what constitutes a sufficient amount and type of teacher knowledge is needed.
Terms to Know
Multi-level linear models: Multilevel modeling is a statistical technique used when data is organized hierarchically—when observations at one level of analysis are nested within observations at a higher level of analysis. For example, multilevel modeling is often used when examining student performance because individual students are nested within classrooms, and classrooms are nested within schools. In this example, multilevel modeling sheds light on how context (e.g., classroom differences or school differences) influences student outcomes.
References
Porter, S. B., Odegard, T. N., Farris, E. A. et al. (2024). Effects of teacher knowledge of early reading on students’ gains in reading foundational skills and comprehension. Reading and Writing, 37, 2007–2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-023-10448-w
