Meghan D. Liebfreund’s research while affiliated with East Carolina University and other places

A critical issue in teacher education is supporting pre-service teachers in their ability to understand and support diverse learners. This study examined the discussions pre-service teachers engaged in during book clubs about multicultural literature to determine how we, as educators, can support discussions that can lead to participants deepening their understandings of the texts and considering multiple perspectives. Specifically, the research question addressed how group composition in the book clubs influenced the quality of talk surrounding multicultural children’s literature. The discussions included 39 participants (students = 26, faculty = 9, staff = 4). The groups that included faculty and staff with students, compared to student-only groups, engaged in higher quality discussions in all areas examined. These include cooperation and collaboration, reason and logic, information and evidence, and perspectives and voice. Implications are discussed for using book clubs as a pedagogical tool to support teacher education around complex issues of diversity and inclusion in our classrooms.

Background Studies have demonstrated strong predictive and concurrent validity of curriculum-based measures (CBMs) with high-stakes reading tests, mainly using oral reading fluency (ORF) to predict outcomes. Some studies have found that CBMs' predictive accuracy might vary across demographic subgroups of students. In this study, we investigate whether additional CBMs of reading comprehension account for variance beyond ORF and whether these reading variables predict reading comprehension differently for demographic subgroups. Methods Curriculum-based measures were administered to 9,967 students at the end of Grade 3 in the United States, concurrent with a high-stakes standardised state reading comprehension achievement test (RCAT). Hierarchical regression models with RCAT as the outcome were used to test (a) whether CBMs of reading comprehension accounted for significant variance beyond ORF and (b) if the reading variables differentially predicted RCAT for different subgroups of students. Results Oral reading fluency explained significant variation in RCAT, and the addition of comprehension CBMs accounted for small amounts of unique variance. The contribution of ORF in explaining variation in reading comprehension varied by demographic subgroups. Conclusions The contributions of comprehension CBMs in predicting high-stakes standardised reading comprehension tests were not meaningful, only accounting for small amounts of unique variance. Additionally, the contribution of ORF in explaining variation in the high-stakes standardised reading comprehension test varied by student demographics, likely due to complex reasons specific to those individual factors. Highlights What is already known about this topic • CBMs of ORF account for significant variance in reading comprehension achievement on high-stakes standardised reading tests. • Failure to include some measure of comprehension in CBMs could be problematic because fluency does not ensure comprehension. When comprehension CBMs have been included, findings have been mixed. • Some studies have pointed to differences in how well ORF predicts reading comprehension for various subgroups of students. What this paper adds • We examine the contribution of comprehension CBMs over and above ORF in predicting student performance on a high-stakes reading comprehension test using a large, diverse sample in the United States. • We replicate others' findings on the contribution of ORF in predicting variance in students' high-stakes reading comprehension test scores. • We find that the contributions of ORF differ by student subgroups, specifically socioeconomic status, limited English proficiency, and race/ethnicity. Implications for theory, policy or practice • Conducting and analysing assessments takes a significant amount of teachers' time. Our findings suggest a lack of utility in using additional CBMs beyond a measure of ORF. • Given the consistency of our findings with prior studies, teachers should use ORF as a screening measure and then shift to diagnostic measures to better understand students' performance. • Because ORF differentially predicts performance on a high-stakes reading comprehension test based on subgroups of students, alternative assessments should be considered for particular groups of students.

The present study employed regression analyses to examine the influence of cognitive competencies (decoding ability, vocabulary knowledge, prior knowledge) and intrinsic motivation (curiosity and involvement) on the comprehension of narrative and informational texts. Participants included 104 students in grades four and five. Results showed informational text comprehension was predicted with vocabulary knowledge and intrinsic motivation (involvement) while narrative text comprehension was predicted with decoding ability and intrinsic motivation (curiosity). Intrinsic motivation explained about 4% of the variance in comprehension for each text type beyond the other cognitive study variables. Reading comprehension – regardless of text type – was predicted with intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation should be an area of emphasis in both research and instruction with a wide range of texts to support reading comprehension.

The purpose of the present mixed methods study was to investigate a model of situated professional development and classroom-based early reading intervention implemented by the K–2 teaching teams from one school in a large urban/suburban school district in the southeastern United States. Twenty-nine teachers participated along with 125 students (74 intervention, 51 comparison). Student-level data sources included letter-word identification, word attack, spelling of sounds, and passage comprehension measures. Teacher-level data sources included semistructured interviews with each teacher, planning/recording documents, and pre/post questionnaires to gather information about teachers’ self-efficacy and demographics. The main conclusions were the following: (a) struggling readers eligible for intervention made significant gains, (b) struggling readers eligible for intervention made significantly greater gains than their nonstruggling peers did, (c) teachers’ reflections on the intervention and the situated professional development were generally positive, and (d) teachers’ self-efficacy for instructional strategies positively changed across the year.

“Lingua Anglia: Bridging Language and Learners” discusses critical, transformative, and powerful ways to support students’ acquisition of Standard English.

This study examined the contributions of decoding, language, spelling, and motivation on reading comprehension of elementary school readers in a high-poverty setting. Specifically, the research questions addressed whether, and how, the influences of word reading efficiency, semantic knowledge, reading self-concept, and spelling on reading comprehension varied based on two different measures of comprehension. The sample included 51 elementary-aged participants from one high-poverty school. Multiple regression analyses revealed that factors were related differently to comprehension depending on the measures used. Specifically, fluency accounted for most of the variance in silent reading comprehension, but a smaller proportion of variance in oral reading comprehension. For the oral reading comprehension measure, semantic knowledge was the most influential predictor.

This study was conducted to examine the factors that influence informational text comprehension and to determine how these vary for students with higher and lower component skills. The sample included 177 students in grades 3–5. Regression analyses were used to predict informational text comprehension with decoding efficiency, vocabulary knowledge, prior knowledge, and intrinsic motivation. This model, that also included age and grade as control variables, explained 62.5 % of the variance in informational text comprehension. Each component skill explained unique variance, and vocabulary knowledge accounted for the largest portion. Next, we examined whether the factors contributed differently to informational text comprehension for students with higher and lower component skills. Overall, the regressions were better predictors for students with higher than those with lower component skills. For students with lower component skills, motivation and vocabulary were consistent predictors, whereas vocabulary and decoding efficiency were consistent predictors for students with higher component skills. The findings indicate multiple factors are important for informational text comprehension, particularly vocabulary, and research should examine this topic for different types of readers.