This qualitative case study examined the contribution a year-long professional development in the science of reading had on 10 first-grade teachers' knowledge of how reading develops and their instructional practices. Data for this research study was collected through a longitudinal interview process, from pre- and post-knowledge inventory…

Teacher knowledge of reading is an important aspect of teacher quality, though limited research has investigated its associations with how classroom teachers report using instructional strategies to engage students in reading. Factor analysis of 28 instructional strategy items led to five self-reported instructional foci among 66 kindergarten and…

Background: South African-structured reading programmes have been implemented in schools in South Africa. The Early Grade Reading Study (EGRS) is an education triple cocktail programme, which attempts to improve home language reading in a number of schools. Aim: The objective of this research was to find out how the educators involved in the…

Beginning readers and struggling readers need explicit, systematic instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics (Adams, 2008; Ehri,1992, 1998; Ehri, Nunes, Willows, Schuster, & Yaghoub-Zadeh, 2001; Gaskins et al., 1997; Moats, 2004; Morris, 2015; National Reading Panel, 2000; Reutzel, 2015). Ehri and McCormick's (2008) phases of word learning…

The purpose of this replication study was to examine the impact of the Teacher Study Group (TSG) professional development in vocabulary on first-grade teachers' knowledge of vocabulary instruction and observed teaching practice, and on students' vocabulary knowledge. Sixty-two schools from 16 districts in four states were randomly assigned to…

While qualitative research has shown great benefits for teachers who receive coaching, there is a paucity of experimental research examining students' academic outcomes after their teachers received ongoing support from a knowledgeable and experienced coach. Thus, a quasi-experimental design investigated the literacy outcomes of 452 students…

This study investigated the extent to which teacher professional development led to changes in science instruction in K-2 classrooms in rural school districts. The research specifically examined changes in (a) teachers' content knowledge in science; (b) teachers' self-efficacy related to teaching science; (c) classroom instructional time allotted…

This study examines the impact of a nationally disseminated professional development program, Developing Mathematical Ideas (DMI), on teachers' specialized knowledge for teaching mathematics and illustrates how such research could be conducted. Participants completing 2 DMI modules were compared with similar colleagues who had not taken DMI.…

According to the National Research Council (NRC 2007), three critical components significantly influence students' science learning: teacher knowledge, teachers' opportunities to learn, and instructional systems. If students' science achievement is strongly correlated with teachers' science competence, and core competencies are central to…

This article begins to unravel the question, "What curricular materials work best under what kinds of conditions?" The authors address this question from the point of view of teachers and their ability to implement mathematics curricula that place varying demands and provide varying levels of support for their learning. Specifically, the…