Professional development to differentiate kindergarten Tier 1 instruction: Can already effective teachers improve student outcomes by differentiating Tier 1 instruction?

Two primary purposes guided this quasi-experimental within-teacher study: (1) to examine changes from baseline through two years of professional development (Individualizing Student Instruction) in kindergarten teachers' differentiation of Tier 1 literacy instruction; (2) to examine changes in reading and vocabulary of three cohorts of the teachers' students ( = 416). Teachers' instruction was observed and students were assessed on standardized measures of vocabulary and word reading. Results suggested that teachers significantly increased their differentiation and students showed significantly greater word reading outcomes relative to baseline.

To Wait in Tier 1 or Intervene Immediately: A Randomized Experiment Examining First Grade Response to Intervention (RTI) in Reading.

This randomized controlled experiment compared the efficacy of two Response to Intervention (RTI) models - Typical RTI and Dynamic RTI - and included 34 first-grade classrooms ( = 522 students) across 10 socio-economically and culturally diverse schools. Typical RTI was designed to follow the two-stage RTI decision rules that wait to assess response to Tier 1 in many districts, whereas Dynamic RTI provided Tier 2 or Tier 3 interventions immediately according to students' initial screening results. Interventions were identical across conditions except for when intervention began.

Understanding Inadequate Response to First Grade Multi-Tier Intervention: Nomothetic and Idiographic Perspectives.

The purpose of this study was to use a mixed methods approach to learn about inadequate response to a year-long multi-tier RTI model that allowed first-grade students to move up and down tiers. Participants were 156 students who received supplemental intervention services during a larger multi-tier RTI study involving classrooms and 522 students across 10 schools. Findings from an all-subset regression indicate letter word reading, the fluency composite, and blending words explained the most variance (15%) in response among initial skills.

Evaluating the dimensionality of first-grade written composition.

Purpose: This study examined dimensions of written composition by using multiple evaluative approaches such as an adapted 6 + 1 trait scoring, syntactic complexity measures, and productivity measures. It further examined unique relations of oral language and literacy skills to the identified dimensions of written composition.

Method: A large sample of 1st-grade students (N = 527) was assessed on their language, reading, spelling, letter writing automaticity, and writing in the spring.

Exploring the Amount and Type of Writing Instruction during Language Arts Instruction in Kindergarten Classrooms.

The objective of this exploratory investigation was to examine the nature of writing instruction in kindergarten classrooms and to describe student writing outcomes at the end of the school year. Participants for this study included 21 teachers and 238 kindergarten children from nine schools. Classroom teachers were videotaped once each in the fall and winter during the 90 minute instructional block for reading and language arts to examine time allocation and the types of writing instructional practices taking place in the kindergarten classrooms.

Componential skills of beginning writing: An exploratory study.

The present study examined the components of end of kindergarten writing, using data from 242 kindergartners. Specifically of interest was the importance of spelling, letter writing fluency, reading, and word- and syntax-level oral language skills in writing. The results from structural equation modeling revealed that oral language, spelling, and letter writing fluency were positively and uniquely related to writing skill after accounting for reading skills.

The componential model of reading: predicting first grade reading performance of culturally diverse students from ecological, psychological, and cognitive factors assessed at kindergarten entry.

This study, framed by the component model of reading (CMR), examined the relative importance of kindergarten-entry predictors of first grade reading performance. Specifically, elements within the ecological domain included dialect, maternal education, amount of preschool, and home literacy; elements within the psychological domain included teacher-reported academic competence, social skills, and behavior; and elements within the cognitive domain included initial vocabulary, phonological, and morpho-syntactic skills, and alphabetic and word recognition skills. Data were obtained for 224 culturally diverse kindergarteners (58% Black, 34% White, and 8% Hispanic or other; 58% received free or reduced-price lunch) from a larger study conducted in seven predominantly high poverty schools (n = 20 classrooms) in a midsized city school district in northern Florida.

Preparing beginning reading teachers: An experimental comparison of initial early literacy field experiences.

This randomized-control trial examined the learning of preservice teachers taking an initial Early Literacy course in an early childhood education program and of the kindergarten or first grade students they tutored in their field experience. Preservice teachers were randomly assigned to one of two tutoring programs: Book Buddies and Tutor Assisted Intensive Learning Strategies (TAILS), which provided identical meaning-focused instruction (shared book reading), but differed in the presentation of code-focused skills. TAILS used explicit, scripted lessons, and the Book Buddies required that code-focused instruction take place during shared book reading.

Predicting First Grade Reading Performance from Kindergarten Response to Tier 1 Instruction.

Many schools are beginning to implement multi-tier response to intervention (RTI) models for the prevention of reading difficulties and to assist in the identification of students with learning disabilities (LD). The present study was part of our larger ongoing longitudinal RTI investigation within the Florida Learning Disabilities Center grant. This study used a longitudinal correlational design, conducted in 7 ethnically and socio-economically diverse schools.

Assessment Data-Informed Guidance to Individualize Kindergarten Reading Instruction: Findings from a Cluster-Randomized Control Field Trial.

The purpose of this cluster-randomized control field trial was to was to examine the extent to which kindergarten teachers could learn a promising instructional strategy, wherein kindergarten reading instruction was differentiated based upon students' ongoing assessments of language and literacy skills and documented child characteristic by instruction (CXI) interactions; and to test the efficacy of this differentiated reading instruction on the reading outcomes of students from culturally diverse backgrounds. The study involved 14 schools and included 23 treatment ( = 305 students) and 21 contrast teacher ( = 251 students). Teachers in the contrast condition received only a baseline professional development that included a researcher-delivered summer day-long workshop on individualized instruction.

Predicting kindergartners' end of year spelling ability from their reading, alphabetic, vocabulary, and phonological awareness skills, and prior literacy experiences.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of home literacy, parental education and demographic factors in addition to conventional literacy skills at the beginning and end of kindergarten in predicting end of kindergarten spelling achievement. The present study involved 9 schools and 29 classrooms serving an economically and ethnically diverse population ( = 288). Students spelled three types of words: sight words, decodable real words, and decodable pseudowords; conventional and invented spellings are reported.