Science, Language, and Imagination in the Development

of Effective Reading Teachers

Louisa C. Moats, Ed.D.

October 26, 2005

3 Questions Often Asked Why all this money, time, and

expertise necessary for professional development?

What kinds of interventions are most successful? (and who do I trust to tell me)

Why should I get involved in instructional leadership?

First, Some Basic Facts About Literacy…

Early prediction is possible

Early intervention is more effective than later intervention

Language proficiency is the major correlate of reading and writing

Multiple Causes of Reading Difficulty…Multiple Causes of Reading Difficulty…

readingfailure

limitedexperiencewith books

dyslexiaor other

LD

Englishas a second

language

inadequateinstruction

cognitive orlanguagedeficits

Four Language Processing Systems

Context Processor

Orthographic Processor

Phonological Processor

Meaning Processor

writing outputspeech output reading input

Phonemic Awareness

Fluency

Phonics

Language Comprehension

Vocabulary

Reading Trajectories Are Established Early

The ScienceOf Professional Development

of Teachers of Reading

Teacher Preparation Issues ?

“…Many teachers in general education and special education are not well prepared to provide research-based instruction, especially in the area of reading (Lyon et al., 2001)…inadequate preparation in all components of reading instruction in preservice programs and inadequate understanding of concepts involving phonological awareness and the structure of language.” Fletcher, 2004

Research on Teacher Knowledge and Teaching Reading

Moats & Foorman, 2003Spear-Swerling and Brucker,

2003, 2004Bos et al., 2001McCutchen et al., 2001A. Cunningham, 2004Spear-Swerling et al., in pressCornier, 2004

Spear-Swerling and Brucker “Six hours of course instruction in word

structure apparently was not sufficient for all student teachers to perform at high levels.”

“Even periods of instruction much longer…may not yield perfect performance at post-test.”

Children’s progress was consistent with teachers’ word-structure knowledge.

Spear-Swerling, continued.Teachers learned from course work, not

from teaching itself.There is a disciplinary knowledge base that

cannot be “discovered” incidentally by most teachers.

Thus, experienced teachers often do not know any more than the inexperienced about language and word structure, or about reading research.

A. Cunningham et al.

700-800 teachers in Oakland were much better at estimating their knowledge of children’s literature than they were at estimating their knowledge of language structure. Those who thought they knew less about language structure (phonics) actually knew more; those who thought they knew more, knew less.

Annals of Dyslexia, 2004

Steiner’s review of courses:61 course syllabi reviewed (2004)Only 4 referred to NRP or NRC reportsWhole language assessments

predominatedOnly 3 schools required a course in

language structureMost courses taught “balanced literacy”

and retained whole language orientation

CCTC - 2002

Reading Program Review StudyOf 20 programs reviewed, more than

half were lacking instruction in state’s standards, assessments, and approaches required in Reading First

Textbooks taught that all methods were equally valuable; did not emphasize and select evidence-based programs

Why is So Much PD Required?

Teachers did not receive sufficient training in licensing program even if the best practices were emphasized

AND/ORTraining did not emphasize the

programs or program components or research basis that drives Reading First

Unsupported (non-SBRR) theories and practices were taught

Languageand Professional

Development of Teachers of Reading

What About “5 Essential Components” of Reading?

Phoneme AwarenessPhonicsFluencyVocabularyComprehension

- Reading First

Students Must Learn All Aspects of Language

Speech sounds and word structure

Printed symbolsVocabularySentence structureParagraphsOverall text structure

Current Research Findings

1. Language systems are interdependent, so improvement in one system supports improvement in others

2. Proficiencies are gained in parallel, although each one is gained in sequence

ExamplesSpelling predicts reading

comprehension as well as or better than word attack (Mehta et al., 2005, SSR)

Phonological processing is a factor in vocabulary development

Teacher Knowledge Surveys…

Identifying phonemes, syllables, morphemes

Defining basic terms Understanding the

relationship between word recognition, fluency, and comprehension

Interpreting student work samples (oral reading, spelling and writing)

Sentence Structure: What’s True?

A sentence is constructed with a subject and a predicate.

A sentence begins with a capital and ends with a period.

Syllable counting, teachers grades K-2 (n=50)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

walked spoil shirt

accurate

overunder

Phoneme counting, teachers of grades K-2 (n=50)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

sawed know shrimp

% accurate

underover

Phoneme Matching, n=53

Find a word that ends with the same sound: dogs: miss, has, decks, niece coached: trapped, screamed, twisted,

filled

(47% and 55% correct respectively)

Awareness of Syllable Spellings

The second “m” in “moment” is NOT doubled because:A) the first vowel is shortB) the first vowel is longC) the second vowel is a schwaD) the first syllable is stressed

(51% correct)

Let’s Get Specific: What Do Teachers Need to Be Taught?

Differentiation of speech sounds from letters

First sound in “one” or “sure”?

Phoneme identity and pronunciation- // /j/

Knowing the functional spelling units:rifle - riffle wage - badge

What Teachers Need to Be Taught (2)

Parts of speech.

Syntax and how to describe it.

Aspects of text organization and genre.

The classic direct instruction process: “I do, we do, you do.”

What Teachers Need to Be Taught (3)

How to use the instructional materials

How to link the various levels of language organization

How to assess in ways that inform instruction

q u ee n

Where We Must Begin

Understanding that speech is made up of phonemes,

/k/ /w/ /e/ /n/

and matching phonemes to graphemes.

Where We Are Going…

Word structure, word meaning, word relationships:

pro-ject re-ject

sub-ject in-ject

To Language Comprehension

figurative languagemultiple meaningsacademic language formalitiesdiscourse structurephrase structure in sentences topic-specific terminology

What kinds of interventions are most successful? (and who do I trust to tell me)

SBRR – Key Sources Florida Center for Reading Research

(www.FCRR.org) Society for the Scientific Study of Reading American Psychological Society Texas Centers – Austin and Houston University of Oregon National Institute of Child Health and Human

Development Institute for Education Sciences

NICHD Early Interventions Project, 1997-2001

Barbara Foorman, Principal Investigator9 schools in DC and 8 schools in Houston1600 children, followed from Kindergarten

or 1st to 4th grade4 reading programs involvedGoal to improve reading achievement

Results Overall

Students in sample began at levels below the 20th %ile on early screening (TPRI); vocabulary scores were at 5th and 17%iles

Through 4th grade, students scored at or above the national average (between 50th and 65th %ile) on reading outcome measures, including comprehension (WJR)

Results Overall, continued.

Writing skills were significantly below average by grade 3; spelling was much lower than reading;

Writing was not being taught at all in 1/3 of the classrooms

The quality of writing instruction did have a measurable effect on length of composition

Results Consistent With Consensus Recommendations on Research-based Reading Instruction (NRP, etc.)

Students benefit from direct, systematic, explicit teaching of phonology, letter recognition, sound-symbol correspondence, sight word recognition, vocabulary, and comprehension as they are building a foundation for fluent reading

Five Important Conditions for Success

1. Strong leadership

2. Content-rich, sustained professional development

3. In-class coaching

4. Core, comprehensive program

5. Assessment for screening and progress-monitoring (TPRI)

What the Teachers Told Us

50 teachers who had had two or more years in the DC project were interviewed by a former president of the local teachers’ union. Interviews were taped and transcribed; teachers’ identities were fully protected.

Interviews, continued.49/50 teachers were “positive” to “extremely

positive” about participatingReasons Cited:

obvious, immediate student improvement greater insight into reading development help determining priorities and goals (no one

advocated more “choice” or “creativity”) material support learning with colleagues in supportive context;

opportunity to practice and receive coaching

Why should I get involved in instructional leadership?

To Provide a Supportive ContextUnderstand and give the time needed

for teachers to master various components

Evaluate in ways that are consistent with what teachers are learning to do

Foster collaboration and teamwork across disciplines and roles

To Lead Toward Sound Theories and Scientifically-grounded Practices

Ungrounded ideas that infect education:

Cueing systemsLearning stylesBrain-based learningMultiple intelligencesStructure of the junctions between the

functions

To Set Expectations for What Any Teacher Should Know

How children learn to read Why some children fail to learn to read well

(and how to identify them)How written English is structuredHow to teach most effectively (guided by

research)How to use a specific set of materials

Imaginationand Professional

Development of Teachers of Reading

Personal goal setting

Story-telling

Humor

Unusual collaborations

Role play

Observation

Question-generation

Art and music

Make time for…

References Moats L.C. & Foorman, B.R. (2003). Measuring

teachers’ content knowledge of language and reading. Annals of Dyslexia, 53, 23-45.

Moats, LC (2004) Science, language, and imagination… In McCardle and Chhabra, Voices of evidence in reading research. Brookes Publishing.

Foorman, B.R., & Moats, L.C. (2004). Conditions for sustaining research-based practices in early reading instruction. Remedial and Special Education, 25 (1), 51-60.

Foorman, B. (Ed.) 2003. Preventing and remediating reading difficulties: Bringing science to scale. Baltimore: York Press.