Small-group instruction has the potential to support students' reading growth. Teachers can use knowledge of students' skill profiles to inform the types and amounts of instruction they provide; however, the extent to which teachers do this is largely unknown. Among first (n = 661) and third graders (n = 364), we investigated whether (1) teacher…

The current article investigates the work of 20 Reading First coaches to determine how coaches distribute their time and the rationale they give for their work. Teachers' responses to coaches and the relationships between what coaches do and student achievement are also analyzed. There was great variability among coaches in how they allocated…

In this study, a school district adopted Kindergarten Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (K-PALS), a scientifically based, class-wide peer-tutoring program for reading. Sixteen new K-PALS teachers were assigned randomly to receive ongoing support from a university expert or from experienced K-PALS teachers within the district. K-PALS teachers who…

This quasi-experimental study tested the potency of different sources of self-efficacy beliefs. Respondents were primary teachers (N = 93) in 9 schools who completed surveys of their self-efficacy beliefs and level of implementation of a new teaching strategy for beginning readers before and after participating in 1 of 4 formats of professional…

After reading a brief summary of the transactional strategies approach and watching 2 videotapes of its implementation in the classroom, 30 elementary school teachers were asked about their perceptions of this educational strategy. Teachers' first impressions of the transactional strategies approach were positive, although they expressed a few…

The author recommends nonrestrictive questioning as one technique of provoking thought. (Author/JB)

Examines the role of commercial materials in reading instruction through analyses of expert opinion and of research on reading instruction. Reports a series of investigations concerning teachers' and administrators' conceptions of reading and reading instruction and offers a critical evaluation of recent writing on effective reading instruction.…

In an instructional study, teachers were taught to make decisions about reading instruction while simultaneously following directives about how to use a mandated basal reading textbook. This article examines how such directives influenced elementary school teachers' perceptions of their role as reading teachers. (Author/NH)

Describes the way in which a second grade teacher changed her practices and beliefs regarding the teaching of mathematics. Illustrates that the changes did not influence her teaching of reading. (PCB)

Based upon teacher interviews and classroom observations, outlines a continuum of nine "points of progress" teachers seem to go through in learning to teach strategies to their lowest achieving students: confusion and rejection; teacher-controlled strategies; trying out; modeling process into content; "the wall"; "over the…

Assessed elementary teachers' attitudes toward reading instruction, the role of basal readers in reading instruction, and the needs fulfilled for students, teachers, parents, and school administrators through classroom reading instruction. Found a conflict between teachers' beliefs and their reported methods of teaching. (MM)

Surveyed more than 500 educators to determine whether basal reading programs control or limit teacher instructional decision making. Found no limiting action: rather than "de-skilling" teachers, subjects reported, the materials have an empowering effect by providing additional instructional ideas to draw from, adapt, or extend. (ET)

Interviews and observations revealed that only two of seven teachers fully accepted the Students Achieving Independent Learning (SAIL) program, a strategies-based approach to reading instruction. A major challenge seemed to be that the teachers did not know how to coordinate SAIL with other reading instruction. (MDM)

Six first- and second-grade teachers were observed while teaching their students how to read in order to examine the methods and rationale they employed for assistance during reading group instruction. (MP)

Evaluated the effects of an inservice education program on 47 elementary teachers in three Kansas school districts. Information pertaining to several research questions was collected by assessing demographic factors, teachers' knowledge of reading instruction, teachers' attitudes toward reading-related issues, teacher implementation of specific…