How Benchmark Is Used in Third Grade Reading Instruction

Third grade reading teachers at the local setting are not consistently using formative benchmark data to improve student reading performance, creating a gap in practice. This gap in practice may be due to teachers’ lack of capacity to use the data to make changes to their instructional practices. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how third grade reading teachers are using data from reading benchmark assessments to improve student reading performance. This research study was guided by two Research Questions (RQs). RQ 1 addressed how third grade teachers are using reading benchmark assessment data to improve student reading performance. RQ 2 addressed specific instructional strategies that third grade teachers are using from reading benchmark assessment data to effectively improve student reading performance. Data-driven decision making (DDDM) was the conceptual framework that was the foundation for this study. This basic qualitative design for this research study included 13 participants. Data were collected through open-ended semistructured interviews, and qualitative analyses were conducted through open coding and thematic analysis. According to the findings of this study, immediately analyzing data, collaboration, and data driven instruction were the themes that emerged guided by RQ 1. Emerging themes for RQ 2 included test taking strategies, modeling, and guided reading. Leadership in this district may use these findings to make decisions about the effectiveness of teachers’ use of these benchmark assessments or the data gathered from the assessments to impact student reading proficiencies. This research may provide specific instructional strategies used through the DDDM process that increases student reading proficiency. The findings could possibly yield results that have positive social change implications for reading achievement.

Long-Term Orientation and Educational Performance

We study the role of Long-Term Orientation on the educational attainment of immigrant students. Controlling for the quality of schools and socioeconomic characteristics, students from long-term oriented cultures perform better in third grade reading and math, have larger test score gains over time, fewer absences and disciplinary incidents, are less likely to repeat grades, more likely to enroll in advanced high school courses, and are more likely to graduate from high school in four years. Evidence on mechanisms suggests that both parents’ educational choices for their children and social learning from peers are important mechanisms. (JEL H75, I21, I26, J15, Z13)

The Moderating Effect of Neighborhood Poverty on Preschool Effectiveness: Evidence From the Tennessee Voluntary Prekindergarten Experiment

This study drew data from a randomized trial of a statewide prekindergarten program in Tennessee and presents new evidence on the impacts of preK on third-grade achievement using administrative data on children’s neighborhood environments. Results indicate that preK had no measurable impact on children’s third-grade math achievement regardless of children’s neighborhood conditions. However, preK significantly improved third-grade reading achievement for children living in high-poverty neighborhoods. The treatment effects on reading achievement were substantial: Among children living in high-poverty neighborhoods, those who took up an experimental assignment to attend preK scored over half a standard deviation higher on average than the control group in third grade. In contrast, preK enrollment had, if anything, a negative effect on third-grade reading achievement among children living in low-poverty neighborhoods. These differential effects were partially explained by alternative childcare options and contextual risk factors.

Empowering Teachers With Low-Intensity Strategies to Support Instruction: Implementing Across-Activity Choices During Third-Grade Reading Instruction

Students with and at-risk for academic and behavioral challenges often have low levels of academic engagement. Providing instructional choice is one way to increase engagement in the classroom. In this study, we replicated and extended previous inquiry by investigating the effects of across-activity choices offered by third-grade teachers during reading instruction to participating students with behavioral (one with internalizing and two with internalizing and externalizing patterns) and academic needs. Using a standardized professional development module, teachers learned to implement instructional choice during reading instruction while collecting direct observation data on a student’s academic engagement. Teachers implemented practices with integrity and collected momentary time sampling data for one student in their classroom with high levels of reliability. Results of a withdrawal design indicated a functional relation between the introduction of instructional choice and increases in the academic engagement for the three students. Teachers and students rated the intervention goals, procedures, and outcomes as acceptable. Limitations and future directions are presented.

Observations of Vocabulary Activities during Second- and Third-Grade Reading Lessons

Vocabulary instruction is a critical component of language and literacy lessons, yet few studies have examined the nature and extent of vocabulary activities in early elementary classrooms. We explored vocabulary activities during reading lessons using video observations in a sample of 2nd- and 3rd-grade students (n = 228) and their teachers (n = 38). Teachers spent more time in vocabulary activities than has been previously observed. In the fall, 28% of their literacy block was devoted to vocabulary in 2nd grade and 38% in 3rd grade. Our findings suggest that vocabulary activities were most likely to take place prior to reading a text—teachers rarely followed-up initial vocabulary activities after text reading. Analysis of teachers’ discourse moves showed more instructional comments and short-answer questions than other moves; students most frequently engaged in participating talk, such as providing short, simple answers to questions. Students engaged in significantly more talk during vocabulary activities (including generative talk such as initiating an idea) in the spring of 3rd grade than the spring of 2rd grade. These data contribute descriptive information about how teachers engage their students in vocabulary learning during the early elementary years. We discuss implications for practice and future research directions.

The Effect of Community Traumatic Events on Student Achievement: Evidence from the Beltway Sniper Attacks

Community traumatic events such as mass shootings, terrorist attacks, and natural disasters have the potential to disrupt student learning. For example, these events can reduce instructional time by causing teacher and student absences, school closures, and disturbances to classroom and home routines. This paper uses a quasi-experimental research design to identify the effects of the 2002 “Beltway Sniper” attacks on student achievement in Virginia's public elementary schools. To identify the causal impact of these events, the empirical analysis uses a difference-in-differences strategy that exploits geographic variation in schools’ proximity to the attacks. The main results indicate that the attacks significantly reduced school-level proficiency rates in schools within five miles of an attack. Evidence of a causal effect is most robust for math proficiency rates in the third and fifth grades, and third-grade reading proficiency, suggesting that the shootings caused a decline in school proficiency rates of about 2 to 5 percent. Particularly concerning from an equity standpoint, these effects appear to be entirely driven by achievement declines in schools that serve higher proportions of racial minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged students. Finally, results from supplementary analyses suggest these deleterious effects faded out in subsequent years.