Data Mining -> Staff Factors -> Training Teachers to Teach Reading

How effective are teacher training programs at teaching the skills of reading?

Why is this question important? Given the importance of reading to receiving an effective education, it is essential that teacher preparation programs provide effective training in the core skills that comprise a scientific based reading model.  Teachers who have not been taught the five components of reading increase the likelihood that the students may not maximize reading skills that are essential to success in future grades that.

Source: What Education Schools Aren't Teaching About Reading and What Elementary Teachers Aren't Learning

Results:

1. Only 15% of the sampled schools were providing training in all of the components of effective reading training
2. Recent efforts to increase the teaching of evidence-based reading practices into the curriculum of reading training has resulted in only 41% of courses meeting criteria and only 9% devote time to the teaching of the science of reading.
3. The fact that a program is NCATE accredited did not increase the likelihood that the school would teach scientifically based reading
4. The teaching of phonics was the most frequently taught component of reading
5. Much of Current Reading Instruction is incompatible with the science of reading
6. Teacher educators often portray the science of reading as an approach that is no more valid than others
7. Despite the vast amount of research conducted in the area of reading, the study could not derive an effect size for vocabulary or reading comprehension. The meta-analysis that were available in these areas did not meet the criteria established by the panel.

Implications: Reading scores are not keeping pace with our national expectations as observed in NAEP scores. This has happened despite the fact that reading is the most studied skill to be rigorously researched in the field of education. We currently have a considerable evidence-base to effective reading and the core components of effective teaching of reading. Unfortunately, teacher preparation programs frequently neglect to teach these skills to new teachers and view the science of reading as just one of many methods to teach reading. An important strategy to improving reading scores should begin with adequately preparing teachers with the skills to effectively teach this most important of skills.

Authors: Kate Walsh, Deborah Glasser, and Danuielle Dunne Wilcox

Publisher: National Council on Teacher Quality, 2006

Study Description: Despite 60 years of rigorous research into what works in the field of teaching reading, Teacher Preparation Schools fail to teach the fundamental components of reading to teachers. The National Reading Panel report in 2000 finding called for the explicit and systematic teaching of phonic awareness, phonics, guided oral reading, direct and indirect vocabulary building, and exposure to reading comprehension strategies. This study attempts to identify what a representative sample of 72 American Teacher Preparation Programs are offering prospective teachers

Definitions: 1. Phonic Awareness:  Refers to the ability to focus on and manipulate phonemes in spoken words. 2. Phonic Instruction: Helping children acquire knowledge of the alphabetic system and its use to decode new words, and to recognize familiar words accurately and automatically. 3. Fluency: The ability of readers to read text with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. 4. Comprehension: Reading comprehension is the construction of the meaning of a written text through a reciprocal interchange of ideas between the reader and the message in a particular text. Using them, the reader can effectively interact with the text without assistance.

Citation:  
Walsh, K., Glaser, D., & Wilcox, D. D. (2006). What education schools aren’t teaching about reading and what elementary teachers aren’t learning. Washington, DC: National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ).