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The purpose of this study was to examine whether components of the Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive (PASS) processing theory of intelligence predict reading and mathematics proficiency in a group of intellectually gifted children. One hundred forty-two intellectually gifted children (70 females, 72 males; M[subscript age] = 127.41 months, SD = 10.76) were assessed on PASS processes as well as on reading and mathematics. Results of regression analyses showed that planning was a significant predictor of both reading and mathematics. In addition, simultaneous processing predicted mathematics and successive processing predicted reading. These findings suggest that when intelligence is operationalized on the basis of neurocognitive processes it can explain individual differences in academic achievement even among a restricted range of high ability students.

We evaluated the impact of teaching complex grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPC) derived from the Simplicity Principle to at-risk poor readers in Grade 2 classrooms, using a two-arm dual site matched control trial intervention. Poor word readers (n = 149) were allocated to either a) Simplicity GPC (n= 79) or b) Letter-Name Control (n= 70) small group reading programs, and received intervention for 12-15 hours over 12 weeks. Students were matched on baseline reading, language, parent demographics, and observed regular classroom teaching quality. Results of hierarchical data modeling showed advantages for the GPC-group for word reading, pseudoword reading, and sentence comprehension at post-test moderated by pre-test phonological awareness skills. The results provide support for teaching complex GPCs derived from the Simplicity Principle as an approach to intervention for word reading, but suggest that children with low PA need additional supports.

Literacy is the most important skill children are required to master during their early school life. At the same time, much has been written about both the inadequate preparation of teachers to teach reading and the ever-increasing number of poor readers in our schools. In this study, we examined teachers' perceptions of the factors that have contributed to their school's success in improving children's literacy scores. We used a sequential explanatory mixed methods research design where Phase 1 involved collecting quantitative data to document the improvement in reading and asking the teachers to fill out a questionnaire, while Phase 2 comprised gathering qualitative data where the principal and a language arts teacher commented on the findings from Phase 1. The results revealed three important themes that teachers perceive contributing to their school's success. First, teachers collaborate weekly on their own learning, plan instruction together, and provide support for each other. Second, formative assessments are shared within each grade and data are used to inform areas of growth, not to evaluate teachers' performance. Third, the school focuses on improving reading and believes in the child's continuous growth. Taken together, the findings of our study suggest that teachers perceive success to be a team effort grounded on theory and the principles of collaborative learning.

We examined the direction of the relation between morphological awareness and reading/spelling skills in 2 languages varying in orthographic consistency (English and Greek) and whether word reading fluency and vocabulary mediate the relation between morphological awareness and reading comprehension. One-hundred and 59 English-speaking Canadian and 224 Greek children were assessed 4 times between Grades 1 and 3 on measures of morphological awareness, phonological awareness, word reading fluency, and spelling to dictation. Vocabulary was assessed at the end of Grade 2 and reading comprehension at the end of Grade 2 and at the beginning of Grade 3. Cross-lagged analyses showed that earlier morphological awareness predicted later reading comprehension and spelling in both languages and reading fluency in English. The effect of morphological awareness on reading comprehension was not mediated by word reading fluency in either language, but an indirect effect through vocabulary emerged in English. Earlier reading fluency and spelling predicted later morphological awareness before Grade 3 only in English, but morphological awareness began to predict spelling as early as Grade 1 in Greek. Multigroup analyses further showed that the effects of morphological awareness on reading fluency and the effects of spelling on morphological awareness were stronger in English than in Greek. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

The purpose of the present study was to explain the moderating role of rapid automatized naming (RAN) in word reading with a cusp catastrophe model. We hypothesized that increases in RAN performance speed beyond a critical point would be associated with the disruption in word reading, consistent with a "generic shutdown" hypothesis. Participants were 587 elementary schoolchildren (Grades 2-4), among whom 87 had reading comprehension difficulties per the IQ-achievement discrepancy criterion. Data were analyzed via a cusp catastrophe model derived from the nonlinear dynamics systems theory. Results indicated that for children with reading comprehension difficulties, as naming speed falls below a critical level, the association between core reading processes (word recognition and decoding) becomes chaotic and unpredictable. However, after the significant common variance attributed to motivation, emotional, and internalizing symptoms measures from RAN scores was partialed out, its role as a bifurcation variable was no longer evident. Taken together, these findings suggest that RAN represents a salient cognitive measure that may be associated with psychoemotional processes that are, at least in part, responsible for unpredictable and chaotic word reading behavior among children with reading comprehension deficits.

Although phonological awareness (PA) and rapid automatized naming (RAN) are confirmed as early predictors of reading in a large number of orthographies, it is as yet unclear whether the predictive patterns are universal or language specific. This was examined in a longitudinal study across Grades 1 and 2 with 1,120 children acquiring one of five alphabetic orthographies with different degrees of orthographic complexity (English, French, German, Dutch, and Greek). Path analyses revealed that a universal model could not be confirmed. When we specified the best-fitting model separately for each language, RAN was a consistent predictor of reading fluency in all orthographies, whereas the association between PA and reading was complex and mostly interactive. We conclude that RAN taps into a language-universal cognitive mechanism that is involved in reading alphabetic orthographies (independent of complexity), whereas the PA--reading relationship depends on many factors like task characteristics, developmental status, and orthographic complexity.

Despite concerted efforts to improve the reading skills of English language learners (ELLs), it remains unclear if the interventions they have been receiving produce any positive results. Thus, the purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine how effective reading interventions are in improving ELLs' reading skills and what factors may influence their effectiveness. Twenty-six studies with reported outcomes for pretest and posttest were selected, and four moderators (group size, intensity of intervention, students' risk status, and type of intervention) were coded. The results of random-effects analyses showed that the reading interventions had a large effect on ELLs' reading accuracy (d = 1.221) and reading fluency (d = 0.802) and a moderate effect on reading comprehension (d = 0.499). In addition, for real-word reading accuracy, intervention groups composed of more than five students were less effective than groups composed of two to five students, and longer intervention sessions were less effective than shorter ones. Overall, our findings suggest that reading interventions have positive effects on ELLs' reading skills, and they should not be delayed until these students have reached a certain level of oral English proficiency.

Mixed methods research teams have garnered increased attention for their leveraging of diverse disciplinary and methodological expertise in pursuit of complex problems. We advance our theoretical viewpoint of integrative mixed methods research teamwork as necessary with empirical evidence demonstrating the equipping mixed methods researchers to study complex problems involving interacting systems and lacking known solutions. Integrative mixed methods research teamwork is distinguishable by the purposeful integration of qualitative and quantitative perspectives to generate novel outcomes that are greater than the sum of individual members' contributions. Among the key dilemmas faced by mixed methods researchers wanting to work integratively within a team is the lack of practical guidance for how to get started, how to recognize the emergence of synergistic outcomes, and how to sustain a team's integrative work. To begin addressing this gap, we describe three practical insights gleaned from examining our team interactions and outcomes using a reflection-inaction process during a recent empirical mixed methods case study of literacy practices. In our examination, we test the practical usefulness of a theoretical framework for demystifying the development of a mixed methods research team's integrative capacity. Our insights contribute to refining teamwork practices by identifying enablers of integrative capacity and proposing ways to overcome hindrances that have not been previously elucidated. We argue that the capacity for integrative teamwork is essential for researchers employing mixed methods, allowing them to leverage inherent synergies when addressing complex problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Previous studies examining the inter-relations between serial and discrete naming with reading have found that the ability to efficiently process multiple items presented in a sequence (indexed by serial naming) is a unique predictor of word- and text-reading fluency. However, conclusions have been tempered by the concurrent nature of the available data and the uniformly low demands of the materials (words and texts). Here we go beyond previous studies by using more varied materials to examine the relations of serial and discrete naming with the discrete reading of words and the serial reading of word lists and connected text over time. Method: Two hundred and eight English-speaking Canadian children (51% female, Mage = 7.2 years) were followed from Grade 2 to Grade 5 and were assessed on serial and discrete digit naming and serial and discrete word reading at both measurement points. Results: Strong associations between discrete naming and discrete reading already from Grade 2 indicated that short and high-frequency words were processed in parallel early in development. By Grade 5, when word recognition was presumably automatized, serial naming accounted for unique variance in serial reading of word lists and connected texts after controlling for discrete word reading. More importantly, Latent Change Score modeling indicated that serial naming was the main predictor of growth in serial reading from Grade 2 to Grade 5. Conclusion: These findings suggest that, beyond individual word recognition, reading fluency development also requires efficient processing of multiple items presented in serial format (termed "cascaded processing"). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the relation between home literacy environment (HLE), parents' reading skills, and children's emergent literacy skills (pinyin letter knowledge, phonological awareness, and vocabulary) and reading (word reading and reading comprehension) in a sample of 168 Chinese children (Mage = 74.26 months) followed from kindergarten to Grade 1. Results of structural equation modeling showed that code‐related HLE activities and access to literacy resources continued to predict children's emergent literacy skills after controlling for the effects of family's socioeconomic status and both parents' reading skills. Parents' reading skills also exerted a direct effect on children's reading comprehension. These findings suggest that HLE exerts a true environmental effect on children's reading skills that is not due to a genetic confound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molecular understanding of serological immunity to influenza has been confounded by the complexity of the polyclonal antibody response in humans. Here we used high-resolution proteomics analysis of immunoglobulin (referred to as Ig-seq) coupled with high-throughput sequencing of transcripts encoding B cell receptors (BCR-seq) to quantitatively determine the antibody repertoire at the individual clonotype level in the sera of young adults before and after vaccination with trivalent seasonal influenza vaccine. The serum repertoire comprised between 40 and 147 clonotypes that were specific to each of the three monovalent components of the trivalent influenza vaccine, with boosted pre-existing clonotypes accounting for ∼60% of the response. An unexpectedly high fraction of serum antibodies recognized both the H1 and H3 monovalent vaccines. Recombinant versions of these H1 + H3 cross-reactive antibodies showed broad binding to hemagglutinins (HAs) from previously circulating virus strains; several of these antibodies, which were prevalent in the serum of multiple donors, recognized the same conserved epitope in the HA head domain. Although the HA-head-specific H1 + H3 antibodies did not show neutralization activity in vitro, they protected mice against infection with the H1N1 and H3N2 virus strains when administered before or after challenge. Collectively, our data reveal unanticipated insights regarding the serological response to influenza vaccination and raise questions about the added benefits of using a quadrivalent vaccine instead of a trivalent vaccine.