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Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by persistently high levels of inattention, hyperactivity, and/or impulsivity that interfere with functioning. Inattention is significantly related to lower reading outcomes, whereas hyperactivity/impulsivity alone is not. Strategies to Read Information Texts and Vocabulary Effectively (STRIVE) is a set of evidence-based instructional practices targeting vocabulary and reading comprehension in social studies classrooms. In this pilot study, we investigated the efficacy of STRIVE instruction on the reading outcomes of students with inattention. We included participants from a larger randomized control trial in Grade 4 (N = 276) identified with high levels of inattention based on teacher referral and a brief ADHD measure. Reading outcomes were compared using ANCOVA, accounting for pre-test scores. Students in treatment conditions (n = 181) significantly outperformed those in the comparison condition (n = 95) on measures of content knowledge, content vocabulary, and content reading comprehension. There were no significant differences between conditions on standardized reading measures. [For the corresponding Grantee Submission, see ED623377.]

This study examined the differential effects of Strategies for Reading Informational Text and Vocabulary Effectively (STRIVE) on the vocabulary, reading comprehension, and content learning among 4,757 fourth-grade students with and without disabilities. Schools were assigned to one of three conditions: researcher-supported professional development (RPD), school-supported professional development (SPD), or business as usual (BAU). Treatment teachers received 12 hr of professional development distributed over time and delivered a set of instructional practices for teaching vocabulary and comprehension embedded within 36 social studies lessons (45 min per lesson). Findings revealed that students with and without disabilities in classes assigned to STRIVE treatment (SPD and RPD) outperformed their peers in classes assigned to the BAU condition at a statistically significant level on measures of content knowledge and content vocabulary and a distal measure of vocabulary. STRIVE did not affect students with disabilities (SWDs) and without disabilities differentially on the measures of content knowledge and distal vocabulary, though effects sizes for non-SWDs in SPD and RPD were larger than those for SWDs. [For the corresponding grantee submission, see ED612377.]

Vocabulary is a prominent contributor to reading comprehension. However, little is known about how students with disabilities with lower vocabulary performance respond to Tier 1 instruction, or how their vocabulary knowledge relates to their content acquisition. To examine the differential impact of Tier 1 instruction for U.S. middle school students with disabilities and to investigate the relations among academic vocabulary, content knowledge, and reading comprehension, this study analyzed data collected in previous randomized controlled trials. Findings suggest that evidence-based Tier 1 instruction targeting academic vocabulary can help eighth graders with disabilities grow as much as students without disabilities on academic vocabulary and content reading comprehension. In addition to students' baseline performance, learning gains in academic vocabulary significantly predicted the growth of content acquisition among students with disabilities.

Secondary teachers benefit from ongoing coaching to support their implementation of evidence-based literacy practices across content areas. However, several factors may facilitate or impede literacy coaching at the secondary level. We conducted an exploratory survey study to investigate 141 middle school teachers' and 64 instructional coaches' experiences with and perceptions of literacy coaching. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were used. Findings of the teacher survey revealed that, while most teachers had a literacy coach in their school, many did not receive coaching. In addition, many teachers identified the need for coaching related to providing literacy support to students with disabilities. Meanwhile, findings of the coach survey revealed that many instructional coaches do not provide literacy coaching. However, most coaches reported needing support related to incorporating literacy practices into various content areas. Practical implications and areas for future research related to secondary literacy coaching are discussed.

The adoption and sustainability of evidence-based Tier 1 literacy practices in secondary content-area classes is important to improve reading success for students with learning disabilities. We conducted an exploratory multiple-case study investigating teachers' adoption and sustained use of evidence-based Tier 1 literacy practices that benefit students with learning disabilities. The study was conducted within the context of an adolescent literacy model demonstration project funded by the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (i.e., Promoting Adolescents' Comprehension of Text [PACT] Plus). Interviews were conducted with two administrators and seven teachers who sustained implementation of the PACT practices beyond 1 year of researcher support. Analyses revealed practice and school-level factors that influenced teachers' sustained use of the practices. We used findings from this study to propose a model of sustainability of Tier 1 evidence-based literacy practices used to improve outcomes for students with learning disabilities. Limitations and implications for future research are provided.

Providing academic feedback is strongly related to student achievement, yet there is little observational research examining the feedback provided by elementary classroom teachers. Informed by Hattie and Timperley's model of feedback, we conducted an observation study examining the type and direction of feedback provided in 33 teachers' fourth-grade social studies classrooms. Results showed teachers primarily repeated students' answers (39.8%), followed by providing positive feedback (32.2%), praise (15.6%), and corrective feedback (11.8%). Most feedback was directed at the task. Teachers rarely provided combined positive and corrective feedback (0.5%) and infrequently directed feedback at the process or students' self-regulation. These findings suggest teachers would benefit from support in providing effective feedback that is specific and supports students' use of learning strategies and self-regulatory behavior. Implications for preservice and in-service teacher training related to providing effective feedback are discussed.

To best support students with low vision in the general education classroom, special education teachers can facilitate use of several adaptations including: (a) attention to curriculum access (e.g. text magnifiers), (b) mechanisms for promoting social connectedness, (c) managing physical space, and (d) effective instructional techniques. This article provides an overview for special educators on how they can support general education teachers in providing research-based practices for students with low vision in their classroom. Description of effective practices along with resources helpful for continuing professional development are provided.

Nearly every secondary-age student must complete homework for their classes, and for many students with disabilities, completing homework at home is a struggle. Students with disabilities often require substantial support to execute homework assignments, and this responsibility frequently falls to their families. This dynamic can create a stressful environment for working at home. Although supports may be in place at school to ensure a student's success, at home, families often wonder how to reduce stress and improve their child's success during homework time. This article provides middle and high school special education teachers and case managers with a step-by-step plan for supporting families and their students as they plan for and implement a structured homework routine with built-in supports.

This article presents findings from a quasiexperimental study examining the effects of a Tier 2 intervention aligned to Tier 1 instruction, a nonaligned Tier 2 intervention, and a business-as-usual (BAU) comparison on the content knowledge, vocabulary, and reading outcomes of fourth-grade struggling readers. In the aligned condition, teachers were trained to provide content-area reading practices during social studies, and struggling readers from these classes received small-group intervention aligned to those practices, allowing for additional practice opportunities with feedback. Struggling readers in the nonaligned condition received the same small-group intervention, though they were not provided the comprehension practices during their Tier 1 social studies instruction. Students in the BAU received typical social studies instruction and typical intervention. Results yielded statistically significant, positive effects in favor of the aligned condition on proximal measures of content knowledge and vocabulary but no significant differences on standardized measures of reading comprehension and vocabulary.

We examined the efficacy of a content acquisition and reading comprehension intervention implemented in eighth-grade social studies classrooms. Using a within-teacher randomized control design, 18 eighth-grade teachers' social studies classes were randomly assigned to a treatment or comparison condition. Teachers taught all their classes (treatment and comparison) using the same content; however, in the treatment classes, teachers used instructional practices that included comprehension canopy, essential words, knowledge acquisition, and team-based learning. Students with reading comprehension difficulties in the treatment classes (n = 359) outperformed students with reading comprehension difficulties in the comparison classes (n = 331) on measures of content knowledge acquisition and content reading comprehension but not general reading comprehension. In addition, the proportion of students with reading comprehension difficulties in classes moderated outcomes for content knowledge acquisition and content reading comprehension.

Students with disabilities are often included in general education social studies classes, but these classes can differ in the achievement level of the overall class, including wide variation in content-related background knowledge, reading achievement, or both. The purpose of this study was to examine how background knowledge and reading achievement moderate the effects of a previously validated intervention, Promoting Adolescents' Comprehension of Text (PACT). We examined data from a prior randomized control trial of 1,487 eighth-grade students in 85 classes that were randomly assigned at the class level to receive either PACT instructional practices or typical instructional practices using the same social studies content. Results of the current study reveal no moderating effect at the class level of either initial background knowledge or reading achievement on student content knowledge acquisition or content reading comprehension outcomes. Classes with varying levels of background knowledge and reading achievement performed similarly in PACT instruction, with benefits of the PACT instruction found on content knowledge acquisition.

Students in middle school social studies classes are expected to learn content through text. Unfortunately, many students, particularly those with disabilities, struggle to comprehend grade-level texts (NCES, 2017). Implementing high-quality, text-based discussions is no easy task, yet it provides a way to support students with disabilities in the general education classroom. In this article, the authors provide a guide for content area teachers and special educators to initiate and maintain high-quality, text-based discussions during social studies instruction. When teachers incorporate these characteristics within text-reading routines, they provide (1) explicit instruction on "how" to engage in discussions about text, (2) support and scaffolding so that students with disabilities can successfully participate in those discussions, and (3) opportunities for higher-level thinking about text. The authors encourage educators to utilize the characteristics described in this article to support the reading comprehension and content learning of students with disabilities taught in general education social studies classrooms.

Despite numerous studies involving personality traits and second language (L2) learning achievement over many years, there is a lack of an overall picture about how personality traits are related to L2 learning achievement. This study aims to conduct a systematic quantitative synthesis of the studies that examined the relationships between the Big Five personality traits and L2 learning achievement. A total of 137 correlation coefficients from 31 primary studies conducted in 24 countries, with a total cumulative sample size of 8853 and published between 1982 and 2020, were included in this synthesis. The findings showed that openness to experience (r = 0.23; 95% CI: 0.15, 0.30; p < 0.001), conscientiousness (r = 0.18; 95% CI: 0.08, 0.28; p = 0.002), extraversion (r = 0.12; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.21; p = 0.017), and agreeableness (r = 0.10; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.18; p = 0.025) had positive correlations with L2 learning achievement, while neuroticism (r = - 0.04; 95% CI: - 0.09, 0.02; p = 0.227) had a negative yet statistically non-significant correlation with L2 learning achievement. More specifically, openness to experience and conscientiousness were the stronger correlates with L2 learning achievement, followed by more moderate correlates of extraversion and agreeableness, while neuroticism was the weakest among the five. Furthermore, several study features (i.e., study region, age of participants, L1 and L2 similarities, and schooling levels) were shown to explain the variations in the relationships between the Big Five personality traits and L2 learning achievement across individual studies. Implications for L2 teaching and future research are discussed.

Syntactic priming may be a key mechanism underlying children’s learning of novel words. Havron et al. (2019) exposed French-speaking children (ages 3 to 4) to a speaker biased by the use of either familiar verbs or nouns presented in the same syntactic context. This influenced participants’ interpretations of ambiguous novel words presented in the same syntactic frame. In Experiment 1, we successfully replicated Havron et al. with 77 French-speaking adults, using a web-based eye-tracking paradigm. Experiment 2 adapted this paradigm to English: Repeated exposure to a syntactic structure induced 102 English-speaking adults to update their expectations about the meanings of novel words. Our results indicate participants adapted to the specific linguistic structure used, not just the speaker’s tendency to mention actions or objects. These findings support the role of rapid adaptation during word learning. Experiments in progress investigate whether the English paradigm yields successful learning in 3- to 5-year-old children.

This study reports the effects of a distributed professional development model emphasizing reading comprehension and vocabulary practices in social studies on the content knowledge, vocabulary, and reading comprehension outcomes of upper elementary students identified as English learners (ELs). Schools were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: researcher-supported professional development (PD), school-supported PD, or business as usual (BAU; typical instruction). Findings from a prior randomized control trial revealed significant effects for both treatment conditions when compared with the BAU group for content knowledge, vocabulary learning and reading comprehension in content (Capin et al., 2020). This analysis addressed three related follow-up questions: (1) Does treatment affect ELs and non-ELs differently?; (2) Does treatment affect students differently depending on the school-wide percentage of ELs?; and (3) Does treatment affect EL students differently from non ELs depending on the school-wide percentage of ELs? Findings revealed that ELs in treatment conditions outperformed ELs in the BAU condition and school level percentage of ELs had an impact on EL vocabulary performance.

This study examined how self-beliefs, particularly reading mindset and self-efficacy, interact together to predict reading-specific achievement goals and engagement as well as reading achievement in fourth-grade students. Latent profile analysis identified three profiles (n = 206): Confident and Fixed Mindset, Moderately Confident and Neutral Mindset, and Confident and Growth Mindset. Compared to the Confident Growth Mindset profile, the Confident Fixed Mindset profile had higher performance goals and lower behavioural engagement and reading achievement. The Confident Fixed Mindset profile showed even lower reading achievement than the Moderately Confident and Neutral Mindset profile on school English/Language Arts grade and vocabulary performance. Lastly, the Confident Growth Mindset profile showed higher levels of behavioural and cognitive engagement than the Moderately Confident and Neutral Mindset profile. Overall, the effects of mindset supersede self-efficacy on reading-related outcomes, suggesting the importance of providing support that promotes a growth mindset before upper elementary students endorse a fixed mindset.

Informed by theories of reading comprehension and prior reviews of reading comprehension intervention, this meta-analysis uniquely contributes to the literature because it describes the relative effects of various approaches to comprehension intervention for struggling readers in Grades 3 through 12. Findings from 64 studies demonstrate significant positive effects of reading comprehension intervention on comprehension outcomes (g = 0.59, p < 0.001, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.47, 0.74], [tau][superscript 2] = 0.31). A metaregression model indicated significantly higher effects associated with researcher-developed measures, background knowledge instruction, and strategy instruction, and significantly lower effects associated with instructional enhancements. Grade level, metacognitive approaches, and study quality did not moderate effects. Findings support the use of background knowledge instruction and strategy instruction to support comprehension of struggling readers in upper elementary and beyond.

Five cohorts of students (N = 322) who completed a K-5 Spanish Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program in an urban school district were followed longitudinally through middle and high school completion. Academic and language achievement data included English Language Arts and Mathematics scores on the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) test for grades 3-8 and on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) for 11th grade, 10th-grade cumulative high school grade point average, enrollment in and grades earned in language classes, and attainment of the California Seal of Biliteracy. The DLI students were compared to non-DLI students who attended the same schools. Most DLI students continued with advanced level classes in Spanish in high school, and nearly half earned the California Seal of Biliteracy. Achievement results indicate that DLI graduates performed at equivalent or higher levels than non-DLI students on standardized achievement measures for English Language Arts and Mathematics.

Understanding the efficacy of evidence-based reading practices delivered in the Tier 1 (i.e. general classroom) setting is critical to successful implementation of multi-tiered systems, meeting a diverse range of student learning needs, and providing high quality reading instruction across content areas. This meta-analysis presents evidence on the effects of Tier 1 reading instruction on the reading outcomes of students in Grades 4-12, and a synthesis of effects for students identified as struggling readers. Results from this meta-analysis of 37 publications conducted between 2000 and 2015 reveal significant, positive effects for Tier 1 reading instruction on comprehension and vocabulary outcomes. A synthesis of the results for struggling readers indicates that they maintained or improved reading comprehension over struggling readers receiving typical instruction. [This article was published in "Reading and Writing," (EJ1152799).]

When students read more, vocabulary knowledge increases (Cunningham & Stanovich, 2003; Krashen, 2004). Out of every 100 unknown words that students encounter while reading, they learn an average of 15 of them from text alone (Swanborn & de Glopper, 1999). In addition, as students age, they are more likely to infer word meanings, indicating that word learning through reading may actually increase over time (Swanborn & de Glopper, 1999). Because lower-level readers make fewer and less helpful inferences (e.g., Cain & Oakhill, 1999, 2007; Denton et al., 2015), it may be more difficult for students with disabilities to build vocabulary through wide reading alone. Instead, students with disabilities may require teacher support during text reading to encourage higher-quality inferences and greater gains in vocabulary knowledge (Wilkinson, Wardrop, & Anderson, 1988). Students are more likely to learn vocabulary while reading when they can identify difficult words. In order to boost vocabulary knowledge through text-based approaches, students with disabilities should not only read more but be taught strategies for learning the meanings of words (Harmon et al., 2005). This article describes how teachers can design their own instructional materials to introduce new vocabulary (e.g., in social studies, teach the meaning of words such as revolution and colony) and explain how this new vocabulary relates to content area concepts. The practices described are essential for all students but especially for students with disabilities who are expected to be independent learners while facing a multitude of additional text-based challenges (e.g., word reading).

Teaching vocabulary and reading comprehension during social studies instruction is critical for reading development and the acquisition of content knowledge. This study systematically investigated how elementary teachers integrate vocabulary and reading comprehension instruction during social studies teaching, as well as the extent to which this instruction aligned with evidence-based practices. Thirty-three fourth grade teachers from 12 schools across three school districts recorded their social studies instruction for a total of 2429 min. Findings revealed that two-thirds of social studies instructional time integrated practices for developing vocabulary and reading comprehension. Yet, the approaches for teaching comprehension and methods for instructional delivery (e.g., explicit instruction, high-quality feedback) teachers used infrequently aligned with those identified as effective in previous research. We present opportunities for improving content-area instruction and future research.

This article reports a synthesis and meta-analysis of intervention studies investigating the effects of team-based learning on content knowledge outcomes. Team-based learning is a particular set of instructional components most often used in higher education classrooms. Authors of team-based learning reviews report that team-based learning improves students’ end of course grades, test performance, and classroom engagement. Students report that team-based learning is interesting, allows for deeper understanding of content, and prepares them more effectively for assessment and course performance. A total of 30 studies were located and synthesized. In total, 17 studies met criteria for a meta-analysis, yielding a mean effect size estimate of 0.55, p < 0.001 across all measures. Moderator analysis indicated that group size moderated the magnitude of effect to a statistically significant degree, with smaller group sizes contributing to additional effects. The meta-analysis is followed by a confirmatory synthesis of the remaining 13 studies. Implications for instruction incorporating the use of team-based learning are described.

Face-to-face communication provides access to visual information that can support language processing. But do listenersautomatically seek social information without regard to the language processing task? Here, we present two eye-trackingstudies that ask whether listeners’ knowledge of word-object links changes how they actively gather a social cue to refer-ence (eye gaze) during real-time language processing. First, when processing familiar words, children and adults did notdelay their gaze shifts to seek a disambiguating gaze cue. When processing novel words, however, children and adultsfixated longer on a speaker who provided a gaze cue, which led to an increase in looking to the named object and lesslooking to the other objects in the scene. These results suggest that listeners use their knowledge of object labels whendeciding how to allocate visual attention to social partners, which in turn changes the visual input to language processingmechanisms.

To support reading comprehension and content acquisition among middle school students with reading disabilities and difficulties, content area teachers must employ evidence-based literacy instruction. This type of instruction is especially crucial in the content areas because the majority of students with disabilities--those who typically struggle with reading comprehension--receive at least 80% of their instruction in the general education setting (USDOE, 2016). The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) practice guide on improving adolescent literacy (Kamil et al., 2008) provides recommendations on using evidence-based literacy practices to support the literacy skills of students with and without disabilities. These recommendations include providing all students explicit vocabulary and reading comprehension strategy instruction and opportunities to participate in text-based discussions in engaging literacy lessons. In order to ensure that students receive evidence-based literacy instruction that aligns with the recommendations outlined in the IES adolescent literacy practice guide, all teachers--despite their content area focus--should integrate a set of evidence-based literacy practices into their instruction. In this article, authors demonstrate how general education and special education teachers can apply a specific set of evidence-based literacy practices in the general education setting to support students' reading comprehension and content knowledge.

The article provides insights into building and sustaining American Choral Directors Association's (ACDA) student chapters at colleges through effective recruitment and engagement strategies. Topics include chapter recruitment methods, impactful programming and events, and fostering a supportive community among members and faculty advisors.

To learn challenging content, middle school students are expected to read and comprehend complex text. This poses challenges for content-area teachers whose classes typically include students with reading difficulties and disabilities who have a variety of literacy needs. Some students struggle to decode text while many students struggle with complex vocabulary and comprehending upper-level concepts. Teachers can use a variety of instructional methods to increase opportunities for students to engage with text to enhance their understanding of concepts and support reading comprehension. This article provides guidance on how teachers can implement a "critical reading" of text routine that includes peer-mediated instruction. Adaptations to this routine that teachers can use to address students' differing needs within the same content-area classroom are included. Resources are provided that teachers can use to differentiate and enhance implementation of the routine.

When recommending a program to achieve objectives such as improving learning outcomes for middle school students, school psychologists need information about cost-effectiveness to identify the best fit for student needs and school budgets. However, few cost studies of evidence-based instructional programs exist. We compared the cost-effectiveness of one such program, an intensified form of Promoting Adolescents' Comprehension of Text (PACT), to typical instruction in eighth-grade social studies. The results indicated that, implemented in small classes of below-average readers, PACT is costlier and more effective than typical instruction. In typical-size classes, PACT would be more cost-effective than typical instruction. Cost studies should be routine in efficacy research to better inform school leaders seeking to help learners raise their achievement within the confines of school budgetary considerations.

It is critical that students possess content knowledge. After all, content knowledge is predictive of reading comprehension among elementary school students [1], middle school students, and high school students [2, 3]. Social studies classes provide a unique opportunity for students with and without learning disabilities (LD) to gain this important content knowledge. Students with LD are frequently included in the general education social studies classrooms [4, 5], and their inclusion poses a unique challenge to teachers. While students with LD benefit from literacy support in social studies in order to develop content knowledge [6], general education social studies teachers view themselves as content area experts and not responsible for literacy instruction [7, 8]. Teacher perception is supported by the types of literacy instruction observed in social studies classrooms, where teachers rarely engage in explicit vocabulary or comprehension instruction [9]. In order for students with LD to meet the demands of upper level content area classrooms, literacy support within the content areas is necessary.

This study reports vocabulary and reading comprehension instructional practices implemented in middle and high school social studies and language arts classrooms. It also describes text reading practices. We conducted 137 observations of 11 social studies and 9 language arts teachers over the course of 1 academic year. We observed instructional practices supportive of vocabulary and reading comprehension to differing degrees in social studies and language arts. The proportion of time spent reading text was roughly the same across the 2 subjects, with differences by text type, reading mode, and grade level within both subject areas. [At time of submission to ERIC this article was in press with "Reading and Writing Quarterly."]