Integrating Literacy and Science Instruction in High School Biology: Impact on Teacher Practice, Student Engagement, and Student Achievement

This study investigates the effects of integrating literacy instruction with biology coursework on high school student learning. It would investigate the relationship between the growth in reading achievement and biology learning. It will target schools serving especially large populations of African American and Latino students. The project will include use a randomized experimental design with multiple measures of student learning, classroom observations, surveys, and interviews for validating quantitative results. The researchers have consulted research studies of reading practices. The project would create a professional development reading apprenticeship program to prepare teachers. Teachers will also be provided with funds to supplement their textbooks with science magazines, trade books, and fiction related to biology topics in the state curriculum frameworks. The study will occur in cities of California. Teachers will be assigned to immediate or delayed intervention randomly assigned to treatment and control groups.