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This study has been designed to describe how aspects of the behavior setting influence literacy events in kindergartens. A systematic investigation of literacy events in and across all areas of four kindergarten classrooms was undertaken to describe the conditions under which children had opportunities to become engaged in reading and writing activities through transactions with the environment. The framework for the study was the human ecological approach to early childhood education (Day, 1983). Quantitative data were collected using two instruments. A modification of The Behavior Checklist of Child-Environment Interaction (Day et al., 1982) was used in four neighboring inner-city kindergartens in the Western Massachusetts to simultaneously record literacy events, activity/areas, teachers' roles, teacher- or child-choice of activities, group size, materials use, and other behaviors. Precautions were taken to provide a sample which was internally consistent in terms of sites, subjects, and teachers. Children's naturally occurring behavior was recorded by two observers over a four-week period using a time-sampling-by-child methodology. High interobserver reliability was achieved on five days of simultaneous observations. A second instrument, The Survey of Displayed Literacy Stimuli (Loughlin and Cole, 1986), was used to measure the amount of literacy-related materials in each classroom. Qualitative data were collected in fieldnotes when literacy events were observed. Relationships were described between children's reading and writing activities and these three factors: design of physical space, amount and presentation of materials, and teacher-child interactions. Variation was found in the types and frequencies of literacy events in and across classrooms that were related to these environmental factors. The interaction of these factors explained the conditions in kindergartens under which children had opportunities to engage in reading and writing activities through transactions with the environment.

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<p> This mixed methods study utilized a survey and semi-structured interviews to investigate upper elementary teacher knowledge for teaching reading to struggling readers to determine what a sample of third through fifth grade teachers knew and understood about the myriad factors that may have contributed to their students&rsquo; reading difficulties.</p><p> Quantitative findings revealed that the teachers possessed the strongest knowledge in the areas of comprehension, vocabulary, and reading fluency, and that their knowledge was the weakest related to foundational reading skills such as phonics and morphological awareness. Quantitative analyses also suggested that participation in certain types of professional development, most notably learning communities, may have improved the teachers' knowledge, but that in general, variables such as education, teaching experience, and professional development, had very little, if any, significant effect on the teachers' knowledge.</p><p> Qualitative findings included five themes, or five areas of teacher knowledge: knowledge about struggling readers&rsquo; foundational skills difficulties; knowledge gained from working with colleagues; knowledge gained from learning communities; knowledge about diagnosing students&rsquo; reading weaknesses; and knowledge about the effects of struggling readers&rsquo; lack of confidence. In each of these areas, teachers discussed the specific knowledge they felt they possessed or lacked, as well as the most significant sources from which they had developed this knowledge.</p><p> Comparisons of the quantitative and qualitative data suggested that experience teaching primary grades, effective work with reading specialists, and participation in learning communities may each have helped the teachers develop the knowledge needed to work with struggling readers. The quantitative and qualitative data comparison also indicated that while teachers did not always possess adequate knowledge for teaching foundational reading skills, they felt that this was an area of knowledge they needed and wanted to develop so that they could more effectively help their struggling readers.</p><p> This study concluded with a discussion of the implications of its findings, as well as recommendations for policy, practice, and future research. This study&rsquo;s findings may provide preservice and inservice teacher educators with valuable information they can use to inform their curriculum and support programs for upper elementary teachers.</p>

This thesis reports on a research project investigating how a sample of eight teachers of P2 children in Scotland encouraged dialogic interaction in their reading groups while following prescriptive policy. The research is based on a detailed analysis of the discourse of reading sessions conducted by the eight teachers, and is informed by previous research on oral language development, the role of dialogue in children’s learning, and the relationships between reading development and classroom discussion. The project uses mixed methods, applied to a framework derived from exchange structure research. Patterns of interaction have been examined quantitatively and qualitatively, with a particular focus on learners’ initiations, the making of text-life links by learners and teachers, and the extent to which these are integrated into the reading experience by the teachers’ use of contingent responses. The discourse analysis section of the findings is preceded by a preliminary examination of the teachers’ beliefs about classroom talk, and is followed by discussion of their views on the usefulness and adaptability of the research process itself as a means for enabling them to make their reading sessions more interactive. The project finds that the interactivity of the reading sessions is shaped by the teachers’ moment-by-moment decision-making about the control of centrifugal and centripetal forces in discourse; in particular, how far to allow children’s personal responses to the text to deflect group attention from the central goals of skill development and text coverage laid down by reading policy. The teachers reported their own experiences of teaching reading as being characterised by a tension between encouraging children’s personal engagement with, and responses to, reading material, and fulfilling the demands of a prescriptive curriculum within severe time constraints.

<p> Evidence indicates that first-grade students who struggle with reading and do not receive help are likely to become poor readers for their entire school careers and will have continued reading problems into adulthood. If a person cannot read well, the outlook is dismal for their employment, self-sufficiency, community participation, social inclusion, and overall well-being. Researchers have found that the solution for struggling readers is not to simply wait and hope they will catch up with their peers. Instead, it is essential to identify students who are at risk for reading failure and disabilities as early as possible and quickly provide evidence-based interventions. This regression discontinuity study examined the effects of Sound Partners, an evidence-based early reading intervention that was implemented by teacher candidates, on the correct letter sounds of 46 first-grade students identified as being at risk for reading failure. Findings indicated that the intervention was effective in raising participants&rsquo; reading scores. Additionally, stakeholder feedback from the participating university, schools, and teacher candidates helped to foster and develop a school-university relationship that yielded mutually beneficial results. Further research should be conducted that includes a larger sample of students using different measures and other evidence-based reading interventions, as well as following the students longitudinally. </p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> DIBELS, CLS, evidence-based practice, regression discontinuity, response-to-intervention, Sound Partners, teacher candidates </p>