Testing the Impact of Child Characteristics × Instruction Interactions on Third Graders' Reading Comprehension by Differentiating Literacy Instruction

Abstract

There is accumulating correlational evidence that the effect of specific types of reading instruction depends on children's initial language and literacy skills, called child characteristics × instruction (C×I) interactions. There is, however, no experimental evidence beyond first grade. This randomized control study examined whether C×I interactions might present an underlying and predictable mechanism for explaining individual differences in how students respond to third-grade classroom literacy instruction. To this end, we designed and tested an instructional intervention (Individualizing Student Instruction [ISI]). Teachers (n = 33) and their students (n = 448) were randomly assigned to the ISI intervention or a vocabulary intervention, which was not individualized. Teachers in both conditions received professional development. Videotaped classroom observations conducted in the fall, winter, and spring documented the instruction that each student in the classroom received. Teachers in the ISI group were more likely to provide differentiated literacy instruction that considered C×I interactions than were the teachers in the vocabulary group. Students in the ISI intervention made greater gains on a standardized assessment of reading comprehension than did students in the vocabulary intervention. Results indicate that C×I interactions likely contribute to students' varying response to literacy instruction with regard to their reading comprehension achievement and that the association between students' profile of language and literacy skills and recommended instruction is nonlinear and dependent on a number of factors. Hence, dynamic and complex theories about classroom instruction and environment impacts on student learning appear to be warranted and should inform more effective literacy instruction in third grade.

Figure 1

Recommended Minutes/Day of Teacher/Student-Managed, Meaning-Focused Instruction as a Function of Students’ Woodcock-Johnson III Passage Comprehension Grade-Equivalent Score Note. AE = age expectation. GE = grade equivalent. TSM-MF = teacher/student-managed, meaning-focused. Voc = vocabulary. WJ III = Woodcock-Johnson III. Students with vocabulary scores falling below AEs (top solid line, AE = 5 years) would be provided more time in TSM-MF instruction, for example, than would students with more typical vocabulary skills (middle dashed line, AE = 8.6 years, mean of the sample) or students with stronger vocabulary (bottom dotted line, AE = 11 years).

Figure 2

A2i Classroom View Showing the Recommended Amounts (minutes/day) of Each Type of Instruction Note. Student-managed code-focused instruction was set to a constant of five minutes per day. Teacher/student-managed, code-focused amounts depended on students’ Woodcock-Johnson III letter/word identification grade-equivalent (GE) score (see Figure 3). None of the students in this classroom had letter/word GE scores that fell more than one GE below grade-level expectations.

Figure 3

Recommended Minutes/Day of Teacher/Student-Managed, Code-Focused Instruction as a Function of Students’ Woodcock-Johnson III Letter/Word Identification Grade Equivalent Note. GE = grade equivalent. TSM-CF = teacher/student-managed, code-focused. WJ III = Woodcock-Johnson III. A minimum of five minutes was set in the A2i software (see Figure 1).

Figure 4

Difference Scores for Students in the Vocabulary and ISI Classrooms as a Function of Their Fall Reading Comprehension Scores Note. Fall comprehension = Fall Gates–MacGinitie Reading Tests extended scale scores (ESSs). ISI = Individualizing Student Instruction. TSM-MF = teacher/student-managed, meaning-focused. Reading comprehension is modeled at the 25th (white = 435 ESS), 50th (gray = 462 ESS), and 75th (black = 489 ESS) percentiles of the sample. Difference scores closer to 0 indicate greater precision in the A2i recommended amounts of TSM, meaning-focused, small-group instruction that students received (observed amount − A2i recommended amount).