Just knowing how to read isn't enough! Assessing knowledge for teaching reading

Abstract

Debates persist over the knowledge needed to teach elementary reading effectively. In one commonly held view verbal ability is what matters most and the best approach to improving teacher quality is to recruit teachers who themselves are good readers. Others argue that teachers need special forms of professional knowledge that differ substantially from common adult reading and verbal ability. These different assumptions about what teachers need to know are directly relevant to whether teaching reading demands specialized professional knowledge and they have lead to radically different policy recommendations for both teacher preparation and induction. This study presents preliminary evidence that elementary reading teachers can hold a special knowledge of language, text, and reading process that differs substantially from common reading and verbal ability. Implications for the measurement and study of teacher quality and related implications for teacher evaluation and teacher development are discussed.

Early childhood educators' knowledge about language and literacy: Associations with practice and children's learning

“…A growing number of studies provide descriptions of educators' knowledge to support language and literacy (e.g., Bos, Mather, Dickson, Podhajski, & Chard, ; Cunningham et al, ; Moats, ; Moats & Foorman, ; Moats & Lyon, ; Phelps, ; Puliatte & Ehri, ; Spear‐Swerling, Brucker, & Alfano, ; Washburn, Binks‐Cantrell, Joshi, Martin‐Chang, & Arrow, ; Washburn, Joshi, & Binks‐Cantrell, ). Typically, these studies characterize educators' knowledge as less than optimal.…”

Relationships between LINUS Teachers' Knowledge of Basic Language Constructs, Teaching Experience and Perceived Teaching Abilities

“…One of the proposed sources is the teacher's content knowledge of reading. While it seems that teachers' quality through training and certifications has been found to have positive effect on students' achievements, it has little to do with formal teacher preparation [15]. This is because most measures of teacher quality are indirect or proxy measures such as degree attainment, counts of college course, or teacher certification, and these variables do not directly represent what teachers know or can do [15].…”

“…While it seems that teachers' quality through training and certifications has been found to have positive effect on students' achievements, it has little to do with formal teacher preparation [15]. This is because most measures of teacher quality are indirect or proxy measures such as degree attainment, counts of college course, or teacher certification, and these variables do not directly represent what teachers know or can do [15]. Thus, recent research has focused on more direct measures such as teachers' knowledge to study teacher preparation for effective teaching [6,15,16].…”

“…This is because most measures of teacher quality are indirect or proxy measures such as degree attainment, counts of college course, or teacher certification, and these variables do not directly represent what teachers know or can do [15]. Thus, recent research has focused on more direct measures such as teachers' knowledge to study teacher preparation for effective teaching [6,15,16]. In accordance with that, some reading research also focused upon teacher's knowledge of basic language constructs, which is the specialized content knowledge required to teach reading in English, and perceptions of dyslexia [6].…”

Relationships among Special Education Teachers' Knowledge, Instructional Practice and Students' Performance in Reading Fluency

“…In reading, some researchers found relationships among teacher knowledge, instructional practice, and/or student achievement (e.g., Carlisle, Kelcey, Rowan & Phelps, ; Kelcey, ; McCutchen, Green, Abbott, & Sanders, ), and others did not (Carlisle, Correnti, Phelps, & Zeng, ; Cirino et al., ). Despite the challenges associated with reliably and validly assessing teachers’ knowledge for teaching within a particular subject area and linking it to students’ learning, many general education scholars hold firm to the belief that effective teachers have knowledge that is unique to teaching (e.g., Depaepe, Verschaffel & Kelchtermans, ; Phelps, ).…”