Sustaining Research-Based Practices in Reading

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which the reading instructional practices learned by a cohort of teachers who participated in an intensive, yearlong professional development experience during the 1994-1995 school year have been sustained and modified over time. Teachers learned three multileveled practices—partner reading, collaborative strategic reading, and making words—that promote gains in reading for students from a wide range of achievement levels. Teachers were observed and interviewed 3 years later to determine the extent to which they continued to implement the practices, the ways in which they modified them, and factors that influenced their sustained use of the practices. With the exception of one teacher, all the teachers sustained one or more of the three practices at a high rate.

Using Coaching to Improve the Fidelity of Evidence-Based Practices: A Review of Studies

“…Specifically, Buzhardt, Greenwood, Abbott, and Tapia (2007) reported that improving fidelity can take years of intensive work with schools and individual teachers but that when this kind of ongoing support was provided, fidelity levels doubled. Similarly, Klingner, Vaughn, Hughes, and Arguelles (1999) found that teachers who received more ongoing support had higher fidelity and higher student achievement in their classrooms.…”

Factors Enhancing Sustained Use of Research-Based Instructional Practices

“…We were able to locate only one empirical study on this topic involving students with learning disabilities. Klingner, Vaughn, Hughes, and Arguelles (1999) worked with teachers for 1 year on reading approaches they could use in the classrooms. Three years after this professional development experience, nearly all of the teachers continued using some of the practices in which they were trained.…”

Barriers and Facilitators in Scaling up Research-Based Practices

“…WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Abbott et al (1999), Fuchs and Fuchs (1998), Pressley and El-Dinary (1997), and Vaughn, Klingner, and colleagues (Klingner, Arguelles, Hughes, & Vaughn, 2001;Klingner, Vaughn, Hughes, & Arguelles, 1999; have been among the most successful researchers in establishing long-term collaborative partnerships with schools as a way to enhance the sustainability of research-based practices. These partnerships have each included some form of ongoing support from the research team after the initial instruction in research-based practices had taken place.…”