Building Language and Academic Knowledge ‐ but What About Comprehension - PowerPoint Presentation

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Building Language and Academic Knowledge ‐ but What About Comprehension? Content Area Literacy Instruction (CALI)

Carol M Connor

University of California, Irvine

Christopher Lonigan

Beth Phillips

Florida State University

ETS/RFU Conference

DC, May 2016

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What does it take to attach meaning to text?

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Read this paragraph

Outside in the garden, over the dinner tables, the three objects Scrimgeour had given them were passed from hand to hand. Everybody exclaimed over the Deluminator and the

Tales of Beedle the Bard

and lamented the fact that Scrimgeour had refused to pass on the sword, but none of them could offer any suggestion as to why Dumbledore would have left Harry an old snitch.

What did you do when you came to a word you didn’t know?

Who is Harry?

Who is Scrimgeour?

What is a Deluminator?

What is happening in this scene?

What do you think happened to Dumbledore?

Page 131,

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Rufus Scrimgeour is the Minister of Magic

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World or Background Knowledge“Haig conferred with the lawyers again to consider their double-edged strategy – how to satisfy the committee and keep Nixon from scrapping the transcripts altogether.”

What do you need to know to understand this paragraph?

p

. 130,

The Final Days

, Woodward and

Bernstein

(

1976).

What else?

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From Idea to Efficacy: CALI Aims

To identify strategies and methods that are effective in improving kindergarten through fourth grade children’s

content area knowledge in science and social studies

higher-order thinking and complex language (making connections, drawing conclusions, making inferences)

automatic use of comprehension strategies to understand information in text

expository writing skills

And to make sure that all students, regardless of initial language and reading skills, have strong outcomes

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The CALI Intervention

Topics in social studies and science that are aligned with Common Core and Florida State Standards

Small group intervention that is differentiated for students who are comprehending at varying skill levels

Two 3 week units that are on connected topics, 4 days/week, 20 minutes per group

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Organizational Framework

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Each child has a loose leaf binder, much like a researcher’s journal, where they keep all of their books, resources, texts and papers

Based on Palincsar & Magnusson, 2001

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Connect (First Grade)

Help students connect ideas with their own lives

Example: sort photos by things adults want to buy versus things kids want to buy

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Connect (4th grade)

Why are Disney World and beaches good for Florida’s economy?

Fourth Grade

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Clarify

Using leveled text to go into more detail about the topic

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Leveled Text

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Research: Using original sources when we can

Using a Target or Walmart advertisement

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Apply

This is a project designed so that students can make connections and begin to generalize what they have learned

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Aims of the studyDevelop CALI Lessons using design-based implementation research (DBIR)

Individualized so no child X instruction interactions

Usable for teachers during the literacy block

Test the efficacy of CALI for improving knowledge

Without opportunity cost

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Iterative Design Study

Pre-post test with counter-factual test items

Multiple choice

Open ended

Based on outcome results and feedback from interventionists, lessons are revised and the process is repeated

Test for item gains over CF items

Test for child X instruction interactions (CXI)

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Summary of Design Results

Pilot Round

Units Pretest (z-score)

Units Posttest (z-score)

Units Pretest

Counter-factual

(CF) (z)

Units Posttest CF (z)

Effect size (

d

) gains;Target vs CF

Round 1

-.47

.47 SD = .90

-.16

.16

.84

Round 2

-.48

.49 SD = .87

-.05

.05

.87

Testing for Child X Intervention Interactions (CXI)

Pretest correlated with Gains (

r

)

WJ Passage Comprehension SS correlated with gains (

r)

WJ Picture Vocabulary SS correlated with gains (

r)

Round 1

-.425***

.345*

-.021

Round 2

-.433***

.133

.298*

Rounds 3 & 4

.86 with no CXI

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Efficacy Trial

Kindergarten through 4

th

grade

At least 70 students randomly assigned within classrooms to CALI or business as usual

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CALI Content Knowledge Assessment

No child characteristic X instruction interactions

Multiple choice and open-ended questions

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Probability of answering

Reading-to-Comprehension

items correctly as a function of condition and grade.

Note.

CALI = Content area literacy instruction.

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Modeled results comparing students who have pre-intervention passage comprehension scores one standard deviation (SD = 34) above the mean (Hi PC, M = 500) and below the mean (Lo PC, M = 432) for the sample. Treatment effect sizes (

d

) for social studies are 1.80 and .78 respectively. Treatment effect size (

d

) for Science is 2.59 with no CXI interactions.

Note

. BAU = Business as usual; CALI = Content area literacy instruction; SS = Social Studies; SC = Science; PC = Passage comprehension.

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Structural Equation Model Path Diagram. Path coefficients are standardized. Numbers by variable boxes are variance explained. Curved lines are correlations. Fit was adequate: TLI (.940), CFI (.988) and RSMEA (.080,

p

-close = .113).

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Implications

DBIR and practitioner-research partnerships

Teaching CALI during the literacy block is feasible with no opportunity cost

Improving content knowledge and literacy can improve reading for understanding

CXIs are difficult to design against

How do we get evidence-based practices into classrooms?

Questions?

Contact:

Carol M Connor

connorcm@uci.edu