Study of Teacher Preparation in Early Reading Instruction. NCEE 2010-4036

A component of the "No Child Left Behind" Act (NCLB) (PL 107-110) is its emphasis on the importance of systematic and explicit instruction in early reading using practices that are grounded in scientific research. The Reading First legislation (Title I, Part B, Subpart 1) within NCLB is designed to support state and local education agencies so that they can in turn base their early reading instruction on scientific research and focus on five "essential components" of early reading instruction, as defined by the legislation and informed by the National Reading Panel: (1) phonemic awareness; (2) phonics; (3) vocabulary development; (4) reading fluency, particularly oral reading skills; and (5) reading comprehension strategies. This report responds to a congressional mandate in the Reading First legislation for "a measurement of how well students preparing to enter the teaching profession are prepared to teach the essential components of reading instruction" (No Child Left Behind Act, 2001, Section 1205(c)(8)). The study plan included a survey about teacher education programs and an assessment of pre-service teachers' knowledge about the essential components of early reading instruction. Appended are: (1) Pre-Service Teacher Program Survey; (2) Program Survey Variables and Assessment Items; (3) Program Survey and Knowledge Assessment Pilot Testing; (4) Recruitment; (5) Demographic Information Gathered through Program Survey; (6) Data Cleaning Procedures; (7) Psychometric Analysis of the Program Survey Scales Measuring Coursework Emphasis on, Filed Experience Exposure to, and Feelings of Preparedness to Teach the Essential Components; (8) Descriptive Statistics for Program Survey Items; (9) Knowledge Assessment Scoring, Scale, Distractor, and Forms Analysis; (10) Knowledge Assessment Means Tables; (11) Hierarchical Linear Model Used to Answer the Primary and Secondary Research Questions; and (12) Administration of The Knowledge Assessment to Experts and Novices. (Contains 58 tables, 12 figures and 48 footnotes.) [This report was prepared for the Institute of Education Sciences under Contract No. ED-04-CO-0062/0001.]