I am just finishing up the second of two courses in my doctorate on "disciplined inquiry". One of the things I have learned is how to evaluate research articles. I thank you, Amy, for posting the research links...and I look forward to reading through your links when I get a few minutes. It will be good practice for me as I work on my literature review for my dissertation. There are many kinds of research in education...and yes...some research is done to create programs. Marie Clay, Fountas and Pinnell and many others have done research and then created programs or theories from their research. Marie Clay was my hero but even her work needed to be validated by many others over time. The fact that someone makes a profit on their research makes this validation process essential. I am particularly interested in looking at the studies you mention to see if there is an improvement in comprehension scores...AND if improvement in reading skills holds over time. If there is no independent validation studies, then I am afraid the jury is still out for me. Now...Let's talk comprehension...the purpose of our listserv. I have a question for all the wonderful minds on this list. I just picked up a new little girl on my caseload today. When reading with her a couple of things became obvious to me. One: She isn't thinking about reading. (We all know what to do about that---time to pull out Strategies That Work...Reading With Meaning etc etc.) BUT another problem I detected is that she doesn't seem to understand the questions posed to her by me or the other children...particularly questions that start with why and how. It really affects how she interacts with other children when they are discussing text. I want to teach her how to comprehend questions and was thinking about applying comprehension strategies to the genre of questions. Can you all help me think this through? Jennifer In a message dated 2/19/2009 7:49:53 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, mcgovern_amy64042...@hotmail.com writes:
Hi Elisa, I appreciate your question. There is a helpful report from the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute that is worth looking at if you would like several specific examples regarding the research supporting Direct Instruction. In addition to listing some independently reviewed research, it also summarizes the highlights of Project Follow Through. If you are not familiar with this study, Follow Through is often described as the single most expensive education experiment in history. The experiment lasted from 1967 to 1976 and on-going data was collected all the way through 1995 on literally thousands of students. Please see Bonnie Grossen's Overview: The Story Behind Project Follow Through. You can find Grossen's article on-line if you google it. I would encourage anyone who is being asked to teach Direct Instruction, willingly or not, to take a look at this info. The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute also can be found by googling it. Once there, Go to the index and click on "education k-12". That will take you to the list of articles. Look for Direct Instruction and the Teaching of Early Reading. Wisconsin's Teacher-led Insurgency (March 2001, Volume 14, number 2.) It's near the bottom of the page. There are other more current articles on Direct Instruction, but I am fond of this one because it begins with a really good description of Direct Instruction. Samples from the research are sited on pages 6-10. There's a list of references on page 25. Something to think about... A common criticism of the research supporting Direct Instruction and Reading Mastery is that this research comes from the author, meaning Zig Englemann. Indeed there is plenty of research out there that was not conducted by Englemann at all. But let's stick with the critique used on Direct Instruction: that if the research comes from the author or creator, it is somehow not valid. In an attempt to draw some comparisons between authors/creators and their research, please respectfully consider this: Marie Clay ...Teacher/ Researcher....she spear headed the research that eventually became Reading Recovery. Fountas and Pinnell are considered the creators of Guided Reading.... They did 9 years of research. This is according to their book: Guided Reading: Good First Teaching for All Children. Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goodvis wrote Strategies that Work. They are listed in the back of their book as researchers. I think we may be able to agree on two things: First, that all the teacher/researchers listed above have only the best of intentions: which is to help children learn to read and to support teachers in their quest to make this happen. Second, (and this is a bit more harsh, but true non-the-less) that someone profits financially from selling their well researched books and workshops. Food for thought. I hope this information helps. Amy **************You can't always choose whom you love, but you can choose how to find them. Start with AOL Personals. (http://personals.aol.com/?ncid=emlcntuslove00000002) _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
