Date of Completion

6-16-2020

Embargo Period

7-16-2020

Keywords

coaching intervention, fidelity, Tier 1 reading instruction, instructional behaviors

Major Advisor

Michael Coyne

Associate Advisor

Brandi Simonsen

Associate Advisor

Sarah Woulfin

Associate Advisor

Devin Kearns

Associate Advisor

Kristen McMaster

Field of Study

Educational Psychology

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Open Access

Open Access

Abstract

Quality instruction and teacher effectiveness matter, but there is limited research to inform how to best support teachers in their efforts to boost student reading outcomes (Clark et al., 2016). Existing research suggests that literacy coaching can be effective it is (a) content specific (e.g., coaching on a specific program) and (b) focused on improving specific skills with deliberate practice (e.g., coaching to increase target instructional behaviors) (Kraft, Hogan, & Blazar, 2018). The current study evaluated the efficacy of a coaching intervention with two second grade teachers designed to increase their use of target instructional behaviors (i.e., modeling, opportunities to respond, and specific feedback) during 30-minute Tier 1 reading instruction using Fundations, an evidence-based program. A single-case, multiple-baseline design across behaviors was used to evaluate the rate of occurrences of each behavior during 30-minute whole-class Fundations lessons. Visual analysis and an examination of effect sizes indicated a total of four out of eight possible effects across the two participants. Findings suggest that coaching was effective specifically for instructional behaviors for which teachers demonstrated low rates of implementation during baseline.

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