Professional Knowledge of Teachers, Instructional Quality and Second Grade Student Progress in Reading and Writing

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Research on teaching reading and writing in primary schools has repeatedly dealt with the question which overall teaching approach (e.g. "reading through writing") is effective for student learning.The project "WibaLes" (Professional Knowledge of Teachers, Instructional Quality and Second Grade Student Progress in Reading and Writing) investigates whether subject-specific instructional quality and the subject-specific professional knowledge of teachers effect second grade student progress in reading and writing, rather than the specific overall teaching approach.For this, the research on the basic dimensions of instructional quality will be used and further elaborated in the project with a subject-specific focus. A thorough measurement and scale inventory will be developed and applied, comprising various instruments such as an observational instrument. Professional teacher knowledge will be differentiated into content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and general pedagogical knowledge and captured using a novel test instrument assessing teacher knowledge for teaching second grade reading and writing.Student reading and writing skills will be assessed at three time points during second grade using an established test instrument. Control variables such as intelligence will be captured as well. We aim at a sample of 120 teachers and their students at 60 primary schools in the Cologne region in order to come to solid interpretation of findings on the correlations of teacher knowledge, instructional quality, and student learning. In addition to that, our data and findings will be validated using additional data from national student assessment (VERA-3) regularly taking place one year later when the students attend their third grade.Two overall research questions guide the project:1) Can aspects of instructional quality (classroom management, subject-specific cognitive activation, and constructive support) better predict second grade student gain in reading and writing than the overall teaching approach?2) Can aspects of instructional quality be predicted by the professional knowledge of teachers and can therefore be provided evidence for the indirect effect of teacher knowledge on the students’ learning gain?We expect significant insights into early teaching of reading and writing in primary school. Due to their domain-specific and target-specific focus, these insights should be particularly relevant for the research on teacher professionalism and teaching on the primary school level in general. The project will also be important due to the increase in primary school student diversity and enrich the discussion of how to deal with heterogeneity of students.