Multiple sources of implementation data indicate that compared to the control teachers, the intervention teachers were more knowledgeable about and more able to integrate the teaching of science reading with science content, to create classrooms characterized by collaborative inquiry and meaning making with science texts, to engage students in the work of text inquiry, and to offer their students tools in the form of comprehension routines and strategies to support their work with science texts.
The results of student Opportunity to Learn Surveys favored the treatment group and were statistically significant for two of the six measures: Emphasis on Reading in Biology —a measure of teacher instruction, guidance and support for science reading —and Student Integration of Biology & Literacy—a measure of student practice of comprehension supporting routines and strategies. Students in treatment schools also reported higher levels on the Student Identity construct than students in control schools (p=0.054). Moreover, the impacts appear to be more robust and consistent for students from non-English speaking families than for those from English-speaking families – with four out of the six outcomes being statistically significant for non-English background students and one out of the six outcomes being significant for English background students.
For the California Standards Tests, students in the treatment schools performed better than their counterparts in control schools on all state standardized assessments: English language arts, reading comprehension, and biology. The effect sizes of 0.23, 0.24, and 0.28 on English language arts, reading comprehension, and biology CST tests give an estimate of the magnitude of the difference between student test scores in the intervention and control groups. A year of reading growth at the high school level has been estimated to produce a magnitude of change of approximately .19 (Hill, Bloom, Black, & Lipsey, 2008). This indicates that students in the intervention classes were about one year ahead of their counterparts in control classes at the end of the study. Thus, there is some evidence that the intervention—professional development to support implementation of the Reading Apprenticeship instructional framework in high school biology classes—is associated with increases in teaching quality and student achievement.
Greenleaf, C., Litman, C., Rosen, R., Boscardin, C., Herman, J., & Schneider, S.A., et al. (in press). Integrating Literacy and Science in Biology: Teaching and Learning Impacts of Reading Apprenticeship Professional Development. American Educational Research Journal.