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"Where Is the Action?" Challenges to Studying the Teaching of Reading in Elementary Classrooms
ROBERT G. CRONINGER is an associate professor in the Department of Education Policy Studies, University of Maryland, 2110D Benjamin Building, College Park, MD 20742-1175; croninge{at}umd.edu. His research focuses on research methods, the social context of schooling, teaching, teacher qualifications, and the distribution of educational opportunities. The authors argue that part of the difficulty in studying the teaching of reading in elementary classrooms is determining where "the action" occurs in reading instruction. Based on their 5-year longitudinal study of fourth- and fifth-grade teachers in moderate- and high-poverty elementary schools, they describe three challenges: (a) determining key factors in the complex instructional environment that should be the focus of study, (b) determining who teaches reading to specific students, and (c) determining the boundaries of reading instruction or when it occurs during the school day and year. The authors argue that these challenges, although not insurmountable, are difficult to resolve and that they are becoming more pervasive because of current policies that promote high-stakes accountability.
Key Words: high-stakes accountability • reading instruction • research methodology • teacher effectiveness
Educational Researcher, Vol. 38, No. 2,
100-108 (2009) This article has been cited by other articles:
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