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Studying Reading Instruction With Teacher Logs: Lessons From the Study of Instructional Improvement

BRIAN ROWAN is the Burke A. Hinsdale Collegiate Professor in Education, Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research, and Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan, 610 East University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; browan{at}umich.edu. His work focuses on education as an institution, paying special attention to the organization and management of instruction and its effects on student achievement.

RICHARD CORRENTI is an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Education and a research scientist at the Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburgh, 5801 Wesley W. Posvar Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15260; rcorrent{at}pitt.edu. His research interests include the measurement and determinants of instruction, how professional development influences instruction, and how instruction affects student learning.

This article describes some of the conceptual and methodological issues that arise when researchers use teacher logs to measure classroom instruction. Data and examples come from the Study of Instructional Improvement, which used teacher logs to study patterns of literacy instruction in schools implementing three comprehensive school reforms. Over the course of this study, more than 75,000 logs were collected from nearly 2,000 teachers in Grades 1 through 5. This article discusses why teacher logs were chosen as the data collection strategy, various psychometric issues associated with their use, and some of the substantive findings that emerged as part of the study.

Key Words: instructional practices • measurements • research methodology

Educational Researcher, Vol. 38, No. 2, 120-131 (2009)
DOI: 10.3102/0013189X09332375


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