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The ISI Classroom Observation System: Examining the Literacy Instruction Provided to Individual Students

CAROL McDONALD CONNOR is an associate professor at Florida State University and the Florida Center for Reading Research, 227 North Bronough, Suite 7250, Tallahassee, FL32301; cconnor{at}fcrr.org. Her research focuses on the complex links between language and literacy skills and the effect of instruction on children’s literacy development.

FREDERICK J. MORRISON is a professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; fjmorris{at}umich.edu. His research focuses on the nature and sources of variability in children’s early literacy development.

BARRY J. FISHMAN is an associate professor of learning technologies in the School of Education and the School of Information at the University of Michigan, 610 East University, Room 1360B, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; fishman{at}umich.edu. His research interests are teacher learning with technology and the scalability and sustainability of innovation.

CLAIRE CAMERON PONITZ is an Institute of Education Sciences postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Virginia, Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, 350 Old Ivy Way, Suite 300, Charlottesville, VA 22903; ccponitz{at}virginia.edu. Her work focuses on the development and measurement of self-regulation in early childhood, as well as on classroom and teacher contributions to children’s behavior.

STEPHANIE GLASNEY is a doctoral student in developmental psychology at Florida State University, Florida Center for Reading Research, 227 North Bronough Street, Suite 3300, Tallahassee, FL32301; sglasney{at}fcrr.org. Her research focuses on the links between children’s self-regulation and literacy skills.

PHYLLIS S. UNDERWOOD is a doctoral candidate at Florida State University and an assistant in research at the Florida Center for Reading Research, 227 North Bronough Street, Suite 3300, Tallahassee, Florida 32301; punderwood{at}fcrr.org. Her research focuses on examining the impact of culturally responsive teaching practices on the reading skill growth of early elementary grade students.

SHAYNE B. PIASTA is a former Institute of Education Sciences predoctoral fellow who received her training at Florida State University and the Florida Center for Reading Research. She is currently a postdoctoral research scientist in the Preschool Language and Literacy Lab at Ohio State University, 356 Arps Hall, 1945 North High Street, Columbus, OH 43210; piasta.1{at}osu.edu. Her research interests include early and emergent literacy skill development and effective literacy instruction.

ELIZABETH COYNE CROWE is an assistant in research, which is a faculty position, at Florida State University and the Florida Center for Reading Research, 4750 Collegiate Drive, Suite 110, Panama City, Florida, 32405, and a former Institute of Education Sciences predoctoral fellow at the Florida Center for Reading Research in Tallahassee, Florida; ecrowe{at}fcrr.org. Her research interests include highly proficient readers and the multidimensional relations of language and literacy skills.

CHRISTOPHER SCHATSCHNEIDER is a professor of psychology at Florida State University and associate director of the Florida Center for Reading Research, 227 North Bronough Street, Suite 3300, Tallahassee, Florida 32301; schatschneider{at}psy.fsu.edu. He has expertise in quantitative methods and research design and publishes in the area of individual differences in early reading acquisition, item response theory, research design, and the use of hierarchical linear models in developmental research. He is also the coeditor, with Don Compton, of Annals of Dyslexia.

The Individualizing Student Instruction (ISI) classroom observation and coding system is designed to provide a detailed picture of the classroom environment at the level of the individual student. Using a multidimensional conceptualization of the classroom environment, foundational elements (teacher warmth and responsiveness to students, classroom management) and instructional elements (teacher-child interactions, context, and content) are described. The authors have used the ISI system to document that children who share the same classroom have very different learning opportunities, that instruction occurs through interactions among teachers and students, and that the effect of this instruction depends on children’s language and literacy skills. This means that what is effective for one child may be ineffective for another with different skills. With improving classroom observation systems, the dynamics of the complex classroom environment as it affects student learning can be better understood.

Key Words: classroom management • classroom research • literacy • reading • school/teacher effectiveness

Educational Researcher, Vol. 38, No. 2, 85-99 (2009)
DOI: 10.3102/0013189X09332373


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