Individualizing Student Instruction Research Articles

Learning experiences vary across young children in the same classroom: evidence from the individualizing student instruction measure in the Boston Public Schools

Classroom-level quality measures are widely used in early education settings but may mask important variation in learning experiences across children in the same classroom. This study investigates this possibility using detailed data from an observational measure of individual children's learning experiences – Individualizing Student Instruction (ISI). We also examine two other suggested directions for improving early childhood measurement – measuring specific content and learning formats. Our sample includes 263 prekindergarteners and 390 kindergarteners (M age=5.2; 51% female; 20% Asian; 20% Black; 32% Latino; 24% White; 4% Other). We found that learning experiences differed substantially across young children enrolled in the same classroom and across student subgroups, particularly for some learning content areas and learning formats. However, this variation did not consistently predict children's language, literacy, math, or executive function gains. The exception was a small relation between time off-task and math gains in both grades, though these findings are sensitive to which math measure is used. Findings underscore the need for more measurement work in early education settings, including development and validation of new instruments and rigorous psychometric studies of existing measures.

Associations among teachers' depressive symptoms and students' classroom instructional experiences in third grade

Recent studies have established connections among teachers' mental health and student outcomes, however there is limited understanding of how these teacher characteristics manifest in the classroom to affect students. The present study informed this gap by examining the associations among third grade teachers' (N = 32) self-reported symptoms of clinical depression and their students' (N = 326) classroom instructional experiences. Eight student experiences described by the Individualizing Student Instruction framework were investigated, including academic instruction facilitated by the teacher in various student groupings, students' independent and group work, teachers' planning/organizing instruction, and students' time off-task and in transitions. Multilevel modeling revealed negative associations between teachers' depressive symptoms and (a) teacher-facilitated academic instruction provided to the whole class and (b) teachers' planning/organizing instruction. Results suggest that teachers experiencing more symptoms may under-utilize instructional approaches that require more effort on their part. We discussed the implications of our findings for students' academic and social-emotional learning, and the potential benefits of incorporating mental health support components into teacher training and professional development aimed at improving instructional practices.

Evaluation of the Good Behavior Game with a child with fetal alcohol syndrome in a small‐group context

We evaluated the Good Behavior Game (GBG) on levels of disruptive behavior of a 4‐year‐old boy with fetal alcohol syndrome during small‐group reading time. We also compared the effectiveness of and preference for choice of a reward to a surprise reward for winning the GBG. Results showed that the GBG was effective to decrease disruptive behavior to similar levels as peers in the group. We did not observe a difference in the effectiveness of the GBG with a choice of reward compared to a surprise reward, but the participant preferred having a choice of reward. We discuss the potential benefit of utilizing the GBG to reduce disruptive behavior during small‐group learning instruction for individual students with disabilities and to aid in the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms.

Using assessment to individualize early mathematics instruction

Accumulating evidence suggests that assessment-informed personalized instruction, tailored to students' individual skills and abilities, is more effective than more one-size-fits-all approaches. In this study, we evaluate the efficacy of Individualizing Student Instruction in Mathematics (ISI-Math) compared to Reading (ISI-Reading) where classrooms were randomly assigned to ISI-Math or ISI-Reading. The literature on child characteristics X instruction or skill X treatment interaction effects point to the complexities of tailoring instruction for individual students who present with constellations of skills. Second graders received mathematics instruction in small flexible learning groups based on their assessed learning needs. Results of the study (n=32 teachers, 370 students) revealed significant treatment effects on standardized mathematics assessments. With effect sizes (d) of 0.41–0.60, we show that we can significantly improve 2nd graders' mathematics achievement, including for children living in poverty, by using assessment data to individualize the mathematics instruction they receive. The instructional regime, ISI-Math, was implemented by regular classroom teachers and it led to about a 4-month achievement advantage on standardized mathematics tests when compared to students in control classrooms. These results were realized within one school year. Moreover, treatment effects were the same regardless of school-level poverty and students' gender, initial mathematics or vocabulary scores.

Individualizing Student Instruction in Reading: Implications for Policy and Practice.

Despite three decades of scientific and public attention on efforts to improve literacy in America, little progress has been made in closing achievement gaps across racial, ethnic and socioeconomic lines. This article argues that one major reason is failure to take into account the mosaic of strengths and weaknesses individual children bring to school. With this comes the failure to develop personalized instruction for each child. We briefly review the research available, and then describe how research, ours and others, supports the efficacy of individualizing or personalizing student instructional (ISI) and illustrate how society might close achievement gaps. ISI, and other regimes, offer a systematic instructional program, incorporate child assessment, and personalized small-group instruction. In ISI, this is aided by computer-generated recommendations and planning tools, coupled with extensive, ongoing professional development. ISI has been shown to be highly effective from preschool through third grade in improving children's literacy skills. The practical and policy implications of implementing effective instruction are discussed.

Professional Development to Differentiate Kindergarten Tier 1 Instruction: Can Already Effective Teachers Improve Student Outcomes by Differentiating Tier 1 Instruction?

Two primary purposes guided this quasi-experimental within-teacher study: (a) to examine changes from baseline through 2 years of professional development (Individualizing Student Instruction) in kindergarten teachers’ differentiation of Tier 1 literacy instruction; and (b) to examine changes in reading and vocabulary of 3 cohorts of the teachers’ students (n = 416). We observed teachers’ instruction and assessed students on standardized measures of vocabulary and word reading. Results suggested that teachers significantly increased their differentiation and students showed significantly greater word reading outcomes relative to baseline. We observed no change for vocabulary. The results have implications for supporting teacher effectiveness through technology-supported professional development.

Can Grammatical CALL Help EFL Writing Instruction?

This is a research report of a one-year study which addresses whether and in what way grammatical CALL can help English writing instruction in an EFL setting, namely, in Taiwan, R.O.C. The study started with the implementation of CALL courseware which contains ten lessons of grammar exercises. The courseware featured (a) empirically based contents, results from error analysis of Chinese EFL students' common mistakes; (b) a sentence-level drill and practice with various formats of guided Chinese-English translation, error correction, and sentence combining; (c) adaptive remedial instruction for individual students while practicing on-line; (d) integration of error anticipation and keyword matching for answer judging as well as item-specific feedback messages; and (e)verbatim recording of student input. To evaluate the effectiveness of this CALL strategy, we designed an experimental study in which two groups of college freshman EFL majors did the pre-test and post-test tasks with ten-week CALL intervention for the experiment group while the control group worked on the same contents in a paper-and-pen homework setting). Results suggested that the combined effect of classroom instruction and grammatical CALL is helpful for writing instruction, or at least not detrimental.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Experienced Teachers in Physical Education

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is the teacher's ability to pedagogically adapt content to students of diverse abilities. In this study, we investigated how teachers' adaptations of instruction for individual students differed when teaching stronger and weaker instructional units. We used functional analysis (Hanley, Iwata, & McCord, 2003) of the instructional interaction to examine PCK. We observed and measured student-teacher interactions and their appropriateness. Participants were 2 experienced elementary physical educators who taught stronger and weaker units. Primarily, the appropriateness data indicated PCK differences between the stronger and weaker units. Results show that functional analysis of instructional adaptations is an effective strategy for examining PCK and that teachers were better able to meet students' needs in the stronger unit.

Testing the Impact of Child Characteristics × Instruction Interactions on Third Graders' Reading Comprehension by Differentiating Literacy Instruction

There is accumulating correlational evidence that the effect of specific types of reading instruction depends on children's initial language and literacy skills, called child characteristics × instruction (C×I) interactions. There is, however, no experimental evidence beyond first grade. This randomized control study examined whether C×I interactions might present an underlying and predictable mechanism for explaining individual differences in how students respond to third-grade classroom literacy instruction. To this end, we designed and tested an instructional intervention (Individualizing Student Instruction [ISI]). Teachers (n = 33) and their students (n = 448) were randomly assigned to the ISI intervention or a vocabulary intervention, which was not individualized. Teachers in both conditions received professional development. Videotaped classroom observations conducted in the fall, winter, and spring documented the instruction that each student in the classroom received. Teachers in the ISI group were more likely to provide differentiated literacy instruction that considered C×I interactions than were the teachers in the vocabulary group. Students in the ISI intervention made greater gains on a standardized assessment of reading comprehension than did students in the vocabulary intervention. Results indicate that C×I interactions likely contribute to students' varying response to literacy instruction with regard to their reading comprehension achievement and that the association between students' profile of language and literacy skills and recommended instruction is nonlinear and dependent on a number of factors. Hence, dynamic and complex theories about classroom instruction and environment impacts on student learning appear to be warranted and should inform more effective literacy instruction in third grade.

Effective Classroom Instruction: Implications of Child Characteristics by Reading Instruction Interactions on First Graders’ Word Reading Achievement

Too many children fail to learn how to read proficiently with serious consequences for their overall well-being and long-term success in school. This may be because providing effective instruction is more complex than many of the current models of reading instruction portray; there are Child Characteristic × Instruction (CXI) interactions. Here we present efficacy results for a randomized control field trial of the Individualizing Student Instruction (ISI) intervention, which relies on dynamic system forecasting intervention models to recommend amounts of reading instruction for each student, taking into account CXI interactions that consider his or her vocabulary and reading skills. The study, conducted in seven schools with 25 teachers and 396 first graders, revealed that students in the ISI intervention classrooms demonstrated significantly greater reading skill gains by spring than did students in control classrooms. Plus, they were more likely to receive differentiated reading instruction based on CXI interaction guided recommended amounts than were students in control classrooms. The precision with which students received the recommended amounts of each type of literacy instruction, the distance from recommendation, also predicted reading outcomes.

Content Area Literacy: Individualizing Student Instruction in Second‐Grade Science

This study describes a second‐grade science curriculum designed to individualize student instruction (ISI‐Science) so that students, regardless of initial science and literacy skills, gain science knowledge and reading skills. ISI‐Science relies on the 5‐E Learning Cycle as a framework and incorporates flexible, homogeneous, literacy skills‐based grouping, use of leveled science text, and explicit use of discussion and comprehension strategies. We describe the first unit of the curriculum, “Why Is Soil Important?,” and the results of our pretest‐posttest study. Results show that students made significant gains in literacy and science learning. Plus, students with weaker science and literacy skills made the same gains, on average, as students with stronger skills. How these strategies might be implemented for other science topics is discussed.تصف هذه الدراسة منهاج صف ثان مصمم لتخصيص تعليم الطالب بصرف النظر عن المهارات العلمية والتعلمية الأولى كي يكتسب المعرفة العلمية والمهارات القرائية. ويعتمد برنامج تخصيص تعليم الطالب على دورة التعليم ذات المراحل الخمسة كإطار ويدمج أولاً المهارات المرونة والمتجانسة والمتعلمة وثانياً استخدام النصوص العلمية المتكيفة وثالثاً استخدام إستراتيجيات النقاش والاستيعاب المباشر. لذا نصف الوحدة الأولى من المنهاج، ((لماذا التراب مهم؟)) ونتائج دراستنا للاختبار الأولي والنهائي. فتشير النتائج إلى أن الطلاب حققوا تقدمات ملحوظة في معرفة القراءة والكتابة وتعلم العلوم وفضلاً عن ذلك الطلاب الذين كان عندهم مهارات ضعيفة في العلوم والمعرفة قد حققوا نفس القدر من التقدم كالطلاب ذوي المهارات القوية. لذا تم تقديم النقاش بشأن كيف قد تنفذ هذه الإستراتيجيات لمواضيع علمية أخرى.本研究报告说明一个二年级科学科课程，该课程(ISI‐科学)的设计是采用个别化教学模式，因此，学生初期的科学与读写能力水平无论高低与否，都能在科学知识及阅读技能发展方面有所增益。ISI‐科学是以「5‐E学习周期」作为理论框架，结合了灵活的、同类型的及根据读写技巧的分组教学，使用依循能力分级的科学文本，以及显式使用讨论及阅读理解等教学策略。本文描述该课程的第一个单元「为什么土壤是重要的?」及本研究的实验前后比较测试结果。本研究结果显示，学生在读写能力及科学学习上均有显著的提升。另外，平均来说，科学及读写能力较差的学生与能力较好的学生相比，两者皆得到同样高的成绩提升。本文作者亦讨论如何使用这些教学策略来教授其他科学科课题。Cette étude décrit un programme de science du second degré conçu afin d'individualiser l'enseignement des sciences (ISI‐Science) de telle sorte que les élèves, quelles que soient leurs connaissances préalables en sciences et en littératie, acquièrent des connaissances scientifiques et littéraires. ISI‐Science est lié au cycle d'apprentissage de 5ème année en tant que structure; il comporte un groupement souple et homogène des élèves sur la base du niveau littéraire, l'utilisation de textes scientifiques adaptés au niveau, et le recours explicite à des stratégies de discussion et de compréhension. Nous présentons la première unité du programme — « Pourquoi le sol est‐il important ? »— et les résultats au pré test / post‐test que nous avons réalisé. Les résultats montrent que les élèves ont réalisé d'importants progrès en littératie et en science. De plus, les élèves faibles en science et en littératie ont réalisé les mêmes gains, en moyenne, que les forts. La discussion porte sur la façon dont il serait possible de mettre en place des stratégies de ce type pour d'autres questions scientifiques.Исследование посвящено индивидуализированной программе по естественным наукам (ISI‐Science)для второклассников, которая позволяет им получить необходимые знания в этой области и навыки чтения соответствующих текстов вне зависимости от уровня с которого они начинают обучение. Подход ISI‐Science основан на стоящем из пяти этапов цикле обучения (5‐E), который предполагает групповую работу по становлению и выравниванию гибких и цельных навыков грамотности, чтению научных текстов и целенаправленному применению стратегий понимания и обсуждения. Подробно разбирается первый параграф учебника (Зачем нужна почва?), представлены результаты тестирования до и после эксперимента. Результаты показывают, что учащиеся заметно продвинулись в изучении естественных наук и обрели соответствующие навыки грамотности. Важно, что ученики с более слабой подготовкой достигли не меньших успехов, чем их академически более сильные одноклассники. В конце статьи описано применение этих стратегий для другой естественнонаучной тематики.Este estudio describe un currículo científico de segundo grado que fue diseñado para la instrucción individualizada (ISI‐Science) para que los estudiantes, no importara sus destrezas y conocimiento de las ciencias, pudieran aprender a leer sobre las ciencias. ISI‐Science tiene como marco el Ciclo de Aprendizaje 5‐E (5‐E Learning Cycle) e incorpora grupos de aprendizaje flexibles y homogéneos basados en la destreza de lectura, y estrategias explícitas de discusión y comprensión. Se describe la primera unidad del currículo, “Por qué es importante la tierra”, y los resultados de los exámenes impartidos antes y después de la unidad. Los resultados muestran que los estudiantes mejoraron tanto su capacidad de entender lo leído como su aprendizaje de las ciencias. Además, los estudiantes flojos en las ciencias y en la lectura lograron mejorar a la par, en general, con los estudiantes más fuertes. Se discute cómo estas estrategias se podrían usar en otras asignaturas sobre las ciencias.

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

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.

Individualizing Student Instruction Precisely: Effects of Child × Instruction Interactions on First Graders’ Literacy Development

Recent findings demonstrate that the most effective reading instruction may vary with children's language and literacy skills. These Child x Instruction interactions imply that individualizing instruction would be a potent strategy for improving students' literacy. A cluster-randomized control field trial, conducted in 10 high-moderate poverty schools, examined effects of individualizing literacy instruction. The instruction each first grader received (n = 461 in 47 classrooms, mean age = 6.7 years) during fall, winter, and spring was recorded. Comparing intervention-recommended amounts of instruction with observed amounts revealed that intervention teachers individualized instruction more precisely than did comparison teachers. Importantly, the more precisely the children received recommended amounts of instruction, the stronger was their literacy skill growth. Results provide strong evidence of Child x Instruction interaction effects on literacy outcomes.