Relations of first-grade teacher knowledge with gains for students at risk for reading difficulties

This study used the Teacher Understanding of Literacy Constructs and Evidence-Based Instructional Practices (TULIP) survey to measure 93 Grade 1 teachers’ beginning-of-year knowledge within five domains (phonological awareness; phonics/decoding/encoding; reading fluency; oral language; reading comprehension) and reading performance in those domains at beginning and end of year for 205 students at risk for reading difficulties in teachers’ classrooms. Teacher knowledge to support phonological awareness development was positively associated with student gains on one of two related literacy measures; knowledge to teach phonics/decoding/encoding was positively associated with student gains on five of seven related literacy measures; knowledge related to oral language development was associated with student gains on one of four related literacy measures, and knowledge to teach reading comprehension was associated with student gains on two of two related literacy measures. The presence of statistically significant effects in over half of measured variables indicated a non-random and substantively meaningful pattern supporting the inference that teacher knowledge within specific literacy domains is systematically associated with literacy gains within related domains for students with or at risk for reading difficulties. Findings have implications for the measurement of teacher knowledge and provision of pre-service teacher education and in-service professional development to support knowledge development