Beyond class size reduction: Towards more flexible ways of implementing a reduced pupil-teacher ratio.

The effect of a reduced pupil–teacher ratio has mainly been investigated as that of reduced class size. Hence we know little about alternative methods of reducing the pupil–teacher ratio. Deploying additional teachers in selected subjects may be a more flexible way, both pedagogically and financially, to exploit the opportunities for adapting instruction inherent in reducing the number of students under a teacher’s responsibility. In this paper, we discuss limitations to previous class-size research and suggest more flexible ways to implement a reduced pupil–teacher ratio. One alternative approach is illustrated with a change in national policy in Norway to increase teacher density as well as research following this initiative.publishedVersio

Adapted teaching: a chance to reduce the effect of social origin? A comparison between Germany and Norway, using PIRLS 2011

Adapted teaching is associated with high hopes regarding its potential to meet heterogeneity in the classroom and has, as such, been anchored in nearly all federal school laws in Germany. As this is a fairly new, not yet fully implemented development that comes with a number of obstacles, an international comparison was conducted to estimate its capability of reducing social disparities in school, giving prospects of its potential development in Germany. For this, Norway was chosen since adapted teaching has a long tradition there. Using a multilevel structural equation model and data from PIRLS 2011, it is analysed whether adapted teaching reduces the effect that social origin has on reading achievement and self-concept in reading. (DIPF/Orig.)Dieser Beitrag greift die Frage des Herkunftseffekts und der kompensatorischen Interventionsmöglichkeiten von Schulen auf. Der Beitrag umfasst einen Ländervergleich anhand von in Deutschland und Norwegen repräsentativ erhobenen Daten, in dem zum einen das Ausmaß der Unterschiedlichkeit zwischen den beiden Ländern thematisiert wird und zum anderen auch die Grenzen von Sekundäranalysen für Ländervergleiche thematisiert werden. (DIPF/Orig.

Norwegian classroom teachers' and specialized "resource" teachers' dyslexia knowledge

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Co-Teaching Implementation: How Do School Leaders Support Teachers?

School leaders play a pivotal role in fostering change and improvement, including via teacher-led interventions, such as co-teaching. Leaders’ vision and support create the conditions for teachers to maximize the effectiveness of school interventions. However, there is limited understanding of how school leaders provide support for the intervention of co-teaching. This gap in knowledge is crucial because co-teaching has the potential to be transformative, but teachers must actively drive pedagogical changes. We conducted a mixed-methods study involving 150 Norwegian elementary schools participating in a multi-year co-teaching initiative for literacy instruction. We collected data through open and closed survey questions, inquiring about school leaders’ beliefs and support practices regarding co-teaching. Our descriptive analysis examined school leaders’ practices and explored potential associations with their epistemological perspectives. Our findings indicate that leaders who approach co-teaching with cautious optimism tend to provide more thoughtful support compared to those who are overly optimistic and may underestimate implementation challenges. Moreover, most leaders prioritize structural support elements while potentially overlooking psychological and emotional support practices aligned with self-determination theory (SDT). We conclude with practical recommendations for school leaders to offer support to teachers that are grounded in the principles of SDT and organized according to implementation phases.publishedVersio

Developmental Dynamics of Early Reading Skill, Literacy Interest and Reader Self-Concept Within the First Year of Formal Schooling

Previous studies have documented robust relationships between emergent literacy and later reading performance. A growing body of research has also reported associations between motivational factors and reading in early phases of reading development. However, there is less research about cross-lagged relationships between motivational factors and reading skills in beginning readers. To examine relationships between early reading skills, literacy interest and reader self-concept, we tested 1141 children twice during their first year of formal reading instruction in school. Cross-lagged analysis showed strong stability in reading skills and medium stability in literacy interest and reader self-concept over the first school year. We also found bidirectional relationships between reading skills and self-concept and between the motivational components of literacy interest and reader self-concept. In the final part of the article, we address the potential theoretical progress attainable through the use of cross-lagged designs in this field.publishedVersio

Shared responsibility between teachers predicts student achievement: A mixed methods study in Norwegian co-taught literacy classes

Having two teachers work collaboratively in the same class has been suggested as a possible solution to several instructional challenges, including the inclusion of students with special needs in mainstream classrooms and as part of school-wide prevention models to increase student achievement. In this, shared responsibility between teachers is regarded as a prerequisite to successful co-teaching. However, few studies have investigated whether shared responsibility between teachers actually leads to improved student achievement. This mixed methods study investigates shared responsibility in a sample of 148 classrooms where two general educators worked collaboratively in literacy instruction through first and second grade. First, we analyzed whether the degree of shared responsibility between the two teachers for planning, enacting and evaluating literacy instruction predicted student reading when controlling for pre-reading skills at baseline. Second, we carried out in-depth individual interviews with six collaborative teacher dyads purposefully selected from high- and lowperforming classrooms to investigate what characterized their sharing of responsibility. The results show that shared responsibility significantly predicts students’ reading achievement. Further, the interviews reveal a surface level collaboration between coteachers in low-performing classes, yet a more profound level of collaboration with influence on key teaching decisions in high-performing classes.publishedVersio

Kartleggingsprøver i lesing: Tid for nytenking?

Som en del av det nasjonale kvalitetsvurderingssystemet for grunnopplæringen (NKVS) i norsk utdanning har vi i dag forskjellige leseprøver med ulike formål og utforminger for bruk i det 13-årige skoleløpet. I denne artikkelen tegner vi opp en historisk bakgrunn for innføringen av kartleggingsprøvene i lesing i begynneropplæringen, og peker på flere forhold som krever at man tenker nytt om dette prøvekonseptet. I artikkelen viser vi ved hjelp av data fra en longitudinell studie hvordan en kort oppgave gjennomført i slutten av 1. klasse forutsier vansker med leseforståelse i 3. klasse. Med utgangspunkt i disse resultatene drøfter vi kimen til et mulig nytt prøvekonsept med potensial for a) bedre samsvar mellom teori om lesing og måling av lesing, b) longitudinell prediksjon, og c) en prøve med forbedret pedagogisk potensial som kan gjennomføres på kortere tid. Sentralt i dette forslaget står tanken om en kort inngangsprøve som oppfyller hovedformålet om å identifisere de elevene som står i fare for å utvikle vansker med lesing. Denne følges av en utforskende del som gjennomføres en-til-en og gir læreren informasjon om hvordan vanskene arter seg.At present, the national Norwegian quality-assessment system for basic education (NKVS) includes a range of reading tests with different purposes and designs, to be administered at various points during a 13-year period of schooling. In this article, we trace the historical background to the introduction of screening tests of reading in early education and identify a number of circumstances that call for a rethink of the overall test concept. Using data from a longitudinal study, we show that scores on a brief task administered towards the end of grade 1 predict reading-comprehension difficulties in grade 3. Taking that finding as our starting point, we discuss an idea for a possible new test concept that might have the potential to (a) improve the match between reading theory and reading-skill measurements, (b) enable longitudinal prediction, and (c) take less time to administer and be more useful in an educational context. The central elements of this new test concept are a short initial test meeting the primary objective of identifying students at risk of developing reading difficulties, and a follow-up explorative part to be carried out one-on-one, which will provide the teacher with information about the nature of each student’s difficulties.publishedVersio

Can children's instructional gameplay activity be used as a predictive indicator of reading skills?

For children who may face reading difficulties, early intervention is a societal priority. However, early intervention requires early detection. While much research has approached the issue of identification through measuring component skills at single timepoints, an alternative is the utilisation of dynamic assessment. To this point, few initiatives have explored the potential for identification through progress data from play in digital literacy games. This study explored how well growth curves from progress data in a digital intervention can predict reading performance after gameplay compared to measuring component skills at a single timepoint (school entry). 137 six-year-old students played the digital Graphogame for 25 weeks. Latent growth curve analyses showed that variation in trajectories explained variation in literacy performance to a greater extent than risk status at school entry. Findings point to a potential for non-intrusive reading assessment in the application of a serious digital game in first grade.publishedVersio

Randomised controlled trials in Scandinavian educational research

Background: The Scandinavian countries have a long history of implementing social interventions, but the interventions have not been examined using randomised controlled trials until relatively recently compared with countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the history of randomised controlled trials in Scandinavian compulsory schools (grades 0–10; pupil ages 6–15). Specifically, we investigate drivers and barriers for randomised controlled trials in educational research and the differences between the three Scandinavian countries Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Methods: To locate relevant trials, we performed a systematic search of four bibliographic databases and a search for grey literature. Results were combined with trials located through direct contact with researchers and government officials. A trial was included if one or more interventions were randomly assigned to groups of students and carried out in a school setting with the primary aim of improving the academic performance of children aged 6–15 in grades 0–10 in Denmark, Norway, or Sweden. We included both conducted and ongoing trials. Publications that seemed relevant were screened based on full-text versions. Data extraction included information from the included studies on grade level, study period, sample size (N), project owner, funding source, and theme. In addition, we conducted two semi-structured interviews by phone or in person with central employees in funding agencies and ministries and 25 correspondences with researchers and policymakers. Findings and conclusion: RCTs in grades 0–10 were few in all of Scandinavia until about 2011, after which there was an increase in all three countries, although at different rates. The largest number of trials has been conducted in Denmark, and the increase is more marked in Denmark and Norway compared with Sweden. International trends towards more impact evaluations and results from international comparisons such as PISA have likely affected the development in all countries, but while many trials in Denmark and Norway are the result of policy initiatives, only one such example in Sweden was identified. We believe the lack of government initiatives to promote RCTs in Sweden is the most likely explanation for the differences across the Scandinavian countries. Funding and coordination from the government are often crucial for the implementation of RCTs and are likely more important in smaller countries such as the Scandinavian ones. Supporting institutions have now been established in all three countries, and we believe that the use of RCTs in Scandinavian educational research is likely to continue.publishedVersio

Adaptvurder: Study Protocol for an Upcoming Adaptive Reading Test

Effective reading instruction requires precise assessment of the learner’s current skill level. For young learners, however, assessment often comes at a great cost: Tests take a long time and students are presented with items that are both too easy and too difficult. Recent developments in adaptive testing have the potential for solving both these challenges. In this paper, we take the path of argument-based validity (Kane, 2015) by presenting an interpretation and use argument for an upcoming adaptive test. We term this paper a study protocol, in line with the established tradition for protocols for pre-registered empirical trials. The function of the protocol is to communicate openly what often remains tacit knowledge on test development.publishedVersio