How to improve reading comprehension in high-risk students: effects of class practices in Grade 5

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of class practices on students’ learning gains in reading comprehension in the 5th grade. A sample of 4,344 students in 283 classes in 176 schools was studied. Several class practices that have previously been demonstrated to be effective were tested while controlling for student characteristics and socioeconomic and ethnic class composition. Differential effects were tested to identify class practices that can contribute to narrowing the achievement gap between high- and low-risk students. Most class practices turned out to have a similar effect for both low- and high-risk students. However, “discovery learning” and “well-organised and attractive instruction” appeared to be more beneficial for low-risk than for high-risk students. Group composition in terms of social and ethnic background turned out to have no significant effect on learning gains in reading comprehension.

Keywords:

• reading
• high-risk students
• class practices
• teacher effectiveness
• learning gains

Acknowledgements

This study was carried out in the framework of the Policy Research Centre on Study and School Careers and was financed by the Ministry of the Flemish Government (Belgium). The conclusions of the study do not necessarily reflect the views of (and do not commit) the financing body. The authors wish to thank the schools, students, and their parents for the effort put into cooperating, as well as the SiBO team of the Centre for Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation for collecting the data.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gudrun Vanlaar

Gudrun Vanlaar is a PhD student at the Centre for Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation at the University of Leuven, Belgium. She is mainly interested in how to realise equal opportunities in primary education.

Katrijn Denies

Katrijn Denies is a PhD student at the Centre for Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation and a teacher trainer at the University of Leuven. Her work centres on effectiveness in (second) language education.

Machteld Vandecandelaere

Machteld Vandecandelaere is a PhD student at the Centre for Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation at the University of Leuven. Her research interests include ethnic diversity and social mix in schools, grade retention, and effectiveness research with regard to equal opportunities in education.

Jan Van Damme

Jan Van Damme is emeritus professor at the Centre for Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation at the University of Leuven. His research interests include educational effectiveness, evaluation, and the longitudinal study of students’ pathways through education.

Jean Pierre Verhaeghe

Jean Pierre Verhaeghe is a senior researcher at the Department of Educational Studies in Ghent University and at the Centre for Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation at the University of Leuven. His research interests include IRT, growth curve modelling, the role of school performance feedback in school improvement, and the effects of ethnic diversity and social mix in schools.

Maarten Pinxten

Maarten Pinxten is a doctoral researcher at the Centre for Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation at the University of Leuven. His main research interests are in the academic self-concept domain, more specifically in the reciprocal effects model. He is currently working on social-cognitive determinants of educational choice in secondary and tertiary education.

Bieke De Fraine

Bieke De Fraine is associate professor and head of the Centre for Educational Effectiveness and Evaluation at the University of Leuven. Her main research interests include longitudinal educational effectiveness studies and growth curve modelling.