Abstracts - Earli

episodes of exploratory talk, and the relative density of reasoning words may indeed provideuseful measures of productive discussions despite the highly situated nature of classroomdiscussions.Promoting high-level comprehension through quality talk: A quasi-experimental studyIan A. G. Wilkinson, The Ohio State University, USAAnna O. Soter, The Ohio State University, USAP. Karen Murphy, The Pennsylvania State University, USAThe aim of this paper is to describe an integrative model of text-based discussion to promote highlevelreading comprehension, developed from our earlier analysis of discussion approaches, and toreport results of an initial investigation into teachers’ implementation of the model. We developeda model of discussion for promoting high-level comprehension that we call Quality Talk. Thismodel combined the best features of 9 discussion approaches identified in our earlier work, whileforegrounding features that give prominence to a critical-analytic stance toward text. Weconducted an investigation into Quality Talk using a quasi-experimental design with a withinprogramcontrol. Fourteen language arts teachers in 4th-(n=5), 5th-(n=7), and 6th-(n= 2) gradeclassrooms from three suburban school districts and a Catholic archdiocese participated. Allteachers took part in a series of professional development sessions in the model at the beginning ofthe school year. Following these sessions, seven teachers were assigned to the experimental group(ongoing professional development) and seven to a comparison group. Teachers in the ongoingprofessional development condition attended three additional professional development sessionsand were given in-class coaching throughout the year; teachers in the comparison conditionreceived only the initial professional development. Results revealed considerable variability inimplementation of Quality Talk in both conditions. Nevertheless, results suggest that students inthe experimental group outperformed students in the comparison group in comprehension at 4thgrade though not at 5th and 6th grade. The advantages were most apparent on short-answer,constructed response items. Discussions appear to have been most productive where there was aclassroom culture of dialogic inquiry that supported the pedagogical principles inherent in ourmodel.I 1330 August 2007 14:30 - 16:30Room: 0.100BSymposiumDifferent lenses: Convergence of observer, teacher and studentassessment of classroom practiceChair: Marten Clausen, University of Mannheim, GermanyOrganiser: Marten Clausen, University of Mannheim, GermanyDiscussant: Urs Grob, University of Zurich, SwitzerlandComing from different research traditions, scholars in teacher training, educational psychologyand curriculum development have developed similar techniques to measure the classroomenvironment – and have run into similar problem while doing so. The purpose of this symposiumis to bring scholars together who share the classroom as the locale of their empirical research and– 505 –