UNDERSTANDING WHAT WORKS IN ORAL READING ASSESSMENTS

is necessary to be effective. Face-to-face training
must be bolstered by ‘back at home’ on-going
support that encourages teacher reflection and
sharing on their implementation of new teaching
strategies. Teacher sharing of their own practice and
students’ learning is reported to be a meaningful
and motivating experience. It should be noted that
Basa teachers receive a minimum of 30 hours of
professional development in a semester during their
first year in the programme.
supervision strategies. Moreover, while the tool
may be used as an overall measure of classroom
quality in language and literacy, it has great promise
in the area of professional development. Based on
an initial assessment of teachers’ needs, specific
dimensions of the SCOPE-Literacy may be used as
a way to plan and monitor professional development
in literacy. A cohesive professional development
plan for schools, districts and countries is critical to
the ultimate goal of student achievement in literacy.
5. Collective participation
The strength of all teachers within a grade level
sharing in professional development is important.
Coherence between grades is also critical. Building
a coherent plan for literacy instruction in the early
grades in literacy should ideally take place at the
district, division or regional level.
5.2 Potential limitations of the study
While the SCOPE-Literacy provides classroom
assessors with a range of scores, the use of the full
scale may be limited in developing contexts. If few
teachers provide instruction at the higher level of the
scores, then it often results in a more limited range
of scores—as we see in this study. This could result
in an inflated estimate of inter-item reliability.
REFERENCES
Baker, R. S. (2007). “Modeling and understanding
students’ off-task behavior in intelligent tutoring
systems”. Proceedings of ACMCHI 2007: Computer-
Human Interaction, pp. 1059-1068.
Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation
(2013). Great Teaching, Inspired Learning: What
does the evidence tell us about effective teaching?
Sydney, Australia: NSW Department of Education
and Communities. http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au.
Comings, J.P. (2014). “An evidence-based model for
early-grade reading programmes”. Prospects, Vol.
45, No. 2, pp. 167-180. http://link.springer.com/
article/10.1007/s11125-014-9335-9.
On the other hand, it is also reasonable to
hypothesize that high inter-item reliability may be
an indication of the reciprocal relationship between
‘classroom structure’ and ‘literacy instruction’
as better instruction relates to better features of
classroom structure and vice versa.
6. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
SCOPE-Literacy is a useful tool to evaluate the
quality of teacher practice. The data presented
in this paper are based on a small sample of
teachers and classrooms but the results indicate
their potential usefulness in better understanding
the quality of classroom instruction. As a mediator
of student achievement, knowledge of teacher
practices will inform teachers, school leaders and
other administrators in the shaping of policy and
Darling-Hammond, L. (2000). “Teacher quality
and student achievement: A review of state policy
evidence”. Education Policy Analysis Archives, Vol.
8, No. 1, pp. 1-44.
Desimone, L. M (2011). “A primer on effective
professional development”. Phi Delta Kappan, Vol.
92, No. 6,pp. 68-71.
Desimone, L., M., Porter, A.C., Garet, M.S., Yoon,
K.S. and Birman, B.F. (2002). “Effects of professional
development on teachers’ instruction: Results
from a three-year longitudinal study”. Educational
Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Vol. 24, No. 2,pp.
81-112.
Education Development Center (2013). Read Right
Now! Waltham: MA.
39 ■ Teacher Quality as a Mediator of Student Achievement