Harvard
Graduate School of Education will work with the Strategic Education Research Partnership and other partners to complete a program of work designed to a) investigate the predictors of reading comprehension in 4th - 8th
grade students, in particular the role of skills at perspective - taking, complex reasoning, and academic
language in predicting deep comprehension outcomes, b) track developmental trajectories across the middle
grades in perspective - taking, complex reasoning, academic
language skill, and deep comprehension, c) develop and evaluate curricular and pedagogical approaches designed to promote deep comprehension in the content areas in 4th - 8th
grades, and d) develop and evaluate an intervention program designed for 6th - 8th
grade students reading at 3rd - 4th
grade level.The HGSE team will take responsibility, in collaboration with colleagues at other institutions, for the following components of the proposed work: Instrument development: Pilot data collection using interviews and candidate assessment items, collaboration with DiscoTest colleagues to develop coding of the pilot data so as to produce well - justified learning sequences for perspective - taking, complex reasoning, academic
language skill, and deep comprehension.Curricular development: HGSE investigators Fischer, Selman, Snow, and Uccelli will contribute to the development of a discussion - based curriculum for 4th - 5th graders, and to the expansion of an existing discussion - based curriculum for 6th - 8th graders, with a particular focus on science content (Fischer), social studies content (Selman), and academic
language skills (Snow & Uccelli).
The study, part of the Program on Education Policy and Governance Working Papers Series at Harvard University, found that students moving from
grade 5 into middle school show a «sharp drop» in math and
language arts achievement in the transition year that plagues them as far out as 10th
grade, even risking thwarting their ability to
graduate high school and...
Accordingly, states receiving Title I funds are required to assess reading /
language arts and mathematics every year in
grades 3 - 8, as well as one year in the
grades 9 - 12 span (Texas currently requires students to pass Algebra I and English I and II end - of - course exams to
graduate from high school).