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).
For Spanish -
language speakers, this early emphasis on their home
language enables them to «expand their vocabulary and build literacy in their first
language; study a highly
academic curriculum in their first
language; successfully transfer Spanish reading and writing skills to English in later grades; acquire high levels
of self - esteem by becoming bilingual and playing a supportive
role for their English - speaking classmates.»
In a jurisdiction that has prided itself on the importance
of «doctrine» in interpreting the law, the fact that the major French
language university opts for content with the lowest common denominator, while a foreign owned commercial publisher offers an authoritative work by leading
academics and legal practitioners, is a remarkable case
of role reversal, as well as a reflection on how times have changed.