The University of Louisville Alumni Magazine: for alumni, faculty, staff, students and anyone that is a UofL Cardinal fan.
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2 8 | L O U I S V I L L E . E D U " THE DEGREE TO WHICH A TEACHER ENGAGES A STUDENT IS THE NUMBER ONE PREDICTOR OF STUDENT SUCCESS." —Terry Scott, PhD, Interim Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies A ll t e a c h e r s h a v e t h e i r o w n s t y l e o f d e l i v e r i n g teachers have their own style of delivering instruction and leading a classroom. Some direct the class and are actively involved in lessons. Others believe in empowering stu- dents to form their own ideas and skills. So which teaching practices are the most effective? As the teacher from "Ferris Buel- ler's Day Off" might ask, "Anyone, anyone?" Researchers at UofL's College of Education and Human De- velopment (CEHD) have spent much of the last decade collect- ing evidence that answers this question. Specif cally, they found that teachers who afford students frequent opportunities to en- gage with instruction are more successful at raising achievement. The f ndings came in a study conducted over a period of more than seven years and involving more than 7,000 classroom observations. The study is part of the CEHD's Academic and Be- havioral Response to Intervention (ABRI) project to increase student achievement through changes in instruction and class- room management. The goal of the research was to evaluate the effectiveness of the project. The study was supported by federal grant funds that f owed through the Kentucky Department of Education to CEHD. LESSONS ON EFFECTIVE TEACHING STRATEGIES New study sheds light on how teachers can be more successful at improving student achievement LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE STUDY Before CEHD researchers began their study, they reviewed existing scientif c literature on teaching and learning. They discovered increasing arguments in favor of teachers assuming more of a facilitator role to support students in constructing their own knowledge. This idea conf icts with the f ndings of the ABRI study, as well as many of the conclusions of educational science, which indicate that student achievement, problem-solving ability and self-esteem are highest when teachers present content to students and guide them through learning. This more direct method of teaching was found by the CEHD to be most effective with novice learners and those with a history of failure. OBSERVING TEACHERS IN THE CLASSROOM To conduct the study, CEHD researchers and their assistants sat in classrooms in more than 50 schools, mostly in Kentucky. The database also includes a small set of observations from schools in Virginia and other locations around the world where the CEHD has been invited to provide assistance. Observations were made in public elementary, middle and high school classrooms, representing a full spectrum of race, ethnicity and economic backgrounds. With the goal of f nding a cause-and-effect link between specif c actions of teachers and student outcomes, CEHD researchers developed a coding system that allowed them to track observations on a handheld device. Every teacher behavior was assigned