With this grant, Correnti and his team will combine the use of these two measures in an attempt to assess the “instructional core” of a classroom (i.e., what content is taught and how it is delivered to students) and predict student performance on a state-administered test and an essay writing task. This three-pronged project will explore: (1) the relationship between the instructional core and student achievement; (2) the feasibility of using this measurement approach on a large scale; and (3) the contextual factors, such as opportunities for professional development, that influence the instructional environment within a school and influence student-teacher interactions. Correnti and his team will focus on literacy instruction in 120 4th and 5th grade classrooms.
Information on instructional content, taken from teacher logs and ratings of teacher assignment quality, can be used separately to predict differences in student achievement.
