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Literacy Learning Cohorts (LLC): Improving Special Education Teachers' Content and Pedagogical Knowledge for Providing Reading Instruction to Upper Elementary Students with Learning Disabilities

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Intervention Details

Subject

English Language Arts

Academic Program

Special Education Services

Duration

Full school year

Grades

3, 4, 5

Personnel

Coach, Special Education Teacher

Intervention Summary

Literacy Learning Cohorts (LLC) is a professional development (PD) innovation designed to improve special education teachers' content and pedagogical knowledge for providing reading instruction to upper elementary students with learning disabilities (LD). LLC includes a 2-day PD institute, six monthly cohort meetings, and individualized coaching to support teachers in implementing evidence-based strategies for teaching word study and fluency. The LLC model provides active learning opportunities, collective participation, and coherence, and is designed to deepen special education teachers' knowledge of how to teach reading using evidence-based strategies.

Statistical Finding Summary

Positive effect on the quality of teachers' word study instruction

Positive effect on the quality of teachers' fluency with connected text instruction

Positive effect on the time teachers spent teaching evidence-based word study practices

Positive effect on the time teachers spent teaching evidence-based fluency with connected text strategies

Positive effect on students' word-level decoding skills

No effect on students' fluency with connected text skills

Positive effect on teachers' knowledge for teaching fluency

No effect on teachers' knowledge for teaching word study

Source

Alison, B., Diane, H., James, A., Jennifer, U., Mary, B., Mary Patricia, D., Mary Theresa, K. & Nancy, C. (2017). Literacy Learning Cohorts: Content-Focused Approach to Improving Special Education Teachers' Reading Instruction (EJ1125284). ERIC. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1125284.pdf.

Data Sample by Population

These charts show the characteristics of the student populations studied. When assessing programs, you may want to prioritize interventions that yielded success in a similar demographic environment as your school or district.

The subgroup population data as studied here are not available. That means that while this study may work well for your setting, we cannot say based on the published study and results from our system’s reading of that study what the school/district subgroup characteristics were when evaluated here.