Effective Reading Instruction for Emerging Bilinguals: The Role of Biliterate Instructional Assistants

• In Event: Implementation of Policies to Support Multilingual Learners

Abstract

Individualized and small group tutoring programs have been shown to significantly improve reading performance. Using a mixed methodological framework, I examine the effectiveness of a reading program where Spanish-English Biliterate Instructional Assistants (BIAs) assisted first-grade classrooms in an effort to raise the reading performance of 481 students across 6 schools. Comparative Interrupted Time-Series analysis revealed that BIAs had a positive, albeit non-significant impact on selected schools’ average reading performance (ES=0.82). Individual-level analyses revealed that BIAs had a small positive, albeit non-significant impact on student-level reading outcomes during the implementation year (ES=0.18). Observational data analysis provides further insight into which implementation practices seem most promising in improving students’ reading scores.

Author

• Melina Aurora Pinales, University of California - Irvine