Teacher Surveys

Appendix C1 – Teacher Surveys

Public Burden Statement

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number.  The valid OMB control number for this information collection is [1850-NEW].  Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 30 minutes per response, including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.  The obligation to respond to this collection is voluntary.  If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate, suggestions for improving this individual collection, or if you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual form, application or survey, please contact Elizabeth Nolan at the U.S. Department of Education, 230 S. Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60604, (312) 730-1532 directly.

Introduction

Your school has partnered with the Regional Educational Laboratory West to study the impact of a new toolkit on improving reading comprehension instruction. As part of that study, all K–3 regular classroom teachers in your school are invited to complete the following survey twice, at the beginning and end of the study. For each completed survey, we will offer you a $30 gift card.

Your participation in this questionnaire is voluntary. You may skip any question or the entire survey. However, your responses would help improve reading comprehension supports, so we hope you will participate.

Your responses are confidential. Your survey is associated with a unique identifier rather than your name and survey responses will be aggregated so individuals cannot be identified.

Teacher Pedagogical Content Knowledge Assessment, Phelps, 2008

1. While reading The Marvelous Manatee, Jamal says, “I’ve heard the word habitat before, but I can’t remember what it means.” Ms. Gomez is debating what to do next. Given the text of The Marvelous Manatee, which of the following are steps that could help Jamal understand the meaning of the word “habitat?”

(Mark YES, NO, or I’M NOT SURE for each choice.)

	YES	NO	I’M NOT SURE
Ms. Gomez should explain the meaning, since Jamal is unlikely to figure out the meaning of this word himself from the text.
Ms. Gomez should ask Jamal to look for a root word in “habitat.”
Ms. Gomez should ask Jamal to read The Marvelous Manatee again, looking for clues in text.
Ms. Gomez should ask Jamal to substitute another word for “habitat” that makes sense in the context of the text.
Ms. Gomez should ask Jamal to look back over what he has read in The Wonderful Manatee and think about what meaning for “habitat” would make sense.

2. Mr. Sloan writes the following sentences on the board:

John and Mary were worried about the cost. The operation was expensive. They called their Uncle William.

Mr. Sloan then asks students to work independently to write what these three sentences might be about. Louis responds that this is a story about an expensive operation. When pressed by Mr. Sloan to say more, Louis adds, “The operation was expensive.” Mr. Sloan asks Louis to reread and then asks him again what the three sentences might be about. Louis responds, “It is about John and Mary and they were worried. They called their Uncle William.” Based on this answer, which of the following might Louis quite possibly need help with?

(Mark YES, NO, or I’M NOT SURE for each choice.)

	YES	NO	I’M NOT SURE
Increasing his sight-word vocabulary
Making inferences
Paying attention to details in the text
Answering literal or factual questions
Learning to integrate information across text
Learning to decode complicated words

3. Robert, a second-grade student, makes many substitutions for words while oral reading. His errors seem to preserve the meaning of text. His teacher is concerned that Robert might be reading texts that are too difficult. She checks the number of errors he is making and decides that the text he is reading is actually appropriate for Robert’s instruction. Which of the following instructional approaches are likely to help Robert notice or correct these substitutions?

(Mark YES, NO, or I’M NOT SURE for each approach.)

	YES	NO	I’M NOT SURE
Before he reads, remind Robert to use context to determine words.
Encourage Robert to substitute easier words for challenging ones in order to maintain reading fluency and understanding.
Before he reads, have Robert predict words that he might find in the text.
Encourage Robert to attend carefully to meaning elements in words (e.g., beginnings, roots, common endings) when encountering a challenging word.
Encourage Robert to pay attention to print cues in text.

4. Mr. Siegel recently picked up some supplementary materials to help his students review antonyms. He sent home a worksheet from these materials for his students to complete as a homework assignment. Near the end of the week, he received a note from an angry parent who claimed the worksheet was filled with errors. Concerned, Mr. Siegel studied the worksheet more closely. He reviewed the pairs of words meant to represent antonyms for any sets that might be incorrect. The parent had complained that many of the words were not exact opposites. Was the parent right? Read the words in the following list to determine which pairs represent exact opposites and which ones do not.

(Mark YES, NO, or I’M NOT SURE for each pair.)

	YES	NO	I’M NOT SURE
cough - sneeze
quiet - loud
walk - run
light - night
talk - yell

5. Ms. Dilley’s fifth-grade class is reading about the explorations of Lewis and Clark. The word “portage” appears in a story that they are reading, and several children do not know what this word means. Ms. Dilley has been trying to help her students look at the structure of words to examine their “meaning elements.” Which of the following options are examples of taking this approach with the word “portage”?

(Mark YES, NO, or I’M NOT SURE for each choice.)

	YES	NO	I’M NOT SURE
Have the children look up “portage” in the glossary at the back of their textbook.
Assign the children a crossword puzzle that uses “portage” and other vocabulary related to the Lewis and Clark explorations.
Create a word-family map with words using “port” as a root, such as “import,” “export,” and “portable.”
Ask students to use the word in a sentence they create.
Ask students to create a list of other words that share the “-age” ending with “portage,” such as “passage,” “message,” “sewage,” and “baggage.”

[Teacher pedagogical content knowledge assessment, Jordan et al., 2018]

6. For skilled readers, listening and reading comprehension are usually about equal. For developing readers in K–3, it is true that:

1. Reading comprehension is better than listening comprehension.

2. Listening comprehension is better than reading comprehension.

3. Reading and listening comprehension are comparable, about the same.

4. There is no systematic relationship between reading comprehension and listening comprehension.

7. Mr. Drake recently read two nonfiction books to his class. One of the books was about ants and the other about spiders. Which of the following tools would be most useful in allowing his students to compare and contrast the characteristics presented in the two books?

1. Semantic map

2. Story map

3. KWL chart

4. Venn diagram

8. According to research, the least effective way to teach vocabulary to students is through the use of:

1. Ask students to write definitions of new vocabulary words

2. Teach new terms in context of subject-matter lesson

3. Identify examples related to the word’s meaning

4. Discuss synonyms for new vocabulary words

9. Mrs. Pink has assigned her students a short story to read independently. She wants to practice a strategy with her students in order to enhance their comprehension during reading. Mrs. Pink should instruct her students to:

1. Ask her a question when they do not understand

2. When they come across a word they do not know, stop reading and look it up in the dictionary

3. Scan the text and prewrite questions that they want to have answered as they read

4. Write a reflection in their literacy journals immediately after reading the text

10. You plan time during your literacy block for students to engage in a reading activity that will improve fluency. Which of the following activities would be most effective in achieving this goal?

1. Students independently read a text and then answer a series of literal and inferential comprehension questions.

2. As a whole class, each student will take a turn reading a paragraph from a text related to your current curriculum. While one student is reading, the other students listen and read along silently in their own text. (Round-robin reading)

3. The teacher reads a passage aloud to model fluent reading and then students reread the text independently. (Guided oral reading)

4. In pairs, students are assigned a list of words for which they are asked to write definitions and sample sentences.

11. Ms. Jones’ students say they understand the text that they are reading in their science textbooks, but they are unable to correctly answer questions about the content. What comprehension strategy would best help her students to realize they may not understand the content as they read?

1. Self-monitoring and fix-up strategies

2. Making mental pictures of the text

3. Activating their background knowledge

4. Answering questions at the end of the chapter

12. You observe your student teacher asking students to think about things that happened to them that are similar to what happened to the character in the story. This is an example of:

1. Predicting

2. Summarizing

3. Activating prior knowledge

4. Building background knowledge

13. After you read a story to your students, you ask your students to recall important details from the story. This is an example of:

1. Highlighting

2. Monitoring

3. Generating questions

4. Inferencing

14. You plan to read a story to your students about a rainbow. You want to be sure that your students will understand the story so you first provide them with a brief explanation of how a rainbow forms before you read the story. This is an example of:

1. Building story structure

2. Predicting

3. Building background knowledge

4. Making connections

15. One example of an activity that teachers can use to assist with multi-strategy instruction is:

1. Explicit instruction

2. Reciprocal teaching

3. Sustained silent reading

4. Journal reading

16. As you read a passage from a book about ants, you are telling the students what you are doing and why, as you do it. This is an example of:

1. Monitoring comprehension

2. Using a think aloud strategy

3. Inferencing

4. Highlighting

17. Kyle, one of Mrs. Valcourt’s first-grade students, reads the sentence, “The hot dog tasted great!” However, Greg pronounced the word great as greet. What should Mrs. Valcourt say?

1. Tell me the sound of each letter, then tell me the whole word.

2. Think, what do the first part and the last part of the word say? Now put them together.

3. Think what sound the ea spelling pattern makes. Now say the whole word.

4. This word doesn’t follow the rules. This is the word ‘great.’

18. Mrs. Frank is teaching her students to identify multi-syllable words. Which is an appropriate first step for her to do?

1. Model analyzing words for familiar prefixes and suffixes

2. Show students how to blend individual letter sounds, left-to-right

3. Model how to look for little words in big words

4. Demonstrate sequentially blending onsets and rimes

Understanding practice guide recommendations

19. Which of the following are recommended strategies that improve reading comprehension? Choose are that apply

a. monitoring

b. summarizing

c. asking questions

d. activating prior knowledge

e. drawing inferences

20. [True/False] Reading comprehension strategies can be taught individually and in combination.

21. [True/False] Story maps can be used to teach text structure

22. [True/False] Differentiated instruction is beneficial when teaching reading comprehension strategies.

23. [True/False] When selecting text for reading to students, the text should be at reading level for students

24. [True/False] Informational texts are structured the same as narrative texts]

25. [True/False] Providing choice to students promotes their engagement in the text.

26. [True/False] Whole group discussions are more beneficial than small group discussions for teaching reading comprehension.

Implementation measures

27. Have you ever received the REL West Toolkit “Supporting Early Reading Comprehension with Teacher Study Groups: A Comprehensive Toolkit for the What Works Clearinghouse Practice Guide Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten through 3rd Grade.”?

1. Yes

2. No

Implementation measures – Treatment Teachers Only

27. Did you complete the initial diagnostic survey that is part of the toolkit?

1. Yes

2. No

27. Did you create a Teacher Action Plan as part of the toolkit?

1. Yes

2. No

27. How many Toolkit teacher learning modules did you participate in?

Number of modules

27. Which modules did you participate in? Check all that apply.

    1. Introduction to the toolkit

    2. Motivating students for reaching comprehension

    3. Comprehension strategies and text structure instruction

    4. Discussion with an emphasis on text selection

28. How many hours did you spend participating in Toolkit teacher learning modules?

Number of hours (between 0 and 20)

27. How many teacher study group sessions did you participate in as part of the Toolkit work?

Number of sessions

27. How many hours did you spend participating in Toolkit teacher study groups?

Number of hours (between 0 and 20)

27. How many times did you meet with your facilitator as part of the Toolkit work?

Number of meetings

27. How many times did the facilitator observe your teaching as part of the Toolkit work?

Number of observations

a. How many times did the facilitator provide feedback following the observations as part of the Toolkit work?

Number of feedback sessions

27. How many hours did you spend being observed and discussing feedback?

Number of hours (between 0 and 20)

27. For Toolkit teachers only] Professional development on reading comprehension [through the Toolkit activities] has been useful for helping me improve the achievement of my students.

    1. Disagree strongly

    2. Disagree somewhat

    3. Agree somewhat

    4. Agree strongly

28. The training and support I received as part of the toolkit helped me improve my instruction.

    1. Disagree strongly

    2. Disagree somewhat

    3. Agree somewhat

    4. Agree strongly

29. After each toolkit learning session, I walked away with a clear understanding of the training materials.

    1. Disagree strongly

    2. Disagree somewhat

    3. Agree somewhat

    4. Agree strongly

30. I received specific and actionable suggestions from the toolkit facilitator for how to improve my instruction.

    1. Disagree strongly

    2. Disagree somewhat

    3. Agree somewhat

    4. Agree strongly

Professional development – All Teachers; Text in Brackets and Italics is for Toolkit Teachers Only

27. Did you participate in professional development activities focused on reading instruction [other than Toolkit activities] since September 2023¹?

1. Yes

2. No

27. Have you participated in professional development [other than Toolkit activities] since September 2023 focused on the following topics?

43.1. Teaching students how to use reading comprehension strategies

1. Not covered in my professional development

2. A minor focus of one or more professional development activities

3. A major focus of one or more professional development activities

43.2. Teaching students to use a text’s organizational structure to improve reading comprehension?

1. Not covered in my professional development

2. A minor focus of one or more professional development activities

3. A major focus of one or more professional development activities

43.3. Leading student discussion on the meaning of the text?

1. Not covered in my professional development

2. A minor focus of one or more professional development activities

3. A major focus of one or more professional development activities

43.4. Selecting texts purposefully to support comprehension development?

1. Not covered in my professional development

2. A minor focus of one or more professional development activities

3. A major focus of one or more professional development activities

43.5. Establishing an engaging and motivating context in which to teach reading comprehension?

1. Not covered in my professional development

2. A minor focus of one or more professional development activities

3. A major focus of one or more professional development activities

27. Please describe your learning experiences between September 2023 and May 2024 designed to improve reading comprehension instruction [Please focus only on non-Toolkit activities]?

44.1. I completed a self-assessment of my skills at teaching reading comprehension

1. Yes

2. No

44.2. I developed a plan to improve my instructional strategies for teaching reading comprehension

1. Yes

2. No

44.3. I completed online learning modules about teaching reading comprehension

Number of modules (between 0 and 10)

44.4. How many hours did you spend participating in online learning modules about teaching reading comprehension?

Number of hours (between 0 and 20)

44.5. I participated in facilitated teacher discussion groups about teaching reading comprehension

Number of facilitated group sessions (between 0 and 10)

44.6. How many hours did you spend participating in facilitated teacher discussion groups about teaching reading comprehension?

Number of hours (between 0 and 20)

44.7. An instructional leader observed me teach reading comprehension and gave me feedback about improving my teaching techniques, excluding formal evaluation observations

Number of observation/feedback sessions (between 0 and 10)

44.8. How many hours did you spend being observed and discussing feedback about your reading comprehension teaching techniques?

Number of hours (between 0 and 20)

44.9. I participated in a continuous improvement cycle in which I learned, practiced, reflected, and refined a pedagogical strategy.

Number of continuous improvement cycles (between 0 and 10)

27. Between September 2023 and May 2024, have you had any learning experiences related to improving reading comprehension not addressed in the above questions?

    1. Yes

    2. No

[If yes] Please summarize these experiences

45.1 Types of activities (e.g., course, conference, workshop)

45.2 Number of meetings total

45.3 Number of hours total

27. Professional development on reading comprehension [other than Toolkit activities] has been useful for helping me improve the achievement of my students.

1. Disagree strongly

2. Disagree somewhat

3. Agree somewhat

4. Agree strongly

27. Professional development on reading comprehension has been useful for improving my instruction.

    1. Disagree strongly

    2. Disagree somewhat

    3. Agree somewhat

    4. Agree strongly

28. Professional development on reading comprehension has taken more time than it was worth.

    1. Disagree strongly

    2. Disagree somewhat

    3. Agree somewhat

    4. Agree strongly

29. [For Toolkit teachers only] Professional development on reading comprehension [through the Toolkit activities] has taken more time than it was worth.

    1. Disagree strongly

    2. Disagree somewhat

    3. Agree somewhat

    4. Agree strongly

30. I had easy access to a list of the possible [toolkit] professional development courses or offerings I could take.

    1. Disagree strongly

    2. Disagree somewhat

    3. Agree somewhat

    4. Agree strongly

31. School leadership has encouraged and supported my participation in [toolkit] professional development.

    1. Disagree strongly

    2. Disagree somewhat

    3. Agree somewhat

    4. Agree strongly

32. Sufficient resources (for example, substitute coverage, funding to cover expenses, stipends) have been available to allow me to participate in the [toolkit] professional development I need to teach reading effectively.

    1. Disagree strongly

    2. Disagree somewhat

    3. Agree somewhat

    4. Agree strongly

33. I have had sufficient flexibility in my schedule to pursue the [toolkit] professional development opportunities recommended for me.

    1. Disagree strongly

    2. Disagree somewhat

    3. Agree somewhat

    4. Agree strongly

Teacher Background Characteristics – All Teachers

27. Which of the following best describes your teaching arrangement this year?

1. I teach a single group of students all or most of the day in multiple subject areas. (Traditional elementary arrangement; sometimes called “self-contained.”)

2. I teach several classes of different students during the day in a particular subject (for example, math) or perhaps two subjects (for example, you teach some math classes and some science classes). (Traditional secondary arrangement; sometimes called “subject-specific” or “departmentalized”; at elementary level, sometimes called “subject matter specialist.” Also typical arrangement for physical education, art, music, etc.)

3. I mainly teach selected students released from (or in) their regular classes in specific skills or to address specific needs (for example, special education, reading, English as a second language, gifted and talented.) (Sometimes called “pull out,” “resource,” or “push in” instruction.)

4. I am one of two or more teachers who are jointly responsible for teaching the same subject to a group of students (for example, in the same classroom), all or most of the time and/or in a majority of classes. (Sometimes called “co-teaching” or “job share.”)

5. Other (please describe):

27. Including this school year, how many years have you been working in the school district, total, regardless of location?

Number of years

27. Including this school year, how many years have you been working in your current school?

Number of years

27. Including this school year, how many years have you been working in your current school and your current position?

Number of years

27. How do you classify your position at your current school?

1. Regular full-time teacher

2. Regular part-time teacher

3. Itinerant full-time teacher (i.e., your assignment requires you to provide instruction at more than one school)

4. Itinerant part-time teacher (i.e., your assignment requires you to provide instruction at more than one school)

5. Long-term substitute

6. Teacher assistant

7. Other professional staff

27. Which grade do you teach at your current school?

1. K

2. 1st grade

3. 2nd grade

4. 3rd grade

5. Other

27. Did you enter teaching through an alternative route to certification program? (An alternative route to certification program provides an accelerated path to licensure for individuals who already hold a bachelor’s degree)

1. Yes

2. No

27. Which of the following teaching certificates do you hold?

1. Elementary Certificate

2. Early Childhood Certificate

3. Special Education Certificate with an Early Childhood Endorsement

27. Do you hold any of the following endorsements?

1. Bilingual Endorsement certificate

2. Gifted Endorsement certificate

3. Reading, K–8 Endorsement

4. Reading, K–12 Endorsement

5. Reading Specialist, K–12 Endorsement

27. What is your highest degree earned?

1. Bachelor’s

2. Master’s

3. EdD

4. PhD

5. Other

1 For the May 2024 survey, we will ask about professional development in the period between June 2023 and May 2024. For the September 2024 survey, we will ask about June to September 2024. For the May 2025 survey, we will ask about October 2024 to May 2025.

18