Generating Vocabulary Knowledge for At-Risk Middle School Readers: Contrasting Program Effects and Growth Trajectories

Lawrence, J. F., Rolland, R. G., Branum-Martin, L., & Snow, C. E. (2014). Generating vocabulary knowledge for at-risk middle school readers: Contrasting program effects and growth trajectories.Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 19(2), 76–97. http://doi.org/10.1080/10824669.2014.958836

http://doi.org/10.1080/10824669.2014.958836

Abstract: We tested whether urban middle-school students from mostly low-income homes had improved academic vocabulary when they participated in a freely available vocabulary program, Word Generation (WG). To understand how this program may support students at risk for long-term reading difficulty, we examined treatment interactions with baseline achievement on a state standardized test and also differential effects for students with (n = 398) and without (n = 1,395) individualized education plans (IEPs). Students in this unmatched quasi-experiment (5 WG and 4 comparison schools) completed pre- and postvocabulary assessments during the intervention year. We also retested student vocabulary knowledge after summer vacation and the following spring on 11 target words to construct a longitudinally consistent scaled score across 4 waves of data. Growth models show that students experienced summer setback. Although there were no average underlying differences in growth or differences in summer setback for students by baseline achievement, better readers improved more from program participation. IEP status did not predict differential benefits of program participation, and students with IEPs maintained gains associated with participation in WG; however, participation in the program did not change underlying growth trajectories favoring students who did not have IEPs.

Related Links: http://doi.org/10.1080/19345740903167042

Related Paper(s): Snow, C. E., Lawrence, J. F., & White, C. (2009). Generating knowledge of academic language among urban middle school students. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2(4), 325–344. http://doi.org/10.1080/19345740903167042

INVITED PRESENTATIONS

Lawrence, J.F. (2015, September). Technology in English. U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The White House, Washington D.C.

Warschauer, M., & Lawrence, J. F. (2014, April). The Learning Analytics of Cloud Based Writing. Google Campus, New York, New York

Lawrence, J.F. (2012, September). Does talk exposure in preschool predict second-language vocabulary at age 10? A longitudinal study of Turkish immigrant children growing up in Norway. 学前教育中的语言接触是否会预测儿童10岁时的第二语言词汇？(Presented in Mandarin). East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.

Software Development

Lawrence, J., & Krueger, N. (2016). Bifrost: Bridging linguistic, cognitive and computer science resources (Version Reduced: Polysemy and Depth only). Retrieved from https://github.com/Malthanatos/Bifrost/tree/Reduced--Polysemy-and-Depth-only

EDITED VOLUME

Ippolito, J., Lawrence, J. F., & Zaller, C. (2013). Adolescent Literacy in the Era of the Common Core. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Other publications

Ippolito, J., Dobbs, C., Charner-Laird, M., & Lawrence, J. F. (2016). Delicate layers of learning: Achieving disciplinary literacy requires continuous, collaborative adjustments. Learning Forward.

Lawrence, J. F., White, C., & Snow, C. E. (2010). The words students need. Educational Leadership, 68(2), 23–26.

Lawrence, J. F. (2005). Perennial Themes in Education. Journal of Education, 186(1), 87–95.