Teacher Training in Reading Found to Have Mixed Effect

Two professional-development approaches based on a popular early reading program increased teachers’ knowledge of literacy development and their use of explicit reading instruction, but had little effect on achievement among 2nd graders in high-poverty schools, a federal study has found.

The study, by the Washington-based American Institutes of Research , was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education to help districts decide how best to use some of the nearly $600 million in federal funding for professional development under the No...