The study centers on second-grade teachers who are already using one of two widely adopted reading programs, Open Court Reading or Houghton Mifflin’s Legacy of Literacy/Nations’ Choice. The 90 schools participating in the study were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a “business-as-usual” control group (with teachers at these schools receiving only the professional development services normally delivered by the district) or one of two program groups receiving alternative models of professional development. In Model 1, teachers participated in a 40-hour summer institute and in three day-long seminars during the following school year. In Model 2, teachers participated in the same activities as in Model 1 but also received intensive coaching (approximately three hours of coaching per teacher per week). Both treatment models focused on the content of early reading and incorporated features of high-quality professional development.

The study addresses six research questions:

• What effects do summer institutes with scientifically based content and modest follow-up during the school year (Model 1) have on teacher knowledge, instructional practices, and student reading achievement? What is the incremental effect of adding in-school coaching to these services (Model 2)?
   
• To what extent are the effects of the two treatment models on student reading achievement mediated by the models’ effects on teacher knowledge and instructional practice?
   
• To what extent do the effects of the two treatment models depend on the reading program being implemented in the district, the characteristics of students being served by the schools, or the prior knowledge or other characteristics of teachers?
   
• How do the effects of the two treatment models change over time? Do the effects of the models on teacher knowledge and instruction grow, stabilize, or fade over the course of the study period?
   
• To what extent do the effects of the two treatment models vary according to the amount of professional development received by the teachers at each school?
   
• What are the per-teacher costs of participating in the two treatment models?

The project began with a year-long pilot phase during the 2004-2005 school year. The goal of the pilot phase was to implement a professional development program in two schools in each of two districts, to learn about their implementation experiences, and to ascertain how teachers apply what they learn in their classrooms.