Standards for Effective Pedagogy, Classroom Organization, English Proficiency, and Student Achievement

The authors examined the relationship between pedagogy, classroom organization, and student achievement gains. Participants in this nonequivalent pretest and posttest control-group design were 23 teachers and 394 students (Grades 3 to 5) in 2 public elementary schools serving predominantly low-income Latino English learners. The authors found that (a) teacher use of the standards for effective pedagogy reliably predicted performance on year-end standardized tests of comprehension, reading, spelling, and vocabulary and (b) achievement gains were greatest for students whose teachers made extensive use of the standards and organized their classrooms into multiple, simultaneous, diversified activity settings. Although low-English-proficient students benefited the most, the instructional model was also effective for English learners and English speakers.