"This Is the Piece of the Pie We Can Control": Educators' Experiences with Student Learning Objectives as Performance Measures Linda K. Mayger pp. 591-615 Abstract Since US state policy makers reformed their teacher evaluation systems in the mid-2010s, the scholarly literature has paid little attention to the classroom-level measures of student learning growth that many states repurposed as teacher performance measures. This study addresses the gap by documenting teachers' and principals' experiences with the measures commonly known as student learning objectives (SLOs). After conducting a qualitative examination of survey and interview data from principals and teachers in 17 states, the author echoes critics' concerns that SLOs are a flawed means for determining teachers' effectiveness. Although proponents presented SLOs as a flexible and empowering evaluation alternative, districts' attempts to standardize the often-manipulated performance measures alienated teachers. Many principals believed SLOs took time away from more valued efforts to improve their schools. The article concludes with a discussion about managing the difficult balance between holding teachers accountable and supporting their growth.

(Re)Learning What It Means to Participate: Bringing Student and Teacher Perspectives into Dialogue José Martínez Hinestroza pp. 616-641 Abstract Previous research on participation in mathematics classrooms has focused on adults' perspectives, which overemphasize the role of talk. Drawing on sociocultural theory, I define participation as a complex and situated phenomenon. I describe a participatory research collaboration where a Spanish immersion third-grade teacher, and I brought the students' and the teacher's perspectives on participation into dialogue. A social semiotics analytical framework informed the exploration of multimethods focus groups with the students and an interview with the teacher. Teacher-researcher collaborative data analysis supported the emergence of three main participation-related aspects: (1) beginning to consider multiple characteristics of participation, (2) relocating participation in a dynamic between the social and the individual, and (3) rethinking the teacher's role in participation. I argue that an initial step toward developing inclusive classrooms is for teachers and researchers to unlearn simplistic perspectives on participation, becoming learners of what it means to participate in particular contexts.

A Seasonal Analysis of Disparities in Academic Skills for Early Elementary School Children with Disabilities North Cooc and David M. Quinn Studies examining seasonal variation in academic skills for children have focused on learning loss or stagnation during the summer, particularly for students from low-income or minoritized racial and ethnic backgrounds. In this study, we expand the literature to focus on another student population that may be susceptible to summer learning loss: children with disabilities. Using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011 (ECLS-K:2011), we examined changes in the academic skills of children with disabilities-defined in terms of having an individualized education plan or receiving special education services-relative to peers without disabilities during the school year and summer months. Results indicate that inequality in learning rates between both groups tends to widen more during the early school years, particularly in kindergarten, than summer. One policy implication of the findings is schools may need to focus more on kindergarten transition for children with disabilities.

Factors That Influence Skilled and Less-Skilled Comprehenders' Inferential Processing During and After Reading: Exploring How Readers Maintain Coherence and Develop a Mental Representation of a Text Sarah E. Carlson,Paul van den Broek, and Kristen L. McMaster This study examines factors that influence readers' cognitive processing (i.e., inference generation) and the development of a mental representation of text: comprehension skill and working memory (WM). Elementary students (N = 61) participated in causal questioning conditions with narrative texts to examine text- and knowledge-based inferences generated when probed during versus after reading. Recalls were examined to assess readers' mental representations of texts after-reading and answering questions. Skilled comprehenders generated more goal- and subgoal-related text-based inferences during and after reading and included more original text information and less background knowledge in their recalls of texts than did less-skilled comprehenders. Skilled comprehenders with high WM also generated more goal-related text-based inferences than did those with low WM. Findings support and extend previous research regarding how readers struggle with inference generation and may further inform the development of causal questioning interventions to help improve struggling readers' comprehension of narrative texts.

Science Talk in Elementary Classrooms: A Synthesis of the Literature Amelia Wenk Gotwals, Tanya S. Wright, Lisa Domke, and Blythe Anderson pp. 642-673 Abstract In this systematic literature review, we synthesize 48 research studies about science talk in elementary classrooms to inform the development of supports for teachers. Our findings suggest that characteristics of high-quality elementary science talk include that it (1) supports equitable student participation and engagement, (2) supports deepening of science understandings within and across activities, and (3) develops disciplinary literacy for science. Within each of these characteristics, we found patterns in instructional practices that promoted high-quality science talk, including discipline-neutral practices, such as ensuring that students feel valued as members of the classroom community, as well as science-specific strategies, such as providing students purposeful opportunities to engage in science practices like argumentation. Although these studies provide evidence that teachers can support high-quality science talk in elementary classrooms, we discuss that without a system of supports based on these findings, this type of science talk is unlikely to occur.

The Relation between Teachers' Communicative Behaviors and Class-Level SES Carla Wood, Jeanne Wanzek, and Christopher Schatschneider This study aimed to examine verbal behaviors within communicative interactions at the teacher/classroom level among second-grade classrooms that differ in socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. Investigators recorded and examined language use across instructional periods for 38 second-grade classrooms. Teachers' communication behaviors were examined based on recorded samples across the school day throughout the school year. The proportion of use of questions, directives, and statements was examined for potential differences between classrooms that differed in SES. There was a significant relation between the proportion of facilitative and directive language at the classroom-level and class-level SES. Classrooms with a high proportion of free/reduced lunch eligibility were associated with high proportions of directives by teachers during the school day. The current findings suggest that students in low SES classes may be at a disadvantage in their access to adult facilitative communicative behaviors in the classroom.

The Role of Word-, Sentence-, and Text-Level Variables in Predicting Guided Reading Levels of Kindergarten and First-Grade Texts Elfrieda H. Hiebert and Laura S. Tortorelli Texts classified according to guided reading levels (GRL) are ubiquitous in US beginning reading classrooms. This study examined features of texts across three grade bands (kindergarten, early first grade, final first grade) and the 10 GRLs within these bands. The 510 texts came from three programs with different functions in beginning reading instruction: core, intervention, and content areas. Text features were decoding, semantics, structure, and syntax from the Early Literacy Indicators system, mean sentence length (MSL) and mean log word frequency (MLWF) from the Lexile Framework, and word count. Five variables predicted GRLs of texts: semantics, structure, syntax, MSL, and word count. Differences in decoding and MLWF across grade bands were few and neither variable predicted levels of texts. Intervention texts had lower decoding and MLWF demands than core or content-area texts. Implications of a lack of discernible progressions in decoding and MLWF are discussed.