۱- Introduction

۲- Methods

۳- Results

۴- Discussion

۵- Conclusion

References

Abstract

Although often assessed as one construct, teachers have been shown to draw on both content and pedagogical content knowledge as they teach reading. Factor analysis on sixty-six primary teachers in rural low-wealth districts illustrated that teacher knowledge of reading can be distinguished separately as content and pedagogical content knowledge, with teachers having roughly equal levels of knowledge across domains. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated teaching experience was the only teacher characteristic to be significantly associated with both domains of teacher knowledge, implicating the necessity of increasing experiential learning components in teacher education.

Introduction

Knowledge alone is not sufficient for effective reading instruction; yet, knowledgeable teachers are necessary to help children become proficient readers (Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2007; Darling-Hammond, 2000a; Piasta, Connor, Fishman, & Morrison, 2009; Risko et al., 2008). Some of the impetus for preparing more knowledgeable teachers for the classroom is due to findings that only 36% of students in the United States are proficient in reading by fourth grade (National Center for Education Statistics, 2015), with this percentage even lower for students living in high-poverty rural areas (24%; National Center for Education Statistics, 2015). The ‘Peter Effect,’ the principle that teachers cannot teach what they do not themselves know, is spurring many states to recognize the need to recruit and retain highly-knowledgeable teachers (Applegate & Applegate, 2004; Binks-Cantrell, Washburn, Joshi, & Hougen, 2012; Moats, 2014). As such, more states are requiring preservice teachers to demonstrate knowledge of reading on licensure exams (Rowland, 2015). Although the content and format of licensure exams varies, they generally assess proficiency of reading and writing development and instructional decision-making; thereby, capturing what are arguably separate domains: content knowledge, knowledge of the subject matter, and pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of how to teach the subject matter (Shulman, 1986). Despite the importance placed on teacher knowledge, little is known about the distinction between these domains.