Classroom organization by prior performance interactions as predictors of literacy and language achievement

Teachers' interactions with children represent an important source of influence in children's learning and development. Classroom organization, or the way the teacher manages the physical and behavioral aspects of the classroom environment, is one way that teachers can provide needed support to students who might otherwise struggle to be successful in the classroom environment. It is hypothesized to facilitate more time spent working productively on academic tasks which, in turn, is associated with higher academic achievement. In this study, teachers' classroom organization was observed and rated in the first, second, and third grades, and students' word reading, reading comprehension, and listening comprehension were measured each year. Cross-sectional analyses of the second and third grade data were conducted in order to replicate the findings of a previous study using the first grade data from the same data set (Pilcher & Kim, 2015). The relations of ratings of classroom organization and the interactions of classroom organization with children's prior performance (measured in the fall of first grade) in each year were also examined longitudinally. The sample included 264 students and 29 teachers in year one, 36 teachers in year two, and 35 teachers in year three. In the second and third grade cross-sectional analyses, classroom organization was not associated with student outcomes, and no significant interactions of classroom organization with prior achievement were detected. No significant longitudinal relations of classroom organization with student achievement were detected, but there were two significant interaction effects. Second grade teachers' classroom organization interacted with prior performance to predict students' third grade word reading and reading comprehension such that students whose scores were below the mean in the fall of the first grade had third grade scores that were very similar or only slightly higher when their second grade teachers provided higher levels of classroom organization. Students who began first grade with word reading and/or reading comprehension scores that were above the mean had third grade scores that were much higher when their teachers provided high levels of classroom organization in the second grade. The most likely explanation for these findings seems to be that children who leave first grade without the prerequisite skills for engaging in meaning-based instruction in second grade are unable to benefit from having a second grade teacher who provides a high level of classroom organization.