Dexterity, Deliberateness, and Disposition: an Investigation of Instructional Strength for Early Literacy

This mixed-methods study examines the relationship between an emergent conceptualization of teachers’ instructional strength and their students’ progress in early literacy. The conceptualization includes three components: a teacher’s deliberateness, their instructional dexterity, and a set of teacher dispositions that catalyse and maximize these attributes. Based on the results of qualitative inquiry, the authors developed a measure of individual teachers’ instructional strength according to this conceptualization. Regression analysis reveals that all three components are significant predictors of students’ growth in early literacy. The study includes 318 teachers and 1,181 students from 227 schools across the country.