Tanya S. Wright
Michigan State University
Lori Bruner
University of Alabama
Amy Cummings
Michigan State University
Katharine O. Strunk
Michigan State University
A Policy Brief From EPIC
Understanding K-3 Teachers’ Literacy Instructional Practices During the Pandemic-Impacted 2020-21 School Year
May 2023
Understanding more about teachers’ literacy instructional practices during this time can help educators and policymakers to best support children’s literacy development in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic.
We examine literacy instruction in K-3 classrooms in Michigan during the pandemic-affected 2020-21 school year by combining data from statewide surveys of K-3 teachers before and during the 2020-21 school year with videos of classroom instruction across in-person, virtual, and hybrid instructional modalities. We ask four research questions:
- How did teachers describe their literacy instruction before and during the pandemic-affected 2020-21 school year?
- What literacy instructional practices did teachers implement during the pandemic-affected 2020-21 school year?
- How did teachers’ implementation of these literacy practices align with research on early grades literacy instruction?
- How did the amount of instructional time teachers provided and the modalities in which they delivered instruction influence their instructional practices during the 2020-21 school year?
