Exploring the relationship between student approaches to learning and reading achievement at the school level

Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort of 1998 (ECLS-K, 98), a nationally representative sample of kindergarteners in the United States, we investigated the relationship between approaches to learning and spring reading achievement with particular emphasis on classroom and school-level differences. We employed hierarchical linear modelling to investigate classroom- and school-level influences on children’s spring reading achievement and their teacher-rated approaches to learning. Results indicate that classroom-level variables are particularly important predictors of spring reading in kindergarten and also relate to the strength of the relationship between teacher-rated approaches to learning and spring reading achievement. Specifically, in classrooms with a high frequency of reading activities, there is a stronger relationship between teachers’ ratings of approaches to learning and spring reading achievement than in classrooms with a low frequency of reading activities. Also, the relation between teachers’ ratings of approaches to learning and achievement appears to be stronger in schools with high enrolment, as compared to schools with low enrolment. Findings suggest that the frequency of reading activities in the classroom is not only important for students’ reading achievement, but that these activities are also related to the important relationship between approaches to learning and reading achievement.