Teacher Predictors of Student Progress in Data-Based Writing Instruction: Knowledge, Skills, Beliefs, and Instructional Fidelity.

This article examines the influence of teacher-level factors on student growth in early writing within the framework of data-based instruction (DBI), a method involving curriculum-based measurement (CBM) and data-based decision-making (DBDM) to individualize intensive interventions. The study analyzed data from 49 U.S. elementary special education teachers and 118 students with writing difficulties, using hierarchical linear modeling to assess the impact of teachers' DBI knowledge and skills, writing instruction fidelity, explicit writing orientation, and self-efficacy on student writing progress. Results indicated a significant positive association between teachers' DBI knowledge and skills and student writing growth, while writing instruction fidelity, explicit writing orientation, and self-efficacy were not significantly related to student outcomes. The findings suggest that enhancing teachers' DBI knowledge and skills through professional development may be critical for improving writing outcomes in students requiring intensive intervention, whereas current measures of instructional fidelity may not fully capture the aspects of teaching that influence student progress.