Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T00:54:19.214Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Does Classroom Separation Affect Twins' Reading Ability in the Early Years of School?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

William L. Coventry*
Affiliation:
University of New England, Australia. [email protected]
Brian Byrne
Affiliation:
University of New England, Australia.
Marreta Coleman
Affiliation:
University of New England, Australia.
Richard K. Olson
Affiliation:
University of Colorado, United States of America.
Robin Corley
Affiliation:
University of Colorado, United States of America.
Eric Willcutt
Affiliation:
University of Colorado, United States of America.
Stefan Samuelsson
Affiliation:
Linköping University and University of Stavanger, Sweden.
*
*Address for correspondence: William Coventry, School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia.

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In this article we report on reading ability of twin children in kindergarten to Grade 2 as a function of whether members of the pairs are assigned to the same or different classrooms. All analyses were run using mixed model regressions to account for the interdependence between twin pairs. The samples, total N = 1505, are from Australia and the United States. We found a close-to-significant difference in favor of same-class children in kindergarten and Grade 1. However, when results were adjusted to take account of pre-existing differences in disruptive behavior and in preliteracy ability, the class assignment effects disappeared. We suggest that these pre-existing differences, particularly disruptive behavior, are influencing decisions about whether to separate twins or not and also affecting early reading performance, a conclusion supported by significant correlations between the behavioral measures, preliteracy, and school-based reading. We conclude that, on average, early literacy in twins is not directly affected by their assignment to the same or different classrooms.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009