Reading Psychology, 26:401–432, 2005 Copyright C  2005 Taylor & Francis Inc. ISSN: 0270-2711 print / 1521-0685 online DOI: 10.1080/02702710500285771 LANGUAGE ENRICHMENT TEACHER PREPARATION AND PRACTICE PREDICTS THIRD GRADE READING COMPREHENSION SUZANNE H. CARREKER Neuhaus Education Center, Houston, Texas, USA PAUL R. SWANK University of Texas—Houston Medical School, Houston, Texas, USA LYNN TILLMAN-DOWDY University of Houston—Clear Lake, Houston, Texas, USA GRAHAM F. NEUHAUS University of Houston—Downtown, Houston, Texas, USA MARY JO MONFILS, MARY LOU MONTEMAYOR, and PAUL JOHNSON Brownsville Independent School District, Brownsville, Texas, USA First and second grade public school teachers were trained through inter- active video-conferencing to implement Language Enrichment, an Orton- Gillingham-based literacy instruction. The effectiveness of the linguistically in- formed training was demonstrated by documenting the longitudinal third grade reading comprehension achievement of their students. Student achievement was measured on the state-mandated achievement test, Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS). Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) showed that students whose teachers were trained in Language Enrichment instruction had higher third grade reading comprehension achievement than students whose teachers were not trained. Additionally, a significant effect of the length of Language Enrich- ment teaching experience of the second grade teacher on third grade reading comprehension was found. Earlier occurring second grade teacher training was associated with higher reading scores than later training. Based on these findings it is suggested that teachers who have content-rich knowledge known to support literacy acquisition can provide reading instruction that results in a level of read- ing comprehension that is significantly higher than that resulting from teachers We thank the students, teachers, and administrators who participated in this study. We also thank the Meadows Foundation for funds that purchased the video-conferencing equipment and that provided follow-up observation, and Episcopal High School, Houston, Texas, for a donation toward the purchase of the video-conferencing equipment. Address correspondence to Graham Neuhaus, 10906 Little Lisa Lane, Houston, TX 77024, USA. E-mail: geneuhaus@aol.com 401