Load reduction instruction in mathematics and English classrooms: A multilevel study of student and teacher reports

Load reduction instruction (LRI) is a practical instructional framework aimed at managing the cognitive demands experienced by students as they learn. LRI comprises five key instructional principles: (1) difficulty reduction during initial learning, as appropriate to students' prior learning, (2) support and scaffolding, (3) structured practice, (4) feedback-feedforward, and (5) guided independent application. The present investigation explored student-and teacher-reports of LRI in both mathematics and English. The Load Reduction Instruction Scale - Short was administered to 1773 students and their teachers in 93 mathematics classrooms and 94 English classrooms. Multilevel (Level 1 student; Level 2 classroom) confirmatory factor analysis (MCFA) supported a Level 1 student LRI factor and a Level 2 class-average LRI factor in each of mathematics and English. However, two LRI factors emerged for teachers in each of mathematics and English: one factor related to Principle 1 (difficulty reduction) and one factor related to Principles 2-5 (scaffolding to autonomy). Follow-up multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) revealed that teachers adjusted their application of LRI Principle 1 (but not Principles 2-5) as a function of class-average prior learning (lower prior learning was associated with greater application of Principle 1). MCFA also showed that correlations between student-and teacher-reported LRI were low. Follow-up MSEM revealed that student-and teacher-reports of LRI uniquely predicted students' effort and achievement-suggesting that students and teachers provide distinct insights into instruction (hence the low correlation between them) and highlighting the important role of both informants in capturing a comprehensive perspective on instruction in the classroom.