Effects of a year long supplemental reading intervention for students with reading difficulties in fourth grade

Research examining effective reading interventions for students with reading difficulties in the upper elementary grades is limited relative to the information available for the early elementary grades. In the current study, we examined the effects of a multicomponent reading intervention for students with reading comprehension difficulties. We used a partially nested analysis with latent variables to adequately match the design of the study and provide the necessary precision of intervention effects. We examined the effects of the intervention on students’ latent word reading, latent vocabulary, and latent reading comprehension. In addition, we examined whether these effects differed for students of varying levels of reading or English language proficiency. Findings indicated the treatment significantly outperformed the comparison on reading comprehension (Effect Size = 0.38), but no overall group differences were noted on word reading or vocabulary. Students’ initial word reading scores moderated this effect. Reading comprehension effects were similar for English learner and non-English learner students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)
Authors citation
Wanzek, J., Petscher, Y., Otaiba, S. A., Rivas, B. K., Jones, F. G., Kent, S. C., Schatschneider, C., & Mehta, P.
Publication
Journal of Educational Psychology, 109(8), 1103–1119
Year of Study
2017
Subject
Literacy
Program Evaluated
Passport to Literacyeracy
Tutor Type
Teacher
Duration
25 weeks
Sample size
451
Grade Level(s)
4th Grade
Student-Tutor Ratio
Small group
Effect Size
0.12
Study Design
Student Randomized
Wanzek, J., Petscher, Y., Otaiba, S. A., Rivas, B. K., Jones, F. G., Kent, S. C., Schatschneider, C., & Mehta, P. (2017). Effects of a year long supplemental reading intervention for students with reading difficulties in fourth grade. Journal of Educational Psychology, 109(8), 1103–1119. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000184