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04/13/2021. Research Study
One-to-one instruction, while highly desirable for children with the lowest reading skills, is not often available. It could be provided by nonprofessional tutors in the community, however. One aim of this study was to determine whether a one-to-one phonologically based tutoring program that incorporates many features of successful early reading programs and that is delivered by nonprofessional tutors is effective with first-grade students at risk for reading failure. Forty at-risk first graders who did not differ on reading skill prior to the intervention were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The treatment group received 30 minutes of individual instruction from community tutors four days a week for up to 23 weeks. The control group received only the regular reading instruction in their classrooms. The treatment group outperformed the control group on all reading, decoding, spelling and segmenting, and writing measures, with effect sizes averaging .21, .35, .37, and .19, respectively. Differences were significant on only one nonword reading and one spelling measure; however, a second aim was to determine the effects of the tutors' ability to implement the lessons scripted for them. Tutors who implemented the program with a high degree of fidelity achieved significant effect sizes in each early reading skill area assessed. Results support the potential of nonprofessional tutors to supplement early reading instruction, and prevent learning disabilities in at-risk children.
04/13/2021. Research Study
We examine the efficacy of an intervention to improve word reading and reading comprehension in fourth- and fifth-grade students with significant reading problems. Using a randomized control trial design, we compare the fourth- and fifth-grade reading outcomes of students with severe reading difficulties who were provided a researcher-developed treatment with reading outcomes of students in a business-as-usual (BAU) comparison condition. A total of 280 fourth- and fifth-grade students were randomly assigned within school in a 1:1 ratio to either the BAU comparison condition ( n = 139) or the treatment condition ( n = 141). Treatment students were provided small-group tutoring for 30 to 45 minutes for an average of 68 lessons (mean hours of instruction = 44.4, SD = 11.2). Treatment students performed statistically significantly higher than BAU students on a word reading measure (effect size [ES] = 0. 58) and a measure of reading fluency (ES = 0.46). Though not statistically significant, effect sizes for students in the treatment condition were consistently higher than BAU students for decoding measures (ES = 0.06, 0.08), and mixed for comprehension (ES = -0.02, 0.14).
04/13/2021. Research Study
04/13/2021. Research Study
In Making Pre-K Count, pre-K programs were randomly assigned to receive an evidence-based early math curriculum (Building Blocks) and associated professional development or to a pre-K-as-usual control condition. Pre-K in New York City changed rapidly during the study, with teachers overall conducting substantially more math than had previously been documented — a factor that may have played a role in the lack of impacts from Making Pre-K Count on children’s math learning at the end of the pre-K year. In the High 5s study, students who had been in Making Pre-K Count program classrooms in pre-K were individually randomly assigned within schools in the kindergarten year to supplemental small-group math clubs, which took place outside of regular instructional time, or to a business-as-usual kindergarten experience. A companion report describes the High 5s program in more detail. This report focuses on the effects in kindergarten of the two math programs.
04/13/2021. Research Study
This article reports on the short-term impact of a school-based program using older adult volunteers and aimed at improved academic achievement and reduced disruptive classroom behavior in urban elementary school students. The Experience Corps® Baltimore (Maryland) program places a critical mass of older adult volunteers, serving 15 hours or more per week, in public schools to perform meaningful and important roles to improve the educational outcomes of children and the health and well-being of the volunteers. This article reports on the preliminary impact of the program on children in grades K-3. A total of 1,194 children in grades K-3 from six urban elementary schools participated in this pilot trial. At follow-up, third grade children whose schools were randomly selected for the program had significantly higher scores on a standardized reading test than children in the control schools, and there was a nonsignificant trend for improvement in alphabet recognition and vocabulary ability among kindergarten children in the program. Office referrals for classroom misbehavior decreased by about half in the Experience Corps schools, but remained the same in the control schools. Teachers had somewhat more favorable attitudes toward senior volunteers as a result of having older volunteers in the classroom, although the difference between the intervention and control schools was not statistically significant. In this pilot trial, the Experience Corps program led to selective improvements in student reading/academic achievement and classroom behavior while not burdening the school staff.
04/13/2021. Research Study
The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of fact retrieval tutoring as a function of math difficulty (MD) subtype, that is, whether students have MD alone (MD-only) or have concurrent difficulty with math and reading (MDRD). Third graders (n = 139) at two sites were randomly assigned, blocking by site and MD subtype, to four tutoring conditions: fact retrieval practice, conceptual fact retrieval instruction with practice, procedural computation/estimation instruction, and control (no tutoring). Tutoring occurred for 45 sessions over 15weeks for 15–25 minutes per session. Results provided evidence of an interaction between tutoring condition and MD subtype status for assessment of fact retrieval. For MD-only students, students in both fact retrieval conditions achieved comparably and outperformed MD-only students in the control group as well as those in the procedural computation/estimation instruction group. By contrast, for MDRD students, there were no significant differences among intervention conditions.
04/13/2021. Research Study
Evidence-based interventions exist for improving multiple fundamental math competencies, but delivering interventions with fidelity and within a data-driven, tiered framework is a practical challenge faced by most schools. The current study evaluated a math intervention program delivered with community-based resources via AmeriCorps. At the beginning of the school year, students in Grades 4–8 (n = 550) were randomly assigned to receive math support via the program or to a waitlist control group. Outcomes were measured with a broad-based assessment of math achievement in the winter. Results from intent-to-treat analyses showed a significant and positive effect (d =.17) for the program that increased slightly under optimal dosage conditions (d =.24). The observed results extend existing literature on math interventions in schools by illustrating the potential for partnerships between community-based organizations and schools to improve outcomes for at-risk students.
04/13/2021. Research Study
This seven-week study examined the effects of the Neurological Impress Method and Read Two Impress on reading comprehension, fluency, and students’ attitude toward reading. The 57 first-, second-, and third-grade students were randomly assigned to three conditions and were pre- and posttested on eight reading measures. Several 3 × 2 factorial analyses of variance revealed significant interaction effects on retell, comprehension questions, and the multidimensional fluency scale as well as time effects on words read correctly per minute and word recognition accuracy. Moreover, a comparison of mean difference effect sizes favored the treatment groups on all reading fluency and comprehension measures. The interventions, however, had little effect on students’ attitude toward reading. Practical implications and future research directions are also discussed.
04/13/2021. Research Study
Abstract: There is growing concern that improving the academic skills of disadvantaged youth is too difficult and costly, so policymakers should instead focus either on vocationally oriented instruction for teens or else on early childhood education. Yet this conclusion may be premature given that so few previous interventions have targeted a potential fundamental barrier to school success: "mismatch" between what schools deliver and the needs of disadvantaged youth who have fallen behind in their academic or non-academic development. This paper reports on a randomized controlled trial of a two-pronged intervention that provides disadvantaged youth with non-academic supports that try to teach youth social-cognitive skills based on the principles of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and intensive individualized academic remediation. The study sample consists of 106 male 9th and 10th graders in a public high school on the south side of Chicago, of whom 95% are black and 99% are free or reduced price lunch eligible. Participation increased math test scores by 0.65 of a control group standard deviation (SD) and 0.48 SD in the national distribution, increased math grades by 0.67 SD, and seems to have increased expected graduation rates by 14 percentage points (46%). While some questions remain about the intervention, given these effects and a cost per participant of around $4,400 (with a range of $3,000 to $6,000), this intervention seems to yield larger gains in adolescent outcomes per dollar spent than many other intervention strategies.
04/13/2021. Research Study
Researchers and practitioners indicate students require explicit instruction on mathematics vocabulary terms, yet no study has examined the effects of an embedded vocabulary component within mathematics tutoring for early elementary students. First-grade students with mathematics difficulty (MD; n = 98) were randomly assigned to addition tutoring with an embedded vocabulary component, addition tutoring without the embedded vocabulary component, or business-as-usual control. At posttest, students who received addition tutoring without vocabulary demonstrated greater gains than control students on addition fluency. On a measure of mathematics vocabulary, students in the active tutoring conditions demonstrated improved performance on mathematics vocabulary over control students. Results indicate that exposure to addition tutoring with or without an embedded vocabulary component positively improves mathematics vocabulary performance.
04/13/2021. Research Study
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of explicit, direct, and generative strategy training and working memory capacity (WMC) on mathematical word problem-solving accuracy in elementary schoolchildren. In this study, children in third grade (N = 82) identified as at risk for math difficulties (MD) were randomly assigned (within classrooms) to one of three treatment conditions that explicitly directed students’ attention to different propositions within word problems—paraphrase question propositions (Restate), paraphrase relevant propositions (Relevant), and paraphrase all propositions (Complete)—or an untreated control condition. A significant treatment by covariate design indicated that generative strategy outcomes were conditional on the level of pretest WMC. A clear advantage in posttest problem-solving accuracy and solution planning was found for the complete generative condition relative to the control condition, but this advantage was conditional on setting WMC to a high level. Although no significant treatment advantages were found for solution accuracy when WMC was set to a low level, treatment advantages relative to the control condition were found for measures of schema activation. The results indicated that the effectiveness of generative strategies among children at risk for MD was directly dependent on the level of WMC.
04/13/2021. Research Study
This research investigated the immediate and long-term effects of a Tier 2 intervention for beginning readers identified as having a high probability of reading failure using a randomized control trial. First-grade participants (n = 123) were randomly assigned either to a 25-session intervention targeting key reading components, including decoding, spelling, word recognition, fluency, and comprehension, or to a no-treatment control condition. Analyses of immediate posttests (end of first grade) indicated significant differences in measures of Decodable Word Fluency (effect size = .40) favoring the intervention group. Within the intervention group, tutor ratings of attention were significantly related to growth in Passage Reading Fluency and Spelling Fluency. Longitudinal assessments (end of second grade) indicated no significant differences by group. Analysis of responder status indicated that students defined as responders maintained gains to the end of second grade.
04/13/2021. Research Study
This dissertation examined the efficacy of using minimally trained college undergraduates to tutor third- through fifth-grade students with reading difficulties. Tutors receiving four hours of training in scripted reading program based on the principles of Direct Instruction and emphasizing explicit instruction in phonological awareness and decoding. Thirty-six students from two elementary schools in a large southeastern city in the United States were selected and randomly assigned to treatment (tutoring) or contrast (non-tutoring) conditions. Treatment students received an average of fourteen and a half hours of tutoring over a twelve-week period. Data indicated that university students with minimal training successfully implemented the scripted tutoring package with experimenter feedback. Although, significant differences were only found for word identification, the treatment students out gained the contrast students on all measures. Effect sizes were moderate to strong. In addition, separate data for regular and special education students indicated statistically significant differences on two measures on two measures of fluency (correct words per minute read) for regular education treatment students over regular education control students. The efficacy of using minimally trained adult tutors to supplement classroom reading instruction for students with reading difficulties is also discussed.
04/13/2021. Research Study
This study examined the efficacy of a Tier 2 kindergarten mathematics intervention program, ROOTS, focused on developing whole number understanding for students at risk in mathematics. A total of 29 classrooms were randomly assigned to treatment (ROOTS) or control (standard district practices) conditions. Measures of mathematics achievement were collected at pretest and posttest. Treatment and control students did not differ on mathematics assessments at pretest. Gain scores of at-risk intervention students were significantly greater than those of control peers, and the gains of at-risk treatment students were greater than the gains of peers not at risk, effectively reducing the achievement gap. Implications for Tier 2 mathematics instruction in a response to intervention (RtI) model are discussed.
04/13/2021. Research Study
This study replicates research on the efficacy of a repeated reading intervention with word-level instruction for students in Grades 2 and 3 with low to moderate fluency skills, examines differences between treatment implementers, and tests unique contributions of treatment-related variables on outcomes. Students from 13 schools were randomly assigned to dyads; dyads were randomly assigned to treatment or control conditions. Schools were matched into treatment implementer groups (teachers or paraeducators) at study onset. Tutoring occurred during school hours for 15 weeks (M = 25.5 hr). Multilevel model results showed treatment students (n = 98) gained more than controls (n = 104) on measures of letter-sound knowledge (d = .41), fluency (d = .37–.38), and comprehension (d = .30–.31); students tutored by teachers gained more than their paraeducator-tutored peers on word reading and fluency. Finally, dyads tutored with greater fidelity gained more in word reading and fluency; dyads that read more complex words in their texts gained less on letter-sounds, fluency, and comprehension.
04/13/2021. Research Study
The purposes of this study were to assess the efficacy of remedial tutoring for 3rd graders with mathematics difficulty, to investigate whether tutoring is differentially efficacious depending on students' math difficulty status (mathematics difficulty alone vs. mathematics plus reading difficulty), to explore transfer from number combination (NC) remediation, and to examine the transportability of the tutoring protocols. At 2 sites, 133 students were stratified on mathematics difficulty status and site and then randomly assigned to 3 conditions: control (no tutoring), tutoring on automatic retrieval of NCs (i.e., Math Flash), or tutoring on word problems with attention to the foundational skills of NCs, procedural calculations, and algebra (i.e., Pirate Math). Tutoring occurred for 16 weeks, 3 sessions per week and 20-30 min per session. Math Flash enhanced fluency with NCs with transfer to procedural computation but without transfer to algebra or word problems. Pirate Math enhanced word problem skill as well as fluency with NCs, procedural computation, and algebra. Tutoring was not differentially efficacious as a function of students' mathematics difficulty status. The tutoring protocols proved transportable across sites.
04/13/2021. Research Study
This study examined effects of a repeated reading intervention, Quick Reads, with incidental word-level scaffolding instruction. Second- and third-grade students with passage-reading fluency performance between the 10th and 60th percentiles were randomly assigned to dyads, which were in turn randomly assigned to treatment (paired tutoring, n = 82) or control (no tutoring, n = 80) conditions. Paraeducators tutored dyads for 30 min per day, 4 days per week, for 15 weeks (November-March). At midintervention, most teachers with students in the study were formally observed during their literacy blocks. Multilevel modeling was used to test for direct treatment effects on pretest-posttest gains as well as to test for unique treatment effects after classroom oral text reading time, 2 pretests, and corresponding interactions were accounted for. Model results revealed both direct and unique treatment effects on gains in word reading and fluency. Moreover, complex interactions between group, oral text reading time, and pretests were also detected, suggesting that pretest skills should be taken into account when considering repeated reading instruction for 2nd and 3rd graders with low to average passage-reading fluency. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)
04/13/2021. Research Study
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19345747.2016.1138560
04/13/2021. Research Study
This study reviews the effectiveness of an extracurricular paired reading program to enhance the reading of struggling readers. For the first time, two program conditions are compared within one study: parent tutors and volunteer tutors. The program was implemented within a randomized controlled field trial; its effects on reading fluency and reading ability were investigated on a sample of 198 Swiss third graders with reading difficulties. The findings revealed that volunteers outperformed parents: Children who trained with volunteers developed significantly better reading fluency after 20 weeks (d = .21). However, the main effects on reading fluency did not last at follow-up and no effects on general reading ability were found. Children with higher reading fluency at the pretest benefitted significantly more than very poor readers (post-test: d = .47; 5 month FU: d = .39). The study highlights the benefit of volunteer tutoring and the necessity of ongoing, adaptive support for very poor readers.
04/13/2021. Research Study
An intensive phonics-based intervention program for nine-year-old Swedish pupils with reading difficulties was performed. Pupils (N = 112) were randomly assigned to either an intervention or a control group. The training was tailored to the Swedish transparent orthography and designed for one-to-one-tutoring during twelve weeks. Previously, reading speed has been shown to be hard to remediate, and one important purpose was to improve reading speed by explicit training. The intervention group showed improvements immediately after intervention in spelling, reading comprehension, reading speed, and phoneme awareness. There were also significant indirect effects from intervention to all variables one year later. Reading comprehension at immediate post-test predicted spelling one year later, and phoneme awareness at post-test predicted both spelling and reading comprehension one year later. The results suggest the importance of a multi-component intervention, even in transparent orthographies, which includes phonics combined with comprehension strategies and fluency training.
04/13/2021. Research Study
This article presents the findings of a randomized controlled trial evaluation of the effects of a revised version of the volunteer mentoring programme, Time to Read. Participating children received two 30-minute mentoring sessions per week from volunteer mentors who carried out paired reading activities with the children. The current trial involved 512 children aged eight to nine years from 50 primary schools. The programme was found to be effective in improving decoding skills (d=+.15), reading rate (d=+.22) and reading fluency (d=+.14) and there was some evidence of a positive effect in relation to the children’s aspirations for the future (d=+.11). However, no evidence was found of the programme having an effect on reading comprehension or reading confidence and enjoyment of reading. The article concludes by suggesting that mentoring programmes using non-specialist volunteers can be effective in improving foundational reading skills but would appear to be less effective in terms of improving higher-order skills such as comprehension. The article also suggests that such programmes are likely to be most effective if concentrating on core reading activities rather than attempting to address reading outcomes indirectly through improving children’s confidence or wider enjoyment of reading.
04/13/2021. Research Study
his study tested the effects of a fluency-based home reading program called Fast Start. Thirty beginning first-grade students, representing a wide range of early reading abilities, were randomly assigned to experimental or control conditions for a period of 11 weeks.
04/13/2021. Research Study
This paper is based on a randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluation of a reading programme delivered by older adult volunteers for at-risk early readers. Wizards of Words (WoW) was targeted at socially disadvantaged children in first and second grade experiencing delays in reading but who were not eligible for formal literacy supports. The programme was effective for phonemic awareness, word recognition, phonic knowledge and children's self-beliefs, but was not effective for reading comprehension, vocabulary, spelling or reading accuracy. The programme was most effective for those children starting with ‘below average’ reading levels and for boys. Programme intensity, school attendance and the child's experience of the programme all predicted response to intervention. Gains in phonemic awareness and phonic knowledge may be explained by the priority given in volunteer training and in programme delivery to the phonics component, and gains in word recognition may be explained by its close association with phonemic awareness and phonic knowledge, as hypothesized by the Simple View of Reading. The findings show that a reading programme delivered by older adult volunteers can have a significant impact on reading skills and self-beliefs of at-risk readers who are not eligible for other formal literacy supports.
04/13/2021. Research Study
This study evaluated an intervention that integrated explicit instruction of word recognition strategies within a home tutoring program. A randomized controlled trial paradigm was used to study the efficacy of the parent-tutoring program Paired Reading (PR; Topping, 2001) and an experimental modification of PR on the reading achievement of children in Grades 2 to 4. Fifty-seven families were recruited to participate in this study. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) the PR parent tutoring program that taught parents to read with their child, providing corrective feedback to their child in the form of supplying the misread word, when needed (PR); (2) a modified parent tutoring intervention which used the PR program, but included training in the word identification strategies of the Phonological and Strategy Training Program (PHAST; Lovett, Lacerenza, & Borden, 2000) to be used during the PR activity when assistance with reading was needed (PR-PHAST); and (3) a wait-list control group that continued with their regular family reading activities. Children’s reading abilities were assessed twice: prior to intervention and immediately after the 16-week intervention. Questionnaires were used to assess parental involvement with home literacy activities and to evaluate parental perception of the home tutoring program. Intervention fidelity was monitored via audio taped samples of reading sessions and follow-up telephone calls. The results suggest that superior reading gains can be achieved at home with a modification of the PR technique that incorporates teaching the word identification strategies of the PHAST Program.
04/13/2021. Research Study
A randomized field trial involving 883 students at 23 schools in three urban cities assessed the effectiveness of Experience Corps® (EC), a program that places older adult volunteers in elementary schools to tutor students who are poor readers. Students were assessed at the beginning and end of the academic year with standardized reading measures. Program effects were analyzed using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) to adjust for clustering effects. Findings demonstrated that EC students made statistically greater gains over the academic year on passage comprehension and grade-specific reading skills. The gains were stronger for students who received at least 35 tutoring sessions. These findings indicate that older community volunteers can be effectively deployed to improve reading achievement in low income, ethnic minority children who are at risk of reading failure.
04/13/2021. Research Study
This study replicated the Stevenson (2001) study to determine the effectiveness of the Fast Start parent tutoring program on student success in reading achievement. The current study attempted to enlarge the original study's sample size, include kindergarten students in the program, and determine the optimal length of training time for parents needed. Additionally, data gathered from the parent participants were analyzed including parent' s perceptions of the program, their confidence level in tutoring their child, and the parents' level of mastery of the concepts of tutoring before working with their child. At the beginning of the school year, 36 kindergarten parent-student dyads and 52 first grade parent-student dyads were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups or the control group for an 1 1-week study. Parents in the first treatment group received one hour of training and parents in treatment two received two hours of training. Students in both treatment groups received homework material published by Scholastic (Padak & Rasinski, 2005) consisting of poems and differentiated emergent and beginning reading activities and materials. Parents in the control group did not receive training and the students in the control group received poems to take home without the activities. Fall pretest scores from Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacyeracy Skills (DIBELS) were compared to winter DIBELS scores. Raw score results did not show statistically significant reading gains for the treatment groups, however, more growth was evident in the treatment groups when the instructional recommendation level for each student and their level of being at risk was considered. Parents and students had favorable comments about the program. Parents receiving two training sessions had a higher level of confidence to tutor their child than those who attended only one session.
04/13/2021. Research Study
This randomized control trial examined the efficacy of a multitiered supplemental tutoring program within a first‐grade responsiveness‐to‐intervention prevention model. Struggling first‐grade readers (n = 649) were screened and progress monitored at the start of the school year. Those identified as unresponsive to general education Tier 1 (n = 212) were randomly assigned to receive Tier 2 small‐group supplemental tutoring (n = 134) or to continue in Tier 1 (n = 78). Progress‐monitoring data were used to identify nonresponders to Tier 2 (n = 45), who were then randomly assigned to more Tier 2 tutoring (n = 21) or one‐on‐one Tier 3 tutoring (n = 24). Tutoring in Tier 3 was the same as in Tier 2 except for the delivery format and frequency of instruction. Results from a latent change analysis indicated nonresponders to Tier 1 who received supplemental tutoring made significantly higher word reading gains compared with controls who received reading instruction only in Tier 1 (effect size = 0.19). However, no differences were detected between nonresponders to Tier 2 who were assigned to Tier 3 versus more Tier 2. This suggests more frequent 1:1 delivery of a Tier 2 standard tutoring program may be insufficient for intensifying intervention at Tier 3. Although supplemental tutoring was effective in bolstering reading performance of Tier 1 nonresponders, only 40% of all Tier 2 students and 53% of Tier 2 responders were reading in the normal range by grade 3. Results challenge the preventive intent of short‐term, standard protocol, multitiered supplemental tutoring models.
04/13/2021. Research Study
Tutoring is commonly employed to prevent early reading failure, and evidence suggests that it can have a positive effect. This article presents findings from a large-scale (n = 734) randomized controlled trial evaluation of the effect of Time to Read—a volunteer tutoring program aimed at children aged 8 to 9 years—on reading comprehension, self-esteem, locus of control, enjoyment of learning, and future aspirations. The study found that the program had only a relatively small effect on children's aspirations (effect size +0.17, 95% confidence interval [0.015, 0.328]) and no other outcomes. It is suggested that this lack of evidence found may be due to misspecification of the program logic model and outcomes identified and program-related factors, particularly the low dosage of the program.
04/13/2021. Research Study
Spanish-dominant bilingual students in grades 2-5 were tutored 3 times per week for 40 minutes over 10 weeks, using 2 English reading interventions. Tutoring took place from February through April of 1 school year. One, Read Well, combined systematic phonics instruction with practice in decodable text, and the other, a revised version of Read Naturally, consisted of repeated reading, with contextualized vocabulary and comprehension instruction. The progress of tutored students (n = 51) was compared to that of nontutored classmates (n = 42) using subtests of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests--Revised. Students who received systematic phonics instruction made significant progress in word identification but not in word attack or passage comprehension. There were no significant effects for students in the repeated reading condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)
04/13/2021. Research Study