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04/13/2021. Research Study
04/13/2021. Research Study
For children with language challenges, little is known about effective early reading interventions, because most studies have used language scores as exclusionary criteria. We randomly assigned 78 kindergartners with poor language skills to small group reading interventions that included phonemic awareness, alphabetic understanding, and oral language. The groups began in September or mid-February. Nearly half the students were English learners. MANOVA between these groups found that earlier intervention led to significantly better outcomes than the same interventions begun later in kindergarten. We found similar rates of growth between students who were English only or English learners. Twice as many students in the immediate as in the delayed treatment scored in the average range at the end of the year. Pretests did not predict who would be a good or poor responder to the treatments; however, January scores in letter knowledge and phonemic awareness were reliably different for good and poor responders.
04/13/2021. Research Study
This study tested the efficacy of supplemental phonics instruction for 84 low-skilled language minority (LM) kindergarteners and 64 non-LM kindergarteners at 10 urban public schools. Paraeducators were trained to provide the 18-week (January–May) intervention. Students performing in the bottom half of their classroom language group (LM and non-LM) were randomly assigned either to individual supplemental instruction (treatment) or to classroom instruction only (control). Irrespective of their language status, treatment students (n = 67) significantly outperformed controls (n = 81) at posttest in alphabetics, word reading, spelling, passage reading fluency, and comprehension (average treatment d = 0.83); nevertheless, LM students tended to have lower posttest performance than non-LM students (average LM d = −0.30) and were significantly less responsive to treatment on word reading. When we examined the contribution of classroom phonics time to student outcomes, we found that the treatment effect on spelling was greater for students in lower phonics classrooms, whereas the treatment effect on comprehension was greater for those in higher phonics classrooms. Finally, when we examined LM students alone, we found that pretest English receptive vocabulary positively predicted most posttests and interacted with treatment only on phonological awareness. In general, pretest vocabulary did not moderate kindergarten LM treatment response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
04/13/2021. Research Study
The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of an early numeracy preventative Tier 2 intervention on the mathematics performance of first-grade students with mathematics difficulties. Researchers used a pretest-posttest control group design with randomized assignment of 139 students to the Tier 2 treatment condition and 65 students to the comparison condition. Systematic instruction, visual representations of mathematical concepts, purposeful and meaningful practice opportunities, and frequent progress monitoring were used to develop understanding in early numeracy skills and concepts. Researchers used progress-monitoring measures and a standardized assessment measure to test the effects of the intervention. Findings showed that students in the treatment group outperformed students in the comparison group on the progress-monitoring measures of mathematics performance and the measures that focused on whole-number computation. There were no differences between groups on the problem-solving measures.
04/13/2021. Research Study
Reading Recovery is an example of a widely used early literacy intervention for struggling first-grade readers, with a research base demonstrating evidence of impact. With funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s i3 program, researchers conducted a 4-year evaluation of the national scale-up of Reading Recovery. The evaluation included an implementation study and a multisite randomized controlled trial with 6,888 participating students in 1,222 schools. The goal of this study was to understand whether the impacts identified in prior rigorous studies of Reading Recovery could be replicated in the context of a national scale-up. The findings of this study reaffirm prior evidence of Reading Recovery’s immediate impacts on student literacy and support the feasibility of successfully scaling up an effective intervention.
04/13/2021. Research Study
This study examined the components of a one-on-one literacy tutoring model to identify the necessary and sufficient elements for helping struggling beginning readers. The tutoring components of interest included word work using manipulative letters, written word work, and a generalization component. Reading assessment data from 100 first-grade students, randomly assigned to four tutoring conditions and a control group, were analyzed. Following the treatment period, groups were evaluated on phonological awareness, sight word knowledge, decoding, and word attack. Results indicated that children who received all of the tutoring components performed better than those in the control condition across all four reading performance indicators under consideration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
04/13/2021. Research Study
We present findings from a randomized controlled trial of Descubriendo la Lectura (DLL), an intervention designed to improve the literacy skills of Spanish-speaking first graders, who are struggling with reading. DLL offers one-on-one native language literacy instruction for 12 to 20 weeks to each school’s lowest performing first-graders. Examining literacy outcomes for 187 students, hierarchical linear model analyses revealed statistically significant effects of student-level assignment to DLL on all 9 outcomes evaluated. Impacts were as large as 1.24 standard deviations, or a learning advantage relative to controls exceeding a full school year of achievement growth. The mean effect size of d = 0.66 across the nine literacy measures is equal to approximately two thirds of the overall literacy growth that occurs across the first-grade year.
04/13/2021. Research Study
This study examines the effectiveness of minimally trained tutors providing a highly structured tutoring intervention for struggling readers. We screened students in Grades K–6 for participation in an after-school tutoring program. We randomly assigned those students not meeting the benchmark on a reading screening measure to either a tutoring group or a control group. Students in the tutoring group met twice per week across one school year to receive tutoring from non–education major college students participating in a service-learning course. The goal of this study was to determine whether tutors without prior teaching experience or instruction could improve student reading outcomes with minimal training, a structured reading curriculum, and access to ongoing coaching. Tutored students displayed significantly more growth than control students in letter-word identification, decoding, and passage comprehension, with robust effect sizes of 0.99, 1.02, and 0.78, respectively. We discuss the implications and limitations of these findings.
04/13/2021. Research Study
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of code-oriented supplemental instruction for kindergarten students at risk for reading difficulties. Paraeducators were trained to provide 18 weeks of explicit instruction in phonemic skills and the alphabetic code. Students identified by their teachers meeting study eligibility criteria were randomly assigned to 2 groups: individual supplemental instruction and control. Students were pretested in December, midtested, and posttested in May-June of kindergarten. At posttest, treatment students significantly outperformed controls on measures of reading accuracy, reading efficiency, oral reading fluency, and developmental spelling. Treatment students had significantly higher linear growth rates in phonemic awareness and alphabetic knowledge during the kindergarten treatment. At a 1-year follow-up, significant group differences remained in reading accuracy and efficiency. Ethical challenges of longitudinal intervention research are discussed. Findings have policy implications for making supplemental instruction in critical early reading skills available.
04/13/2021. Research Study
A study of 17 first-graders identified at high risk for a reading disability investigated the effects of community tutors on reading performance. When compared to the performance of matched controls, the children performed better on spelling and segmentation but not on reading. Skills declined at the second-grade follow-up evaluation. (CR)
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
Describes an after-school tutoring program in which adult volunteers work, one-to-one, with low-achieving 2nd- and 3rd-grade readers. Specific attention is given to (1) the need for such a tutoring effort; (2) the design of the program, including how the tutoring was supervised; (3) an empirical test of the program's effectiveness; and (4) the generalizability of the tutoring concept to other educational settings. Results of a 2-yr study with 30 tutored children and 30 nontutored controls show that the program was successful in helping at-risk primary-grade children learn to read. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)
04/13/2021. Research Study
Two intervention approaches designed to address the multifaceted academic and cognitive difficulties of low-income children who enter pre-K with very low math knowledge were tested in a randomized experiment. Blocking on classroom, children who met screening criteria were assigned to a Math C Attention condition in which the Pre-Kindergarten Mathematics Tutorial (PKMT) intervention was implemented (4 days/week for 24 weeks) in addition to 16 adaptive attention training sessions, a Math-Only condition using the PKMT intervention, or a business-as-usual condition. Five hundred eighteen children were assessed at pretest and posttest. There was a significant effect of the PKMT intervention on a broad measure of informal mathematical knowledge and a small but significant effect on a measure of numerical knowledge. Attention training was associated with small effects on attention, but did not provide additional benefit for mathematics. A main effect of state on math outcomes was associated with a stronger, numeracy-focused Tier 1 mathematics curriculum in one state. Findings are discussed with respect to increasing intensity of math-specific and domain-general interventions for young children at risk for mathematical learning difficulties.
04/13/2021. Research Study
A first-grade reading and language development intervention for English language learners (Spanish/English) at risk for reading difficulties was examined. The intervention was conducted in the same language as students’ core reading instruction (English). Two hundred sixteen firstgrade students from 14 classrooms in 4 schools from 2 districts were screened in both English and Spanish. Forty-eight students (22%) did not pass the screening in both languages and were randomly assigned within schools to an intervention or contrast group; after 7 months, 41 students remained in the study. Intervention groups of 3 to 5 students met daily (50 minutes) and were provided systematic and explicit instruction in oral language and reading by trained bilingual reading intervention teachers. Students assigned to the contrast condition received their school’s existing intervention for struggling readers. Intervention students significantly outperformed contrast students on multiple measures of English letter naming, phonological awareness and other language skills, and reading and academic achievement. Differences were less significant for Spanish measures of these domains, though the strongest effects favoring the intervention students were in the areas of phonological awareness and related reading skills.
04/13/2021. Research Study
A total of 46 children in Grades 2 and 3 with low word-level skills were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups that received supplemental phonics-based reading instruction. One group received intervention October through March (21.5 hours), and one group served as a control from October through March and later received intervention March through May (17.5 hours). Paraeducators trained in a standard treatment protocol provided individual instruction for 30 min per day, 4 days per week. At the March posttest, the early treatment (ET; n = 23) group outperformed the controls (late treatment, LT; n = 20) on reading accuracy and passage fluency. Across both groups, second graders outperformed third graders on these same measures. At the 3-month follow-up, the ET group showed no evidence of decline in reading accuracy, passage fluency, or words spelled; however, 3rd-grade ET students had significantly higher spelling skills compared to 2nd graders. The LT group demonstrated significant growth during their intervention in reading accuracy and spelling, but not passage fluency. When we compared the ET and LT groups on their gains per instructional hour, we found that the ET group made significantly greater gains than the LT group across all 3 measures. The results support the value of paraeducator-supplemented reading instruction for students below grade level in word identification and reading fluency.
04/13/2021. Research Study
The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects on reading achievement of a low-cost, widely implemented volunteer reading program that has been expanding rapidly throughout the state of Oregon. Eighty-four beginning first grade students at risk of reading difficulties were randomly assigned to experimental and comparison groups. Adult volunteers tutored students in the experimental group in 30-minute sessions two times per week in first and second grade. At the end of grades 1 and 2, students were administered a number of standardized reading measures, including measures of individual word reading, reading comprehension, word comprehension, and reading fluency. Analyses revealed that students in the experimental group made greater growth on a word identification measure than students in the comparison condition; they also made more growth than a group of average-achieving students who were from the same classrooms at the students in the experimental and comparison groups. Students in the experimental group also scored higher than students in the comparison condition on measures of reading fluency and word comprehension at the end of second grade. Differences were not statistically significant on passage comprehension. Findings are discussed in the context of the reading achievement effects that other adult volunteer reading programs have attained. We suggest that in establishing adult volunteer reading programs it is important to consider how to balance the intensity of training reading volunteers to achieve measurable impact on reading achievement with real world realities of the volunteer tutoring experience and goals for the extensiveness of implementation. /// [Spanish] El propósito del presente estudio fue evaluar los efectos de un programa de tutorías, de bajo costo y muy difundido que se ha expandido rápidamente en el estado de Oregon, sobre los progresos en lectura. Ochenta y cuatro estudiantes de primer grado considerados en riesgo de fracaso en lectura fueron asignados al azar a grupos experimental y de control. Los voluntarios adultos realizaron tutorías con los estudiantes del grupo experimental en sesiones de 30 minutos, dos veces por semana en primero y segundo grado. Al final de primero y segundo grado se administró a los estudiantes un conjunto de medidas estandarizadas de lectura, que incluían lectura de palabras individuales, comprensión lectora, comprensión de palabras y fluidez en lectura. Los análisis revelaron que los estudiantes del grupo experimental progresaron más que los estudiantes del grupo de control en una medida de identificación de palabras; asimismo progresaron más que un grupo de estudiantes promedio provenientes de las mismas aulas que los estudiantes de los grupos experimental y de control. Los estudiantes del grupo experimental también se desempeñaron mejor que los del grupo de control en medidas de fluidez en lectura y comprensión de palabras al final del segundo grado. En comprensión de textos las diferencias no fueron estadísticamente significativas. Los hallazgos se discuten en el contexto de los efectos en el progreso en lectura obtenidos por otros programas de tutores voluntarios adultos. Sugerimos que al establecer programas de tutorías con voluntarios adultos es importante considerar la forma de equilibrar la intensidad del entrenamiento de los voluntarios para obtener un impacto mensurable en el progreso en lectura con la realidad concreta de la experiencia de las tutorías voluntarias y objetivos para hacer extensiva la implementación. /// [German] Der Sinn der laufenden Studie bestand in der Bewertung der Auswirkungen auf die Leseleistungsverbesserungen aufgrund eines kostensparenden, von freiwilligen Helfern weitläufig angewandten Leseprogrammes, das in schneller Folge überall im US-Staat Oregon verbreitet wurde. Vierundachtzig Schüleranfänger der ersten Klasse mit Risiken von Leseschwierigkeiten wurden wahllos den Experimentier- und Vergleichsgruppen zugeteilt. Erwachsene als freiwillige Helfer gaben den Schülern in der Experimentiergruppe jeweils für 30 Minuten zweimal die Woche Nachhilfeunterricht in den ersten und zweiten Klassen. Am Ende der 1. und 2. Klasse wurde den Schülern eine Anzahl standardisierter Lesebewertungsmaßnahmen auferlegt, einschließlich der Bemessung individueller Lesefertigkeiten von Worten, dem Leseverständnis, dem Wortverständnis, und der flüssigen Lesebeherrschung. Analysen ergaben, daß Schüler in der Experimentiergruppe größere Fortschritte bei der Bemessung der Worterkennung machten als Schüler unter Vergleichskonditionen; auch machten sie mehr Fortschritte als eine Gruppe von Durchschnittsschülern, die aus dem gleichen Klassenraum kamen wie Schüler in den Experimentier- und Vergleichsgruppen. Die Schüler der Experimentiergruppe erzielten auch höhere Noten als Schüler unter den Vergleichsbedingungen bei der Bemessung der Leseflüssigkeit und dem Wortverständnis am Ende der zweiten Klasse. Im Verständnis von Passagen bzw. Absätzen waren solche Differenzen statistisch nicht signifikant. Die Ergebnisse werden im Zusammenhang von Leseleistungseffekten diskutiert, die andere freiwillige Erwachsenenhelfer mit ihren Leseprogrammen erzielt haben. Wir schlagen vor, daß bei der Schaffung von freiwilligen Lesenachhilfeprogrammen durch Erwachsene es wichtig ist zu berücksichtigen, wie die Intensität der Leseschulung freiwilliger Helfer ausgewogen gestaltet wird, um einen meßbaren Einfluß auf die Leseleistung unter wirklichkeitsnahen Bedingungen an Erfahrungen und Zielen von freiwilligen Helfern zur weitgehendsten Verbreitung zu erreichen. /// [French] Cette étude avait pour but d'évaluer les effets sur la réussite en lecture d'un programme de lecture de bénévoles peu coûteux et très répandu qui s'est répandu rapidement dans l'État de l'Orégon. On a réparti au hasard dans des groupes expérimental et contrôle 84 enfants commençant leur première année qui présentaient un risque de difficultés en lecture. Dans le groupe expérimental, des bénévoles ont été tuteurs des élèves pendant des sessions de 30 minutes, deux fois par semaine en première et deuxième année. À la fin de la première et de la deuxième année, on a administré aux élèves plusieurs tests standardisés, comportant des mesures de lecture de mots isolés, de compréhension de lecture, de compréhension de mots, et de lecture courante. Les analyses ont montré que les élèves du groupe expérimental ont mieux réussi que ceux du groupe témoin dans l'identification de mots; ils ont aussi mieux réussi que le groupe témoin en lecture courante et compréhension de mots en fin de seconde année. Les différences en compréhension d'un passage n'ont pas été significatives. On discute ces résultats dans le contexte des effets sur la réussite en lecture qu'atteignent les autres programmes de volontariat des adultes. On suggère que que pour mettre sur pied des programmes de lecture de bénévoles il est important de trouver l'équilibre entre l'intensité de la formation des bénévoles permettant d'avoir un impact mesurable sur la réussite en lecture et les réalités dans le monde réel de l'expérience des tuteurs bénévoles ainsi que les objectifs d'extension de l'implantation.
04/13/2021. Research Study
This randomized controlled trial focused on 59 struggling readers in the third and fourth grades (30 female, 29 male) and examined the efficacy of an intervention aimed at increasing students’ multisyllabic word reading (MWR). The study also explored the relative effects of an embedded motivational beliefs (MB) training component. Struggling readers were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: MWR only, MWR with an MB component (MWR + MB), or business-as-usual control. Students were tutored in small groups in 24 sessions, three 40-minute lessons each week. Students in both MWR groups outperformed the control group on measures of word-reading fluency. MWR + MB students outperformed MWR only on sentence-level comprehension and outperformed the control group in ratings of attributions for success in reading. Findings are discussed in terms of their relevance to MWR instruction for students with persistent reading difficulties and the potential for enhancing intervention through targeting motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)
04/13/2021. Research Study
This article provides a synthesis of research in which parents provided academic instruction to their own children. The effectiveness of parent tutoring in 37 studies was examined across grade level, basic skill area (e.g., reading, math), training feature (e.g., treatment length, availability of consultation), treatment fidelity, type of assessment (i.e. criterion-referenced or norm-referenced), and whether or not the study was published. Thirty-two comparisons were found for 20 group design studies and 25 comparisons were found for 17 single subject design studies. Separate analyses were conducted for group design and single-subject design studies using standardized mean difference between experimental and control groups, and percentage of non-overlapping data (PND), respectively. Effect size (ES) and PND were generally positive across both types of studies. A mean weighted ES of +0.55 was obtained for trimmed group design studies and a median PND of 94 was obtained for the single subject studies. Most studies involved reading and the use of primary grade students as subjects. Certain treatment characteristics appeared to moderate outcome. Implications of the current analysis for future practice and research in the area of parent tutoring are discussed.
04/13/2021. Research Study
38 children identified for Chapter I compensatory education programs were randomly assigned to an experimental program in which mothers were trained in structured tutoring techniques and 38 to a control group. Children assessed on 2 standardized reading tests (the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery and the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills) showed significant differences after 6 mo, but these differences later disappeared. When analyses were limited to those pairs of children in which the parent of the experimental group child had participated more completely in the tutoring program, there were both immediate and long-term significant differences between the groups. It is concluded that parent tutoring programs can be an effective supplement to compensatory education programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
04/13/2021. Research Study
This article describes a two-year study addressing the effectiveness of a highly structured, systematic tutoring intervention implemented by minimally trained college students with two cohorts of at-risk first-grade readers. Participants were 61 first-grade children in Cohort 1 and 76 first-grade children in Cohort 2. Tutors participated in three one-hour training sessions and received occasional on-site assistance. Individual tutoring sessions were scheduled for three to four times each week for one school year, with each cohort receiving approximately 10-14 hours of instruction across 44 sessions. The curriculum included a game to teach phonemic awareness and letter-sound correspondence, structured word-study activities, reading of leveled books, and simple comprehension strategies. Significant differences were found on measures of phonemic awareness and nonsense word reading for both cohorts. For Cohort 1, but not Cohort 2, significant differences were also detected for real-word identification. Our results support using tutors to provide additional assistance and instruction in early reading, even when tutors are not professionally trained teachers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
04/13/2021. Research Study
This study used a randomized controlled trial design to investigate the ROOTS curriculum, a 50-lesson kindergarten mathematics intervention. Ten ROOTS-eligible students per classroom (n = 60) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a ROOTS five-student group, a ROOTS two-student group, and a no-treatment control group. Two primary research questions were investigated as part of this study: What was the overall impact of the treatment (the ROOTS intervention) as compared with the control (business as usual)? Was there a differential impact on student outcomes between the two treatment conditions (two- vs. five-student group)? Initial analyses for the first research question indicated a significant impact on three outcomes and positive but nonsignificant impacts on three additional measures. Results for the second research question, comparing the two- and five-student groups, indicated negligible and nonsignificant differences. Implications for practice are discussed.
04/13/2021. Research Study
Mathematics Recovery (MR) is designed to identify first graders who are struggling in mathematics and provide them with intensive one-to-one tutoring. We report findings from a 2-year evaluation of MR conducted in 20 elementary schools across five districts in two states. The design allowed for the estimation of the counterfactual growth trajectory based on those students randomly assigned either to a tutoring cohort with a delayed start or to a wait list. Results demonstrate strong end of first grade effects on a diagnostic measure developed by MR and weak to moderate effects (effect size, .15–.30) on measures administered by external evaluators. By the end of second grade, no significant effects were found on any measures. Practical and research implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
04/13/2021. Research Study
This randomized controlled trial focused on 59 struggling readers in the third and fourth grades (30 female, 29 male) and examined the efficacy of an intervention aimed at increasing students’ multisyllabic word reading (MWR). The study also explored the relative effects of an embedded motivational beliefs (MB) training component. Struggling readers were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: MWR only, MWR with an MB component (MWR + MB), or business-as-usual control. Students were tutored in small groups in 24 sessions, three 40-minute lessons each week. Students in both MWR groups outperformed the control group on measures of word-reading fluency. MWR + MB students outperformed MWR only on sentence-level comprehension and outperformed the control group in ratings of attributions for success in reading. Findings are discussed in terms of their relevance to MWR instruction for students with persistent reading difficulties and the potential for enhancing intervention through targeting motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)
04/13/2021. Research Study
A paired reading program was implemented for 195 Hong Kong preschoolers (mean age = 4.7 years) and their parents from families with a wide range of family income. The preschoolers were randomly assigned to experimental or waitlist control groups. The parents in the experimental group received 12 sessions of school-based training on paired reading in seven weeks. They were required to do paired reading with their children for at least four times in each of these seven weeks. At the end of the program, the preschoolers in the experimental group had better performance in word recognition and reading fluency than their counterparts in the control group. They were also reported as more competent and motivated in reading by their parents. More importantly, the program had many favorable effects on parents. Parents in the experimental group had higher self-efficacy in helping their children to be better readers and learners. They also reported that they had better relationships with their children. Their changes in relationships and self-efficacy were found to mediate the program impact on some of the child outcomes. However, family income did not moderate the effectiveness of the program. Families with high and low income both benefited from the program alike.
04/13/2021. Research Study
Minnesota Reading Corps (MRC) is the largest AmeriCorps State program in the country. The goal of MRC is to ensure that students become successful readers and meet reading proficiency targets by the end of the third grade. To meet this goal, the MRC program, and its host organization, ServeMinnesota Action Network, recruit, train, place and monitor AmeriCorps members to implement research-based literacy enrichment activities and interventions for at-risk Kindergarten through third grade (K-3) students and preschool children. Starting in 2011, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) sponsored a randomized controlled trial (RCT) impact evaluation of over 1,300 K-3 students at 23 participating schools who were determined to be eligible for the MRC program during the 2012-2013 school year. The goal of the impact evaluation was to determine both the short- and long-term impacts of the MRC program on elementary students’ literacy outcomes
04/13/2021. Research Study
THIS STUDY investigated the effectiveness of combining enhanced classroom instruction and intense supplemental intervention for scriiggling readers in first grade, Further, it compared two supplemental interventions derived from distiiia theoretical orientations, examining them in terms of effects on academic outcomes and whether children's, characteristics were differentially related to an instructional intervention. One intervention (Proactive Reading) was aligned with behavioral theory and was derived from the mtxlel ot Direct Instruaion. The other intervention (Responsive Reading) was aligned with a cognitive theory and was derived from a cognitive-appretiticfship model. These interventions were provided to small groups of first-grade students at risk for reading difficulties. Students were assessed on various reading and reading-related measures associated with success in beginning reading. Results indicated that (a) first-grade students who were at risk for reading lailure and who received supplemental instruction in the Responsive or Proactive interventions scored higher on tneastires of reading and reading-related skills than students who received only enhanced classroom instruction, (b) enhanced classroom instruction appeared ro promote high levels of reading growth for many children at risk fot reading failure, (c) the two interventions were essentially equally effective even though they reflected different theoretical perspectives, and (d) children's characteristics did not differentially predict the eflecriveness of an intervention
04/13/2021. Research Study
Two studies—one quasi-experimental and one randomized experiment—were designed to evaluate the effectiveness of supplemental instruction in structural analysis and oral reading practice for second- and third-grade students with below-average word reading skills. Individual instruction was provided by trained paraeducators in single- and multiletter phoneme—grapheme correspondences; structural analysis of inflected, affixed, and multi-syllable words; exception word reading; and scaffolded oral reading practice. Both studies revealed short-term word level and fluency effects.
04/13/2021. Research Study
The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of a tutoring intervention provided by community tutors to kindergarten students at risk for reading difficulties. The 73 students were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: (a) tutoring 4 days a week, (b) tutoring 2 days a week, or (c) a control condition that provided small-group storybook reading 2 days a week. Children were administered reading and phonemic awareness pre- and posttreatment tests. Analyses revealed that students in the 4-day condition outperformed students in either the 2-day or control conditions on 3 reading measures. Effect sizes were .79, .90, and .83 on word identification, passage comprehension, and basic reading skills, respectively. Challenges and implications for managing community tutoring programs are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
04/13/2021. Research Study
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 1st-grade number knowledge tutoring with contrasting forms of practice. Tutoring occurred 3 times per week for 16 weeks. In each 30-min session, the major emphasis (25 min) was number knowledge; the other 5 min provided practice in 1 of 2 forms. Nonspeeded practice reinforced relations and principles addressed in number knowledge tutoring. Speeded practice promoted quick responding and use of efficient counting procedures to generate many correct responses. At-risk students were randomly assigned to number knowledge tutoring with speeded practice (n = 195), number knowledge tutoring with nonspeeded practice (n = 190), and control (no tutoring, n = 206). Each tutoring condition produced stronger learning than control on all 4 mathematics outcomes. Speeded practice produced stronger learning than nonspeeded practice on arithmetic and 2-digit calculations, but effects were comparable on number knowledge and word problems. Effects of both practice conditions on arithmetic were partially mediated by increased reliance on retrieval, but only speeded practice helped at-risk children compensate for weak reasoning ability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
04/13/2021. Research Study
Replication studies are extremely rare in education. This randomized controlled trial (RCT) is a scale-up replication of Fuchs et al., which in a sample of 139 found a statistically significant positive impact for Number Rockets, a small-group intervention for at-risk first graders that focused on building understanding of number operations. The study was relatively small scale (one site) and highly controlled. This replication was implemented at a much larger scale—in 76 schools in four urban districts; 994 at-risk students participated. Intervention students participated in approximately 30 hours of small-group work in addition to classroom instruction; control students received typical instruction and whatever assistance the teacher would normally provide. Intervention students showed significantly superior performance on a broad measure of mathematics proficiency.