Search

This study examined the role of fidelity in the reading outcomes within a Tier 2 intervention implemented by Spanish kindergarten and first grade school teachers. For this purpose, differences in reading performance growth were analyzed among at-risk students who received a Tier 2 intervention with high fidelity, at-risk students who received the same intervention with medium fidelity, and an at-risk control group that did not receive a Tier 2 intervention. Implementation fidelity was analyzed using direct observations and self-reports. All students were assessed three times during the academic year. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses were conducted to explore differences in growth rate. The at-risk children in the intervention condition showed a higher growth compared to at-risk children in the control condition, and specifically when the intervention was delivered with a high degree of fidelity.

The authors used a large data set (N = 1,011,549) to examine literacy growth over a single school year comparing general education (GenEd) students to three high-risk subgroups: English language learners (ELL), those with a specific learning disability (LD), and those identified as both LD and ELL (LD-ELL) in students in Grades 3-10. The authors were particularly interested in whether variability existed between initial status and the growth trajectories of the three high-risk groups on measures of spelling, fluency, and reading comprehension across the school year and whether this variability was differentiated because of socioeconomic status (SES) as defined by free and reduced lunch (FRL) status. Results indicate that all high-risk groups began the year at substantially lower levels than their GenEd peers, with the largest differences seen between the LD-ELL students and the other subgroups. Further results suggest that students who are in the high-risk subgroups and also qualify for FRL perform significantly worse than their peers in similar risk status groups who do not qualify for FRL, demonstrating the significant impact of SES on academic outcomes for all groups., (© Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2012.)

Some Swedish schools do not identify and support students with reading difficulties efficiently enough during the first years at school. A longitudinal design was used to examine a multitiered RtI-model for identifying and supporting students at risk of reading difficulties in a Swedish school context. The results demonstrated that the RtI-model could be successfully applied. The proportion of students in need of support (i.e., below the 25th percentile) was significantly reduced after two years. Compared to students in the reference group (n  = 759), significantly fewer students in the RtI group (n  = 113) scored below the 25th percentile in word and non-word decoding and reading comprehension in a short text at the end of Grade 2. The discussion highlights the RtI-model’s original ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student–teacher relationships are crucial for adolescents' adjustment in the school context. The aim of the present study was to examine the role of teacher closeness in academic emotions and achievement among adolescents with and without learning difficulties during the first year in lower secondary school. Students' learning difficulties (LDs) were identified based on tested reading and math skills. In addition, students evaluated their teacher relationships and rated academic emotions in literacy and math domains. The results indicated that higher teacher closeness was related to increasing positive emotions and increasing literacy achievement during seventh grade, whereas lower levels of teacher closeness were associated with increasing learning-related anger and boredom. The results were mostly similar for students with and without LDs, which indicates that students in general benefit from close teacher relationships during the first year in lower secondary school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to better understand how schools were addressing U.S. state policies targeting summer reading interventions for students not meeting accountability standards. Survey data were gathered from 580 public and private elementary schools in one state (67% response rate) regarding the barriers to offering summer programs, characteristics of the students served, amount of instructional and enrichment time provided, curricular materials used, means of monitoring students' progress, and staff qualifications. Approximately 65% of respondents held summer reading programs, despite not being required or specially funded to do so. Because the programs usually were intended for students not reading proficiently and those in special education, we discuss the practical implications of common program features and the potential misalignment with the existing literature base guiding the design of summer programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to triangulate four data sources - Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELSNext), Easy Curriculum-Based Measures (easyCBM), Test of Silent Reading Efficiency and Comprehension (TOSREC), and Classroom-Based Written Assessment - to identify students at risk for reading difficulties. Participants were 1,025 students in Grades 1, 3, and 5 attending low-cost, middle-cost, and high-cost private schools in an urban city center in Southern India. In general, we found that a larger percentage of students were identified as being at risk when we used the reading measures alone, but the numbers reduced considerably when we triangulated those scores with the written assessment. For students in Grade 1, we found that a median of 5% of students were identified as at risk across all school sites using the four data sources; for students in Grades 3 and 5, this percentage increased to 20%. Implications for reading assessment and intervention in the Indian context are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate and timely identification of reading disabilities (RDs) is essential for providing appropriate and effective remediation for struggling readers. However, practices for identifying RDs lack sufficient documentation within and across educational and clinical settings. The wide range of possible practices intended to identify struggling readers can render the field vulnerable to inconsistencies in how the needs of struggling readers are recognized and supported. To better understand the range of current practices used to identify RDs in school-age children, we created and disseminated a survey nationally, and analyzed data from 965 practitioners. The findings indicate lengthy timelines to identify RDs; substantial variability in the composition of assessment teams, identification criteria, and diagnostic labels; and notable opportunities for enhancing practitioner training experiences. This study aims to promote cross-contextual dialogue about the identification of RDs and their implications for students' educational experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many students fall below benchmarks in the area of fractions computation, particularly students with disabilities. Self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) is one strategy with proven effectiveness for improving outcomes for students with disabilities, although very few studies have applied SRSD to the area of mathematics. In this study, we used SRSD Fractions to teach adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, simplifying fractions, and converting fractions to mixed numbers using the mnemonics FILMS, CUT, and EDIT. A researcher provided instruction in small groups to fifth-grade students at risk for disabilities. The results from use of a multiple-baseline-across-groups design suggest a functional relationship between SRSD Fractions and 8 fifth-grade students' digits correct on timed fraction probes. Results from treatment fidelity, social validity, and academic engagement during the intervention are also reported. We also discuss limitations and directions for future researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports on the instruction provided in district-designed intensive summer reading programs. The Tier 3 intervention was provided to 374 students from 24 school districts who were not meeting the end of third-grade reading benchmarks; students were exiting third grade and entering fourth grade. Observations of the 40 classes were conducted near the beginning, middle, and end of the average 23 days of instruction, and analyzed to capture the proportion of time spent in various instructional groupings (e.g., whole class, small group) and components (e.g., phonological awareness, comprehension). Findings revealed that most time was spent in whole-class instruction, despite the need to offer students a more intensive intervention. Only two thirds of instructional time was spent specifically in reading-related activities. Approximately 30% of literacy instruction was code-focused (e.g., phonics), and 70% was meaning-focused (e.g., comprehension). The discussion addresses the alignment of observations with prior research on effective instruction and implications for designing future district-designed intensive summer reading programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nine first-grade children at risk for reading failure were selected to participate in remedial reading interventions. These first-grade students scored below benchmark target and grade level expectancies on measures of early reading skills, including AIMSweb Nonsense Word Fluency and Northwest Evaluation Association Measures of Academic Progress (NWEA MAP) for Primary Reading, or received a teacher referral based on oral reading fluency scores. Interventions occurred four times a week for 11 weeks, and included 10 minutes of direct phonemic awareness instruction and 10 minutes of sight word games. Data were collected on students' oral reading fluency, sight word identification, and motivation to read. Students were found to be more engaged and voiced a preference for sight word card and board games over the tablet apps. Results indicated that games as interventions can accelerate sight word learning and are highly effective for sight word achievement in first-grade students when combined with direct instruction on phonemic awareness. The participants improved at a rate double that of previously studied, remedial first-grade students. Results also indicated that intervention games in remedial reading programs have a direct impact on student engagement, but not necessarily on a student's self-concept as a reader. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated a scheduling methodology referred to as intervention-based scheduling to address the problem of practice regarding the fidelity of implementing Response to Intervention (RtI) in an existing school schedule design. Employing panel data, this study used fixed-effects regressions and first differences ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models to analyze the impact of intervention-based scheduling on student reading achievement and growth. Findings suggest that an intervention-based scheduling design holds promise for addressing the commonly reported concern of implementing interventions with fidelity. Results indicate that students obtained higher rates of achievement and growth in the area of reading while receiving instruction through an intervention-based schedule design. Students accessing Tier 2 interventions demonstrated higher growth rates in reading than those not accessing Tier 2 interventions. However, additional research is required to determine the extent to which intervention-based scheduling may influence other educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the classification accuracy of early static prereading measures and early dynamic assessment reading measures administered to 600 kindergarten students. At the beginning of kindergarten, all of the participants were administered two commonly used static prereading measures. The participants were then administered either a dynamic assessment featuring an onset-rime decoding strategy or a dynamic assessment featuring a sound-by-sound strategy. At the end of first grade, those same participants’ reading ability was assessed using multiple reading measures. Results indicated that the dynamic assessments yielded significantly higher classification accuracy over the static measures, but that the classification accuracy of the two dynamic assessments did not differ significantly. Sensitivity for the static measures was less than 80%, and specificity ranged from 33% to 51%. The sensitivity and specificity for the dynamic assessments was greater than 80% for all children, with the exception of specificity for the Hispanic children, which was at or greater than 70%. Results also indicated that the combination of static and dynamic measures did not improve the classification accuracy over the dynamic assessments alone. Dynamic assessment appears to be a promising approach to classifying young children at risk for future reading difficulty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to compare the results of a regression discontinuity design (RDD) with those of an experimental design of a tiered vocabulary intervention for children at risk for reading disability to determine RDD's feasibility as a research methodology for this type of study. Researchers reanalyzed an archival dataset of a previous study that determined the effectiveness of the intervention through a randomized experiment. Results were comparable for the receptive outcome scores in direction, magnitude, and significance, although the magnitude of the treatment effect for the RDD was slightly higher. Results were also comparable for contextual outcome scores with respect to direction and magnitude. We present possible reasons for the different results between studies, limitations, and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fourth graders whose silent word reading and/or sentence reading rate was, on average, two-thirds standard deviation below their oral reading of real and pseudowords and reading comprehension accuracy were randomly assigned to treatment (n = 7) or wait-listed (n = 7) control groups. Following nine sessions combining computerized rapid-accelerated-reading program (RAP), which individually tailors rate of written text presentation to comprehension criterion (80%), and self-regulated strategies for attending and engaging, the treated group significantly outperformed the wait-listed group before treatment on (a) a grade-normed, silent sentence reading rate task requiring lexical- and syntactic-level processing to decide which of three sentences makes sense and (b) RAP presentation rates yoked to comprehension accuracy level. Each group improved significantly on these same outcomes from before to after instruction. Attention ratings and working memory for written words predicted posttreatment accuracy, which correlated significantly with the silent sentence reading rate score. Implications are discussed for (a) preventing silent reading disabilities during the transition to increasing emphasis on silent reading, (b) evidence-based approaches for making accommodation of extra time on timed tests requiring silent reading, and (c) combining computerized instruction with strategies for self-regulation during silent reading. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the efficacy of a multitiered systemic reading intervention for increasing the intensity and quality of explicit literacy instruction that teachers provide in first-grade classrooms. Schools (j = 16) were randomly assigned to the treatment or comparison condition. In both conditions, teachers (i = 42) provided 90 min of Tier I reading instruction to first-grade students (n = 883). In the treatment condition, Tier I classroom teachers were trained to enhance their core reading instruction by making instruction more explicit and intensive through standardized protocols and ongoing coaching support. At-risk treatment students (n = 240) also received an additional 30 min of Tier II supplemental reading intervention that was highly aligned with Tier I instruction. The focus of this study is on the Tier I portion of the multitiered intervention and the impact of the Tier I Enhancing Core Reading Instruction intervention on teacher practices. Results indicate positive effects of the Tier I intervention on the quality of explicit instruction and the frequency and accuracy of group practice opportunities provided to students. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Paraprofessionals are widely employed in response to intervention (RTI) settings to provide instruction to students at-risk for reading disabilities. However, little research has addressed effective and efficient ways to train these paraprofessionals to deliver instruction with high fidelity. In addition, given the limited time and finances available in most districts, training needs to be as efficient as possible. This study assessed the effects of a 5-hour fluency training package on the presentation rates, praise rates, and error correction accuracy of five paraprofessionals providing supplemental reading instruction within an RTI system using a multiple baseline design across participants. Students’ reading accuracy and percentage of intervals with on-task behavior were evaluated. Paraprofessionals generally increased their presentation rates, praise rates, and error correction accuracy. Students’ behaviors were affected less. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The present study examines how sixth grade students’ discussions about texts and comprehension strategies looked similar and/or different based on their identities as readers and their reading levels. Findings indicated that students who self-identified as high-performing readers talked about texts and strategies in ways that were different from students who self-identified as being average or low-performing readers. These differences remained regardless of students’ assessed reading levels. Students who identified as high-performing readers discussed using comprehension strategies as a way to clarify or deepen their knowledge of content and to support their interpretations of text. They also selected strategies based on what they believed would best help them address their specific comprehension problems. By comparison, students who identified as average or low-performing readers separated their talk about strategies from their talk about the texts and tended to have one or two favorite strategies that they repeatedly used regardless of their success. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Children with mild disabilities experience sufficient failure to produce negative future expectations (goals), which may compound early academic and social deficits. This research compared the teacher- and student-rated goals of 57 children at two age levels, who were average learners, had a reading problem/disability (RP), and were hyperactive or had ADHD (H). In line with predictions of academic impairment, the findings were that students with RP were teacher-rated more than the H group as less motivated to do their best (work avoidant), especially at older age levels, with fewer goals related to self-determination. Students with H also reported fewer preferences to work well with others and preferred to work independently (social avoidance goals), in line with their social impairment (more than the RP group). Educational implications are presented for identification, for timing of intervention, and for differentiating instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This longitudinal study focused on the effects of two different principles of intervention in children at risk of developing dyslexia from 5 to 8 years old. The children were selected on the basis of a background questionnaire given to parents and preschool teachers, with cognitive and functional magnetic resonance imaging results substantiating group differences in neuropsychological processes associated with phonology, orthography, and phoneme—grapheme correspondence (i.e., alphabetic principle). The two principles of intervention were bottom-up (BU), “from sound to meaning”, and top-down (TD), “from meaning to sound.” Thus, four subgroups were established: risk/BU, risk/TD, control/BU, and control/TD. Computer-based training took place for 2 months every spring, and cognitive assessments were performed each fall of the project period. Measures of preliteracy skills for reading and spelling were phonological awareness, working memory, verbal learning, and letter knowledge. Literacy skills were assessed by word reading and spelling. At project end the control group scored significantly above age norm, whereas the risk group scored within the norm. In the at-risk group, training based on the BU principle had the strongest effects on phonological awareness and working memory scores, whereas training based on the TD principle had the strongest effects on verbal learning, letter knowledge, and literacy scores. It was concluded that appropriate, specific, data-based intervention starting in preschool can mitigate literacy impairment and that interventions should contain BU training for preliteracy skills and TD training for literacy training. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This experimental study was designed to validate a short-term supplemental reading intervention for at-risk first-grade children. Although substantial research on long-term supplemental reading interventions exists, less is known about short-term interventions. Thirty first-grade children were randomly assigned to intervention or control conditions. Students in the intervention received 16 hours of instruction. Analyses of pre- and posttest data and growth measures suggest that short-term supplemental reading intervention had a significant effect on children’s reading skills; however, effects were not consistent across measures. Parent and teacher ratings moderated significant effects. Findings support the validity of a brief intervention for students at risk for reading failure that may inform Tier 2 interventions within a Response to Intervention framework. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this study was to determine how a response-to-intervention (RTI) model was implemented with a large percentage of Latino English language learners who were having reading difficulties in an urban elementary school at the primary level (K-2). The authors sought to describe school personnel's perceptions of RTI, what the model looked like in their school, and the challenges they faced. The authors focused on how teachers' understandings, beliefs, judgments, professional development, and training affected the RTI decision-making process by investigating classroom-based literacy instruction and problem-solving meetings. This study contributes to the literature by presenting a qualitative, in-depth description of how teachers implemented an RTI model for English language learners. These themes were intertwined and functioned as a negative cycle that created a deficits-based RTI literacy model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluate the effectiveness of three theoretically motivated programmes for the teaching of reading to four-year-old children. Four hundred and ten children, of pre-kindergarten age, in 20 UK Reception-year classrooms were divided into four matched groups and randomly assigned to one of three experimental teaching conditions, Reading with Rhyme, Reading with Phoneme, Reading with Rhyme and Phoneme, or to a taught control condition (Reading). In each condition the Reading element contained a strong phonic component. There were no selective effects of the different experimental teaching programmes for normally developing children. However, for those children identified as being at risk of reading failure, training in phoneme skills resulted in selective gains in phoneme awareness and in reading skills. A reading programme that contains a highly structured phonic component is sufficient for most 4.5-year-old children to master the alphabetic principle and to learn to read effectively, without additional explicit phonological training. In contrast, for young children at risk of reading delay, additional training in phoneme awareness and linking phonemes with letters is beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]