WWC review of this study

Improved reading skills by students in the Perrysburg Exempted Village Schools who used Fast ForWord® products.

Scientific Learning Corporation. (2008). MAPS for Learning: Educator Reports, 12(2), 1–6.

  • Quasi-Experimental Design
     examining 
    308
     Students
    , grade
    2

Reviewed: March 2013

No statistically significant positive
findings
Meets WWC standards with reservations
Reading Fluency outcomes—Indeterminate effect found for the domain
Outcome
measure
Comparison Period Sample Intervention
mean
Comparison
mean
Significant? Improvement
    index
Evidence
tier

Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS): Oral Reading Fluency subtest

Fast ForWord® vs. business as usual

post

Grade 2;
308 students

101.40

94.80

No

--


Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.

Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.

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    Ohio

Setting

The study was conducted in the four Perrysburg Exempted Village Schools, located in northern Ohio. The schools belong to one of the highest achieving districts in the state of Ohio.

Study sample

The study was conducted during the fall of the 2006–07 school year with second-grade students from four elementary schools. Students from two schools were assigned to the intervention group, and students from the other two schools were assigned to the comparison group. The analysis sample consisted of 127 students who received Fast ForWord® products and 181 students in the comparison group. The WWC verified that the groups were equivalent at baseline for the analysis sample and subsample of high performing students. Findings for the analysis sample can be found in Appendix C.2. Additional findings reflecting high-performing students’ outcomes can be found in Appendix D.2.21

Intervention Group

Students in the intervention group used the Fast ForWord® Language Basics, Fast ForWord® Language, Fast ForWord® Language to Reading, Fast ForWord® to Reading 1, and Fast ForWord® to Reading 2 products for 30 to 50 minutes per day for an average of 57 days over a 4-month period.

Comparison Group

Students in the comparison group participated in their schools’ regular reading curriculum

Outcome descriptions

For both the pretest and posttest, students took the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) Oral Reading Fluency subtest. For a more detailed description of this outcome measure, see Appendix B.

Support for implementation

Teachers were provided information about how phonemic awareness and speech sounds impact language development and reading skills. Teachers were also trained in methods for assessment of potential candidates for participation, the selection of appropriate measures for testing and evaluation, evaluation methods, and effective implementation techniques.

In the case of multiple manuscripts that report on one study, the WWC selects one manuscript as the primary citation and lists other manuscripts that describe the study as additional sources.

  • Scientific Learning Corporation. (2008). Students in Perrysburg, Ohio, improve their reading fluency after using Fast ForWord products: Educator’s briefing. Oakland, CA: Author. Retrieved from http://www.scilearn.com

Reviewed: August 2010



Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.

Study sample characteristics were not reported.
 

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