No statistically significant positive
findings
Meets WWC standards without reservations
For:
-
Publication (findings for Adult Education)
Rating:
-
Meets WWC standards without reservations
because it is a randomized controlled trial with low attrition.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Comprehension outcomes—Indeterminate effect found for the domain
Outcome measure
|
Comparison
|
Period
|
Sample
|
Intervention mean
|
Comparison mean
|
Significant?
|
Improvement index
|
Evidence tier
|
Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised (WRMT-R): Passage Comprehension subtest
|
Adult Education vs.
Business as usual
|
2 Weeks
|
Full sample;
85 students
|
78.70
|
79.30
|
No
|
--
|
|
Gray Oral Reading Tests, Fourth Edition (GORT-4): Comprehension subtest
|
Adult Education vs.
Business as usual
|
2 Weeks
|
Full sample;
85 students
|
4.60
|
5.00
|
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.
-
Female: 63%
Male: 37%
-
- B
- A
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- I
- H
- J
- K
- L
- P
- M
- N
- O
- Q
- R
- S
- V
- U
- T
- W
- X
- Z
- Y
- a
- h
- i
- b
- d
- e
- f
- c
- g
- j
- k
- l
- m
- n
- o
- p
- q
- r
- s
- t
- u
- v
- x
- w
- y
Kansas
-
Race
Black |
|
45% |
Other or unknown |
|
22% |
White |
|
33% |
-
Ethnicity
Hispanic |
|
5% |
Not Hispanic or Latino |
|
95% |
Setting
The study took place in four adult education programs operated by a community-based organization in the Midwest. These programs included 28 reading classes.
Study sample
The initial sample consisted of 146 learners. There were 375 learners across all four studies. These learners were at least 16 years old, had withdrawn from secondary education without earning a credential or without attaining 8th grade equivalency in reading, writing, or math skills; and were U.S. citizens or authorized to work in the United States. Across the four studies, 63 percent of learners were female, and 33 percent were White. On average, learners had completed a level of education between 9th or 10th grade.
Intervention Group
The program taught learners to use the “READ” mnemonic: R – review the passage; E – evaluate the paragraph by asking themselves a question about what they are going to read; A – answer the question with a paraphrase; D – determine how to summarize a passage. In the first step, learners are taught to look for clues, and make predictions about the entire passage. After making a prediction, they recursively find main ideas and important details, and paraphrase small chunks of text, like paragraphs. Finally, they pull together all the information into a passage or document summary. Steps R and D are completed for the whole passage, and steps E and A are completed for each paragraph or chunk of text. In general, classes were planned for eight weeks, four days per week, and 50–60 minutes per day.
Comparison Group
Comparison group instructors continued to use their existing teaching practices. They delivered materials to prepare learners for the high school equivalency exam using whole group instruction, small groups, and individual tutoring. Comparison classes were also planned for eight weeks, four days per week, and 50–60 minutes per day.
Support for implementation
Research staff trained instructors in the treatment condition before the study began and gave them reading materials for adult learners. To monitor implementation, researchers collected instructors’ records of attendance and minutes of instruction and made audio- and video-recordings of all class sessions. The authors indicated that the differences between treatment and comparison groups in the number of minutes of instruction or learner attendance rates were not large enough to be distinguished from statistical noise. They also indicated that the treatment instructors taught the “READ” mnemonic strategy, and the comparison instructors did not.