WWC Quick Review of the Report "The Enhanced Reading Opportunities Study:
Findings from the Second Year of Implementation"1
Features of the Supplementary Literacy Classes
Funded through competitive grants from the U.S. Department of Education
Target ninth-grade students reading two to five years below grade level
Full-year classes offered in addition to regular language arts instruction
Teachers receive special training and technical assistance in reading instruction
Students who participate average 11 hours of supplemental instruction per month
What is this study about? This study examined whether supplemental literacy classes improve the reading skills of struggling ninth-grade readers.
Over 2,000 students from 34 high schools in 10 school districts participated in the study.
Each participating high school was assigned to use one of two supplemental literacy programs: Reading Apprenticeship Academic Literacy or Xtreme Reading.
Within each school, students were randomly assigned to enroll in either a supplementary reading class or one of the school’s other regularly offered elective classes.
The research groups were compared at the end of the school year on standardized tests of reading comprehension and vocabulary.
WWC Rating
The research described in this report is consistent with WWC evidence standards
Strengths: This study is a well-implemented randomized controlled trial.
What did the study authors report?
The study authors found that the supplemental literacy classes led to a statistically significant increase in student test scores for reading comprehension. The intervention did not affect vocabulary test scores, however
The effect size for comprehension was 0.08, equivalent to moving a student from the 50th to 53rd percentile.
1Corrin, W., Somers, M.-A., Kemple, J., Nelson, E., & Sepanik, S. (2009).
The Enhanced Reading Opportunities study: Findings from the second year of implementation (NCEE 2009-4036). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.
WWC quick reviews are based on the evidence published in the report cited and rely on effect sizes and significance levels as reported by study authors. WWC does not confirm study authors’ findings or contact authors for additional information about the study. The WWC rating refers only to the results summarized above and not necessarily to all results presented in the study.
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