Effectiveness

Findings

The WWC review of interventions for Beginning Reading addresses student outcomes in four domains: alphabetics, fluency, comprehension, and general reading achievement. The study included in this report covers two domains: alphabetics and comprehension. Within alphabetics, results for two constructs, phonological awareness and phonics, are reported. The findings below present the authors’ estimates and WWCcalculated estimates of the size and the statistical significance of the effects of EIR^®on students.⁶

Alphabetics. The Taylor et al. (1991) study findings for this domain are based on students’ performance on two measures of alphabetics: (1) segmentation and blending and (2) vowel sounds. When the EIR^® group was compared with the comparison group, the study authors found, and the WWC confirmed, statistically significant positive effects on both measures.

Comprehension. The Taylor et al. (1991) study findings for the comprehension domain are based on the performance of EIR^® students and comparison students on a standardized reading test (Gates-MacGinitie). The study authors did not find statistically significant effects of EIR^®, but the effect was positive and large enough to be considered substantively important according to WWC criteria (that is, an effect size greater than or equal to 0.25).

Rating of effectiveness

The WWC rates the effects of an intervention in a given outcome domain as positive, potentially positive, mixed, no discernible effects, potentially negative, or negative. The rating of effectiveness takes into account four factors: the quality of the research design, the statistical significance of the findings (as calculated by the WWC), the size of the difference between participants in the intervention condition and the comparison condition, and the consistency in findings across studies (see the WWC Intervention Rating Scheme).