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Research
Fifty-nine studies reviewed by the WWC investigated the effects of Failure Free Reading. One study (Torgesen et al., 2006) was a randomized controlled trial that met WWC evidence standards. The remaining 58 studies did not meet evidence screens.
Torgesen et al. (2006) examined the effects of Failure Free Reading on 93 third-grade students in eight school units4 in Pennsylvania. Students in the comparison group participated in the regular reading program at their schools.
Extent of evidence
The WWC categorizes the extent of evidence in each domain as small or medium to large (see the What Works Clearinghouse Extent of Evidence Categorization Scheme). The extent of evidence takes into account the number of studies and the total sample size across the studies that met WWC evidence standards with or without reservations. 5
The WWC considers the extent of evidence for Failure Free Reading to be small for alphabetics, fluency, and comprehension. No studies that met WWC evidence standards with or without reservations addressed general reading achievement.
5 The Extent of Evidence Categorization was developed to tell readers how much evidence was used to determine the intervention rating, focusing on the number and size of studies. Additional factors associated with a related concept, external validity, such as the students' demographics and the types of settings in which studies took place, are not taken into account for the categorization.
