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Effectiveness
Findings
The WWC review of interventions for beginning reading addresses student outcomes in four domains: alphabetics, fluency, comprehension, and general reading achievement. 4 The Baker, Gersten, & Keating (2000) study reported outcomes in the first three domains. The findings below report outcomes assessed at the end of second grade. 5
Alphabetics. The Baker, Gersten, & Keating (2000) study reported a statistically significant positive effect of SMART® on the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests–Revised (WRMT-R) word identification subtest. This result was confirmed by the WWC.
Fluency. The Baker, Gersten, & Keating (2000) study reported, and the WWC confirmed, statistically significant positive effects of SMART® on the Oral Reading Fluency test, first- and second-grade passages (both administered to students at the end of second grade).
Comprehension. The Baker, Gersten, & Keating (2000) study reported a statistically significant positive effect of SMART® on the word comprehension subtest of the WRMT-R, and no statistically significant effect on the passage comprehension subtest of the WRMT-R. The WWC did not find that either of these effects was statistically significant. The average effect size across the two outcomes, however, was large enough to be considered substantively important according to WWC criteria (that is, an effect size of at least 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 effects. The rating of effectiveness takes into account four factors: the quality of the research design, the statistical significance of the findings,6 the size of the difference between participants in the intervention and the comparison conditions, and the consistency in findings across studies (see the WWC Intervention Rating Scheme).
5 Outcomes assessed at the end of second grade are shown in Appendices A3.1–A3.3 and outcomes assessed at the end of first grade are shown in Appendices A4.1–A4.3.
6 The level of statistical significance was reported by the study authors or, where necessary, calculated by the WWC to correct for clustering within classrooms or schools and for multiple comparisons. For an explanation, see the WWC Tutorial on Mismatch. See the Technical Details of WWC-Conducted Computations for the formulas the WWC used to calculate the statistical significance. In the case of the Start Making a Reader Today®, a correction for multiple comparisons was needed for some domains.
