Presenters:
Rollanda E. O'Connor, University of California at Riverside
H. Lee Swanson, University of California at Riverside
Abstract: In this research this year we are evaluating two methods to improve the reading rate of struggling readers. Poor readers in Grades 2 and 4 with and without LD were blocked by reading ability within class and randomly assigned to one of two practice variations or to a control group. The 80 students in the treatments practiced reading aloud under repeated or continuous reading conditions with an adult listener in 15 minute sessions, 3 days per week for 20 weeks.
By the end of May, we will have data that enable comparisons between treatments, between treated and control students, and between treated students and their average achieving classmates. We are specifically interested in differences in fluency, word identification, vocabulary growth, and reading comprehension. As the data sample grows over the three years of the research, we will consider the influence of improvement in reading rate on comprehension of poor readers.