Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC)
Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition® (CIRC®) is a comprehensive reading and writing program for students in grades 2–8. It includes story-related activities, direct instruction in reading comprehension, and integrated reading and language arts activities. Pairs of students (grouped either by or across ability levels) read to each other, predict how stories will end, summarize stories, write responses, and practice spelling, decoding, and vocabulary. Within cooperative teams of four, students work to understand the main idea of a story and work through the writing process. The CIRC® process includes teacher instruction, team practice, peer assessment, and team/partner recognition. A Spanish version of the program was also designed for grades 2–5.
Reviewed Research
Beginning Reading
|
Outcome domain |
Effectiveness rating |
Studies meeting standards |
Grades examined |
Students |
Improvement index |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comprehension |
|
2 studies meet standards | 3-4 | 712 |
|
| Bramlett, Ronald K. (1994) | 3 | 392 |
|
||
| Stevens, Robert J.; And Others. (1991) | 3-4 | 320 |
|
||
| Reading achievement |
|
1 study meets standards | 3-4 | 320 | -- |
| Stevens, Robert J.; And Others. (1991) | 3-4 | 320 |
|
Adolescent Literacy
|
Outcome domain |
Effectiveness rating |
Studies meeting standards |
Grades examined |
Students |
Improvement index |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comprehension |
|
2 studies meet standards | 2-6 | 903 |
|
| Jewell, M. E. (1994) | 2-6 | 30 |
|
||
| Stevens, Robert J.; Slavin, Robert E. (1995) | 2-6 | 873 |
|
||
| Literacy Achievement |
|
1 study meets standards | 2-6 | 873 |
|
| Stevens, Robert J.; Slavin, Robert E. (1995) | 2-6 | 873 |
|
A group of closely related outcomes.
A summary of the effectiveness of an intervention in an outcome domain, based on the quality of research, the statistical significance of findings, the magnitude of findings, and the consistency of findings across studies.
 Positive: strong evidence that intervention had a positive effect on outcomes. |
 Potentially Positive: evidence that intervention had a positive effect on outcomes with no overriding contrary evidence. |
 Mixed: evidence that intervention’s effect on outcomes is inconsistent. |
 No Discernible: no evidence that intervention had an effect on outcomes. |
 Potentially Negative: evidence that intervention had a negative effect on outcomes with no overriding contrary evidence. |
 Negative: strong evidence that intervention had a negative effect on outcomes. |
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for rating of effectiveness.
The number of studies that met WWC design standards and provide evidence of effectiveness. Selecting an item below will display all studies that met WWC design studies in the domain. Selecting a study citation will take you to more information on that study and its findings.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for study rating.
Grades of the students examined in the studies that met WWC design standards, which may not reflect the full range of grades for which the intervention may be used.
The number of students included in the studies that met WWC design standards.
The sample size for the studies that met WWC design standards.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
The indicator represents the highest level of similarity found between your students and each of the high-quality studies of the intervention. Three filled in ovals indicates that at least one study that met standards was conducted on students very similar to yours. Clicking on the indicator for a study will provide information on the similarity for each of the characteristics you selected.