The Effects of Cooperative Learning and Direct Instruction in Reading Comprehension Strategies on Main Idea Identification.
Stevens, Robert J.; And Others (1991). Journal of Educational Psychology, v83 n1 p8-16. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ436861
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examining320Students, grades3-4
Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) Intervention Report - Beginning Reading
Review Details
Reviewed: June 2012
- Randomized controlled trial
- Meets WWC standards without reservations
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Please see the WWC summary of evidence for Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC).
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Main Idea Questions |
Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) vs. Business as usual |
Posttest |
Grades 3 and 4;
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6.40 |
4.74 |
Yes |
|
|
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Inference Questions |
Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) vs. Business as usual |
Posttest |
Grades 3 and 4;
|
5.69 |
5.28 |
No |
-- |
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) |
Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) vs. Business as usual |
Posttest |
Grades 3 and 4;
|
-0.07 |
-0.09 |
No |
-- |
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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Pennsylvania
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Race Black 69% Other or unknown 2% White 19% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 11% Not Hispanic or Latino 89%
Study Details
Setting
This study took place in four schools in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Study sample
The study is a classroom-level randomized controlled trial. A total of 30 third- and fourth-grade classrooms in four schools were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (balanced by grade): 1. 10 classrooms with 153 students were assigned to the CIRC® (direct instruction with cooperative learning) group, 2. 10 classrooms with 166 students were assigned to the direct instruction group without cooperative learning (DI), and 3. 10 classrooms with 167 students were assigned to the business-as-usual comparison group. Both groups 1 and 2 used CIRC® materials on main idea comprehension during direct instruction, but group 2 did not use the cooperative learning component of CIRC®. Therefore, for the purposes of this report, the effects of CIRC® are estimated by comparing the CIRC® group against the business- as-usual comparison group. These results are shown in Appendices C.1 and C.2.
Intervention Group
Four days each week, the direct instruction with cooperative learning group (group 1) spent half of its reading time using CIRC® materials. Teachers taught comprehension strategies and metacomprehension skills as a part of the CIRC® curriculum. Following this instruction, students worked in teams on follow-up activities. The study reported student outcomes after four weeks of program implementation.
Comparison Group
The classrooms in the comparison group used traditional methods and curriculum materials. This included the use of a basal reading series with related workbook and follow-up worksheet activities.
Outcome descriptions
Two investigator-developed assessments were used: One measured a student’s ability to recall the main idea of a passage, and a second measured a student’s ability to make correct inferences from a reading passage. End-of-year reading achievement scores from a standardized test, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, also were used as outcomes in this study. For a more detailed description of these outcome measures, see Appendix B.
Support for implementation
Teachers in the intervention condition received a one-day (six-hour) training in CIRC® by a certified trainer and received all of the supplemental materials necessary for the CIRC® reading program.
Additional Sources
In the case of multiple manuscripts that report on one study, the WWC selects one manuscript as the primary citation and lists other manuscripts that describe the study as additional sources.
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Stevens, R. J., Slavin, R. E., & Farnish, A. M. (1989). The effects of cooperative learning and direct instruction in reading comprehension strategies on main idea identification (Report No. 44). Baltimore, MD: Center for Research on Elementary and Middle Schools.
Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) Intervention Report - Adolescent Literacy
Review Details
Reviewed: August 2010
- The study is ineligible for review because it does not disaggregate findings for the age or grade range specified in the protocol.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Please see the WWC summary of evidence for Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC).
Findings
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Study sample characteristics were not reported.Additional Sources
In the case of multiple manuscripts that report on one study, the WWC selects one manuscript as the primary citation and lists other manuscripts that describe the study as additional sources.
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Stevens, R. J., Slavin, R. E., & Farnish, A. M. (1989). The effects of cooperative learning and direct instruction in reading comprehension strategies on main idea identification (Report No. 44). Baltimore, MD: Center for Research on Elementary and Middle Schools.
Direct Instruction and CIRC Intervention Report - Beginning Reading
Review Details
Reviewed: December 2005
- The study is ineligible for review because it does not disaggregate findings for the age or grade range specified in the protocol.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Please see the WWC summary of evidence for Direct Instruction and CIRC.
Findings
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Study sample characteristics were not reported.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.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
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