Student and Teacher Outcomes of The Superkids Quasi-Experimental Study
Borman, Geoffrey D.; Dowling, N. Maritza (2009). Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, v14 n3 p207-225 2009. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ862877
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examining726Students, gradeK
Practice Guide
Review Details
Reviewed: March 2024
- Practice Guide (findings for Superkids Reading Program)
- Quasi-Experimental Design
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it uses a quasi-experimental design in which the analytic intervention and comparison groups satisfy the baseline equivalence requirement.
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.
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Stanford Early School Achievement Test (SESAT) - Word Reading |
Superkids Reading Program vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
N/A |
N/A |
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
Study sample characteristics were not reported.Study Details
Setting
The study was conducted in 12 schools across the United States with diversity in geographic and demographic characteristics. The Superkids Reading Program was implemented at the classroom level.
Study sample
Students in the study were in kindergarten. The treatment classrooms were comprised of about 55% minority students, compared with 49% in the comparison condition. Students in the treatment classrooms scored 0.03 SD units below the overall grand mean while students in the comparison classrooms scored 0.02 SD units above the grand mean on the baseline composite pretest. Treatment teachers had on average, 16.74 years of experience, 26% had earned a master's degree and 78% were certified in reading, compared with the comparison teachers who had 13.70 years of experience, 30% had attained a master's degree, and 90% were certified in reading. 12 schools participated in the study; 10 schools contained both treatment and comparison classrooms while the 1 school contained only treatment classrooms and 1 school contained only comparison classrooms. The schools were located in a variety of cities and towns across the United States. The average non-White enrollment was about 50% and the free and reduced price lunch participation rate was about 35%. The schools were diverse in terms of geographic and demographic characteristics but mostly served minority children with below national norms on the Total Reading pretest of the Stanford Early School Achievement Test (SESAT).
Intervention Group
The Superkids is a systematic, phonics-based, comprehensive K-2 reading program (this study evaluated Superkids in a sample of kindergarten students). The Superkids emphasizes that reading skills should be developed in parallel with other language skills and covers 13 strands simultaneously and in support of one another: 1. Phonemic awareness 2. Phonics 3. Fluency 4. Comprehension 5. Vocabulary 6. Listening and speaking 7. Handwriting 8. Spelling 9. Expressive writing 10. Early literacy 11. Grammar/usage/mechanics 12. Structural analysis 13. Study skills The kindergarten version of The Superkids consists of 2 levels of instruction. The first level "Meet the Superkids" is the introductory level, which is implemented during the first half of kindergarten. The focus of this level is on 13 letters of the alphabet (5 short vowels and 8 consonants). The second level "Superkids' Club" is implemented during the second half of kindergarten where kids continue to work on decoding and encoding, as well as blending sounds.
Comparison Group
Business as usual: A variety of core reading programs ordinarily implemented across the comparison classrooms. Most teachers mentioned using Saxon Phonics, Houghton-Mifflin, Scott Foresman, and Rigby Phonics.
Support for implementation
As part of The Superkids intervention, teachers participated in a one-day professional development seminar to learn about best practices for teaching The Superkids. In addition, each school received unlimited phone support and 3-5 on-site support visits. The teachers received The Superkids curricular and ancillary materials, which consisted of student books, student whiteboards, teachers' guides, and assessment books.
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.
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The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
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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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Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).