Efficacy of Supplemental Phonics-Based Instruction for Low-Skilled First Graders: How Language Minority Status and Pretest Characteristics Moderate Treatment Response
Vadasy, Patricia F.; Sanders, Elizabeth A. (2011). Scientific Studies of Reading, v15 n6 p471-497 2011. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ945761
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examining89Students, grade1
Practice Guide
Review Details
Reviewed: February 2023
- Practice Guide (findings for Supplemental phonics instruction—Vadasy and Sanders (2011))
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards without reservations because it is a randomized controlled trial with low attrition.
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
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Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Wide Range Achievement Test - Revised (WRAT-R): Spelling Subtest |
Supplemental phonics instruction—Vadasy and Sanders (2011) vs. Business as usual |
20 Weeks |
Students who only spoke English at home;
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123.41 |
95.91 |
Yes |
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|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Woodcock Reading Mastery Test - Revised-Normative Update (WRMT-R/NU): Word Attack and Word Identification Subtests |
Supplemental phonics instruction—Vadasy and Sanders (2011) vs. Business as usual |
20 Weeks |
Students who only spoke English at home;
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110.65 |
104.57 |
Yes |
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| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
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Woodcock Reading Mastery Test - Revised-Normative Update (WRMT-R/NU): Word Attack and Word Identification Subtests |
Supplemental phonics instruction—Vadasy and Sanders (2011) vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Grade 2, Spring: Students who only spoke English at home;
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107.23 |
102.26 |
No |
-- | ||
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Woodcock Reading Mastery Test - Revised-Normative Update (WRMT-R/NU): Word Attack and Word Identification Subtests |
Supplemental phonics instruction—Vadasy and Sanders (2011) vs. Business as usual |
2 Years |
Grade 3, Spring: Students who only spoke English at home;
|
106.76 |
102.37 |
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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Urban, Urban
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West, West
Study Details
Setting
The original study took place in 11 U. S urban public elementary schools in the Pacific Northwest that were known to have large numbers of students who preformed below proficiency on the state reading tests.
Study sample
For the randomized sample, intervention characteristics are: 53% male, 0% English Language Learners, 67% free and reduced price lunch, 4% special education, 18% Asian, 59% black, 15% Hispanic, and 15% mixed/other race. For the comparison group in the randomized sample, the characteristics are: 55% male, 0% English Language Learners, 64% free and reduced price lunch, 5% special education, 22% Asian, 35% black, 8% Hispanic, and 4% mixed/other race.
Intervention Group
The intervention included a set of 108 scripted lessons involving letter-sound correspondences, phoneme decoding, irregular words, spelling, and oral reading practice. Each one-on-one tutoring session included four to eight short components along with a decodable storybook for oral reading practice. Sessions were 30 minutes long, four days a week, for every week between the fall pretest and spring post-test of the study. Intervention students received an average of 66.3 tutoring sessions and completed an average of 60.03 lessons. Implementation fidelity was reported as a 4.49 average on a five-point scale where five equals always implements correctly and one equals never implements correctly.
Comparison Group
Comparison group students did not receive any supplemental tutoring. They received regular classroom instruction. The authors conducted three formal observations of classroom literacy instruction blocks to document typical classroom instruction.
Support for implementation
Lessons were scripted and assigned to children based on performance on a master test. Paraeducators had an initial 2 hour training with followup as needed throughout the intervention. Less experienced tutors had an extra 0.5 to 3 hours (M=1 hour) of coaching during the intervention. Researchers conducted 240 fidelity observations with an average of 9.6 per tutor. On a 5 point scale with 5 =always implements correctly, the mean for the 25 tutors was 4.49.
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.
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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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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).