Reading Interventions with Varying Instructional Emphases for Fourth Graders with Reading Difficulties [Reading intervention with word study or comprehension emphasis vs. business as usual]
Wanzek, Jeanne; Roberts, Greg (2012). Learning Disability Quarterly, v35 n2 p90-101. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1004796
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examining42Students, grade4
Practice Guide
Review Details
Reviewed: November 2021
- Practice Guide (findings for Reading intervention 3 (Wanzek & Roberts (2012)))
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it is a randomized controlled trial with high attrition, but 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Word Attack Subtest: Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement III |
Reading intervention 3 (Wanzek & Roberts (2012)) vs. Business as usual |
2 Weeks |
Comprehension or word study intervention based on the student’s profile vs. Comparison;
|
96.07 |
96.39 |
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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67% English language learners -
Female: 45%
Male: 55% -
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South, West
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Race Black 2% Other or unknown 91% White 7% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 90% Not Hispanic or Latino 10%
Study Details
Setting
The study took place in five schools in a school district in the southeastern United States that served many low socio-economic status and ethnically and culturally diverse students.
Study sample
Demographic characteristics for the intervention condition are as follows: 47.4% female; 78.9% Hispanic and 15.8% White; 10.5% were identified as having a specific learning disability; 57.9% were classified as having limited English proficiency; and 89.5% qualified for free/reduced-price lunch. Demographic characteristics for the comparison condition are as follows: 43.5% female; 100% Hispanic; 13.0% were identified as having a specific learning disability; 74.0% were classified as having limited English proficiency; and 100% qualified for free/reduced-price lunch.
Intervention Group
The study examined the effectiveness of a reading intervention for students struggling with reading. Students received either the comprehension emphasis intervention or the word study emphasis intervention depending on their area of deficit identified through pretesting. The interventions were delivered by a trained teacher to small groups of 2-4 students. Intervention sessions met daily for 30 minutes for 28 weeks. The comprehension emphasis intervention teacher utilized the Collaborative Strategic Reading program (Klinger, Vaughn, Dimino, Schumm, & Bryant, 2001). Students received instruction in reading comprehension strategies that involved four steps: preview, click and chunk, get the gist, and wrap up. Students engaged in text reading for 8-10 minutes and vocabulary instruction for 3-4 minutes. Students kept a reading log of their strategy use. The word study intervention teacher utilized the Wilson Reading System, 3rd Edition (Wilson, 2002). Students received instruction in word recognition that involved 12 steps. Steps 1 and 2 focused on phoneme segmentation and blending of sounds. Step 3 focused on multisyllabic words and breaking words into syllables. Steps 4 to 6 focused on vowel-consonant-e syllables, open syllables, suffixes, and consonant-le syllables. Steps 7 to 12 focused on advanced word recognition skills. Students practiced word reading, spelling, sentence reading and writing, and reading connected text on a daily basis.
Comparison Group
Students in the comparison condition received school-provided supplemental reading instruction in small groups of 2-3 students. Teachers reported that the instruction consisted of practicing test-taking skills specific to reading passages and answering questions (e.g., decoding unknown words, using context clues to determine the meaning of words, identifying main ideas, and locating key information to answer comprehension questions).
Support for implementation
Intervention teachers were observed weekly and provided with feedback and were rated on a fidelity checklist monthly. Intervention teachers met weekly as a group.
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.
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Study findings for this report.
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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).