A Multisite Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effectiveness of "Descubriendo la Lectura"
Borman, Geoffrey D.; Borman, Trisha H.; Park, So Jung; Houghton, Scott (2020). American Educational Research Journal, v57 n5 p1995-2020 Oct 2020. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1267754
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examining176Students, grade1
Single Study Review
Review Details
Reviewed: March 2023
- Single Study Review (findings for Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL))
- 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
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Instrumento de Observación (IDO) - Text reading |
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
0.58 |
-0.66 |
Yes |
|
|
|
Instrumento de Observación (IDO) - Writing Vocabulary |
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
0.50 |
-0.57 |
Yes |
|
|
|
Instrumento de Observación (IDO) - Concepts About Print |
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
0.43 |
-0.50 |
Yes |
|
|
|
Instrumento de Observación (IDO) - Letter Identification |
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
0.23 |
-0.26 |
Yes |
|
|
|
Instrumento de Observación (IDO) - Ohio Word Test |
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
0.24 |
-0.27 |
Yes |
|
|
|
Logramos - Vocabulary subtest |
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
0.26 |
-0.22 |
Yes |
|
|
|
Instrumento de Observación (IDO) - Sounds in Words |
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
0.22 |
-0.25 |
Yes |
|
|
|
Logramos - Reading subtest |
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
0.22 |
-0.19 |
Yes |
|
|
|
Logramos - Word Analysis subtest |
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
0.19 |
-0.17 |
Yes |
|
|
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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79% English language learners -
Female: 37%
Male: 63% -
Urban
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West
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Race Other or unknown 80% Two or more races 20% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 100% -
Eligible for Free and Reduced Price Lunch Free or reduced price lunch (FRPL) 99% No FRPL 1%
Study Details
Setting
The study took place in 15 elementary schools in two urban school districts, one in the Southwest and one in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. All participating schools offered transitional bilingual programs.
Study sample
The researchers randomly assigned 98 students to the intervention group and 89 students to the comparison group. A total of 176 students in grade 1 were included in the study. The 176 students were in 15 elementary schools. All students were Spanish-speaking, most (79%) were English learners, and all identified as needing additional support in reading. Approximately 63% of the students were male, almost all (99%) were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, and 6% were receiving special education services. All students were Hispanic or Latino (and 20% identified as two or more races).
Intervention Group
Descubriendo la Lectura (DLL) is a one-on-one tutoring program implemented in Spanish by trained bilingual teachers to Spanish-speaking students in grade 1 who are identified as needing additional support in reading. Students in the intervention group received DLL in addition to their regular bilingual instruction. Bilingual teachers implemented DLL for 30 minutes each day during the fall semester. Lessons are tailored to the student’s specific literacy needs and are oriented around reading books, writing stories, and working with letters or words. Teachers complete daily monitoring tools that inform how to adapt the lessons to a student’s individual needs and determine the focus of the next day’s lesson. Students progressed through the program at their own pace, typically over 12–20 weeks. The individualized support that DLL teachers provided was supplemental to students’ regular literacy instruction in class. As such, in this study, DLL services were offered at times that did not interrupt students’ core academic instruction, such as during recess or physical education.
Comparison Group
Students in the comparison group continued their regular bilingual instruction but did not receive one-on-one tutoring through the DLL program in the fall semester. Teachers monitored their academic progress and often provided small group, supplemental reading instruction or, in rare cases, special education services. Once the study concluded, these students were eligible to receive DLL.
Support for implementation
Teachers offering DLL must hold state-required certification, have at least 3 years of overall teaching experience, and have demonstrated successful bilingual teaching. Teachers additionally completed a 1-year master’s level Reading Recovery class followed by a second year of training in DLL offered by teacher leaders and university-based trainers. While implementing DLL, teachers regularly consulted with teacher leaders about students’ progress and participated in ongoing one-on-one coaching and a minimum of four professional development sessions annually. They also received at least one classroom visit annually from a teacher leader experienced in DLL.
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 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.
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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).