Setting
The study included seven comprehensive high schools in a large Florida school district.
Study sample
A total of 1,265 ninth-grade students in 87 classrooms were identified as struggling readers (at high or moderate risk) based on prior-year reading performance on the Florida
Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). Students scoring in the high-risk or moderate-risk categories were randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions—
REACH, RISE, or READ 180—or to a control condition—School Offered Accelerated Reading (SOAR). After multiple imputation and removing 68 outliers, the analysis sample
across all conditions was reduced to 1,197 participants. For this review, the analysis sample consisted of 100 high-risk students who received READ 180 and 90 high-risk
students in the comparison group, as well as 207 moderate-risk students who received READ 180 and 202 moderate-risk students in the comparison group.
Intervention Group
The intervention group received an intensive reading program for 90 minutes per day. The program, which is a combination of instructional, modeled, and independent reading
components, begins with 20 minutes of teacher-led, whole-group instruction followed by three 20-minute rotations. The rotations last for a total of 60 minutes and include
small-group direct instruction, use of READ 180 software, and independent and modeled reading. Once all rotations are complete, the class convenes for 10 minutes of
whole-group wrap-up. The study reported students’ outcomes after one year of program implementation.
Comparison Group
Students in the comparsion group received the district’s standard curriculum: SOAR. The implementation of SOAR involved the following materials: the Reading and Writing
Sourcebook by Great Source, the Reader’s Handbook by Great Source, Reading Nonfiction by Jamestown, and the Daybook of Critical Reading and Writing by Great Source.
The SOAR classes typically included FCAT-preparatory activities aligned with the Sunshine State Standards and Benchmarks that were available to all students through a
software program called FCAT Explorer. This type of practice provided students opportunities to answer questions based on the types of text (70% informational and 30%
literary) and length of passages (range of words, 300–1400; average number of words, 800) that they would encounter on the ninth-grade test (Florida Department of Education,
2007).
Outcome descriptions
For both the pretest and the posttest, students took the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test–Sunshine State Standards (FCAT-SSS). For a more detailed description of this outcome measure, see Appendix A2.1.
Support for implementation
School leaders identified teachers to deliver the READ 180 and SOAR interventions. Both READ 180 teachers and SOAR teachers received coaching and feedback related to fidelity and quality of implementation from two sources: the project coordinator and the school-level reading coach assigned to each school. Professional development continued throughout the year for both READ 180 and SOAR teachers, and intervention-specific monthly support meetings were held to address concerns. The publisher of the READ 180 intervention was asked to participate in the provision of materials, the conduct of professional development for READ 180 teachers and school leaders, and the development of fidelity of implementation checklists.