WWC review of this study

Implementation and impact of the targeted and whole school interventions, summary of Year 4 (2009-2010): San Diego United School District, California.

Hofstetter, C. H., Strick, B., Der-Martirosian, C., Ong-Dean, C., Long, P., & Lou, Y. Y.  (2011). Report submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.

  • Randomized Controlled Trial
     examining 
    9,572
     Students
    , grades
    7-12

Reviewed: January 2023

At least one finding shows strong evidence of effectiveness
No statistically significant positive
findings
Meets WWC standards without reservations
Literacy Achievement outcomes—Statistically significant positive effect found for the domain
Outcome
measure
Comparison Period Sample Intervention
mean
Comparison
mean
Significant? Improvement
    index
Evidence
tier

California Standards Test English Language Arts (CST-ELA)

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Students receiving one year dosage;
1,812 students

N/A

304.42

No

--

California Standards Test English Language Arts (CST-ELA)

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Middle school students receiving two years of dosage;
840 students

N/A

312.98

No

--

California Standards Test English Language Arts (CST-ELA)

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

ELLs receiving two years dosage;
707 students

N/A

299.18

No

 
 
2
 

California Standards Test English Language Arts (CST-ELA)

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

High school students receiving one year of dosage;
776 students

N/A

303.99

No

--

California Standards Test English Language Arts (CST-ELA)

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

ELLs receiving one year dosage;
741 students

N/A

292.14

No

--

California Standards Test English Language Arts (CST-ELA)

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Middle school students receiving three years of dosage;
344 students

N/A

325.56

No

--

California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE)

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Students receiving three years dosage and in the grades in which they take this test;
192 students

353.26

353.12

No

--

California Standards Test English Language Arts (CST-ELA)

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Students receiving two years dosage;
1,574 students

N/A

307.67

No

--

California Standards Test English Language Arts (CST-ELA)

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Students receiving three years dosage;
606 students

N/A

312.66

No

--

California Standards Test English Language Arts (CST-ELA)

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

High school students receiving two years of dosage;
734 students

N/A

301.49

No

--

California Standards Test English Language Arts (CST-ELA)

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

ELLs receiving three years dosage;
265 students

N/A

305.04

No

--

California Standards Test English Language Arts (CST-ELA)

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

High school students receiving three years of dosage;
262 students

N/A

295.23

No

--

California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE)

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Students receiving two years dosage and in the grades in which they take this test;
490 students

359.58

360.51

No

--

California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE)

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

ELLs receiving two years dosage and in the grades in which they take this test;
229 students

348.34

344.14

No

--
Show Supplemental Findings

California Standards Test English Language Arts (CST-ELA)

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Middle school students receiving one year of dosage;
1,036 students

N/A

304.74

No

--
Reading Comprehension outcomes—Statistically significant positive effect found for the domain
Outcome
measure
Comparison Period Sample Intervention
mean
Comparison
mean
Significant? Improvement
    index
Evidence
tier

Degrees of Reading Power

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Middle school students receiving one year of dosage;
1,027 students

N/A

40.96

No

--

Degrees of Reading Power

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

ELLs receiving two years dosage;
546 students

N/A

43.47

No

--

Degrees of Reading Power

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Students receiving one year dosage;
1,509 students

N/A

42.98

No

 
 
4
 

Degrees of Reading Power

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Students receiving two years dosage;
1,178 students

N/A

48.29

No

--

Degrees of Reading Power

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Middle school students receiving two years of dosage;
831 students

N/A

45.81

No

--

Degrees of Reading Power

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

High school students receiving one year of dosage;
482 students

N/A

47.57

No

--

Degrees of Reading Power

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Students receiving three years dosage;
324 students

N/A

50.87

No

--

Degrees of Reading Power

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

ELLs receiving one year dosage;
601 students

N/A

38.96

No

--

Degrees of Reading Power

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

ELLs receiving three years dosage;
148 students

N/A

47.18

No

--

Degrees of Reading Power

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Middle school students receiving three years of dosage;
320 students

N/A

51.00

No

--
Show Supplemental Findings

Degrees of Reading Power

Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

High school students receiving two years of dosage;
347 students

N/A

51.35

No

--


Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.

Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.

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    California
  • Race
    Asian
    12%
    Black
    12%
    White
    26%
  • Ethnicity
    Hispanic    
    47%

Setting

The sample included middle and high school students that were enrolled in 8 schools in the San Diego Unified School District. These schools included 4 clusters of one high school and one middle school. Students were in seventh through tenth grades when the study began (and grades 7-12 during the evaluation period). A total of 5 school participated in year 1 and 8 schools participated in years 2-4.

Study sample

Information on the students in the evaluation is not provided. However, students in these schools are characterized as largely socio-economically disadvantaged (74-100% received free or reduced-price lunch across schools) with high percentages of English learners (12-44%). 7-19% of students had a disability across schools. Students had the following racial composition: 12% African American, 26% White, 47% Hispanic, 6% Indochinese, 3% Asian, and 3% Filipino.

Intervention Group

The SLIC Targeted Initiative occurred in schools receiving SLIC Whole School. Students in the targeted initiative group participated in a targeted SLIC class. In this class, students are given instruction on text features and the use of these features to rapidly understand a passage. They are also instructed in other strategic reading behaviors including cross-checking, note-making, and using contextual clues to understand vocabulary. Once randomized into this group, students remain classified as intervention students; however, the intervention stops when students can no longer be classified as struggling readers. Students in both groups received SLIC Whole School. For this intervention, all content-area teachers were offered professional development in the Strategies for Literacy Independence across the Curriculum (SLIC) model, developed by Trevor McDonald and Christina Thornley. Participation was generally voluntary and the percentage teachers participating, as well as the content-areas that received the most support, varied across schools. A SLIC coach was assigned to each school to provide professional development and one-on-one support to teachers and school leadership. With the support of SLIC developers, SLIC coaches provided content-area teachers with professional development based on a set of literacy strategies developed to enhance reading and writing skills such as strategic reading behaviors, increasing interaction with text, previewing texts, note taking, reading complex texts and writing for academic purposes. SLIC coaches support teachers through observation and providing feedback, collaborative planning, coaching, and review of student work. Authors expected participating teachers to participate in approximately 27 hours of professional development over the course of a year.

Comparison Group

Experiences for students in the control group varied across schools in the study. Most often students took elective classes however in some schools control students were exposed to a literacy intervention or supplemental ELA support. Students also received SLIC Whole School (see above). Thus, this evaluation considers the impact of SLIC Targeted Initiative over and above SLIC Whole School.

Support for implementation

SLIC coaches support teachers through observation and providing feedback, collaborative planning, coaching, and review of student work. Authors expected participating teachers to participate in approximately 27 hours of professional development over the course of a year.

Reviewed: March 2016

Meets WWC standards without reservations


Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.

Study sample characteristics were not reported.
 

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