WWC review of this study

Efficacy of Supplemental Phonics-Based Instruction for Low-Skilled Kindergarteners in the Context of Language Minority Status and Classroom Phonics Instruction

Vadasy, Patricia F.; Sanders, Elizabeth A. (2010). Journal of Educational Psychology, v102 n4 p786-803 Nov 2010. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ910429

  • Randomized Controlled Trial
     examining 
    64
     Students
    , grade
    K

Reviewed: February 2023

At least one finding shows promising evidence of effectiveness
At least one statistically significant positive finding
Meets WWC standards with reservations
Encoding outcomes—Statistically significant positive effect found for the domain
Outcome
measure
Comparison Period Sample Intervention
mean
Comparison
mean
Significant? Improvement
    index
Evidence
tier

Wide Range Achievement Test - Revised (WRAT-R): Words spelled

Supplemental phonics instruction—Vadasy and Sanders (2010) vs. Business as usual

18 Weeks

Full sample;
64 students

77.58

44.89

Yes

 
 
32
 
Letter identification outcomes—Statistically significant positive effect found for the domain
Outcome
measure
Comparison Period Sample Intervention
mean
Comparison
mean
Significant? Improvement
    index
Evidence
tier

Alphabetics

Supplemental phonics instruction—Vadasy and Sanders (2010) vs. Business as usual

18 Weeks

Full sample;
64 students

47.98

35.80

Yes

 
 
28
 


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.


  • Urban

Setting

The study took place in 24 kindergarten classrooms from a total of 10 Title I public elementary schools. The location is unspecified, however, US location is assumed.

Study sample

The participating schools had student enrollment of 85% minority, 75% free or reduced lunch, 33% bilingual, and 18% special education. The 23 paraeducators were mostly nonminority (74%) and female (83%). Tutors were between the ages of 18 and 55 years and the modal level of education was a bachelor's degree. The mean paraeducator tutoring experience was 4.52 years and most paraeducators (72%) had at least one year of experience working with early grade levels.

Intervention Group

Paraeducators provided individual tutoring to students using the Sound Partners model. The tutoring sessions had 20 minutes of instruction on letter–sound correspondence, segmenting and blending phonemes, word reading, spelling, and irregular words. The final 10 minutes of each session was spent on assisted oral reading practice. The intervention involved 30-minute sessions 4 times a week for 18 weeks.

Comparison Group

Teachers taught their regular lessons.

Support for implementation

The researches provided the paraeducators with an initial 2-hr training session. Through the course of this training session, researchers described each lesson activity and model paraeducator/student behaviors, errors, and error correction strategies. Trainees were paired together to practice these techniques while the trainers provided feedback. Follow-up training was provided throughout the duration of the intervention. This additional training included added coaching for those paraeducators with less experience or low intervention fidelity ratings. On average, these paraeducators received 1 additional hour of follow up tutoring (range: 0.5 to 3.0 hr).

 

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