Study: 85521

Examining the Average and Local Effects of a Standardized Treatment for Fourth Graders with Reading Difficulties

Wanzek, Jeanne; Petscher, Yaacov; Al Otaiba, Stephanie; Kent, Shawn C.; Schatschneider, Christopher; Haynes, Martha; Rivas, Brenna K.; Jones, Francesca G. (2016). Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, v9 suppl 1 p45-66. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1115336

IES Performance Measure

Review Details

Reviewed: November 2017

No statistically significant positive
findings

Meets WWC standards without reservations

For:

IES Performance Measure (findings for Passport to Literacy)

Using:

Rating:

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

Alphabetics outcomes—Indeterminate effect found for the domain
Outcome measure	Comparison	Sample	Intervention mean	Comparison mean	Significant?	Improvement index
Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ-III): Word Attack subtest	Passport to Literacy vs. Business as usual	Full sample; 188 students	497.27	496.25	No	--
Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ-III): Letter-Word Identification subtest	Passport to Literacy vs. Business as usual	Full sample; 195 students	495.06	494.13	No	--
Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE): Phonemic Decoding Efficiency subtest	Passport to Literacy vs. Business as usual	Full sample; 196 students	88.85	88.12	No	--
Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE): Sight Word Efficiency subtest	Passport to Literacy vs. Business as usual	Full sample; 196 students	91.88	91.41	No	--

Reading Comprehension outcomes—Indeterminate effect found for the domain
Outcome measure	Comparison	Period	Sample	Intervention mean	Comparison mean	Significant?	Improvement index	Evidence tier
Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests (GMRT): Reading Comprehension subtest	Passport to Literacy vs. Business as usual	0 Days	Full sample; 191 students	457.98	452.36	No	--
Woodcock Johnson - Passage Comprehension	Passport to Literacy vs. Business as usual	0 Days	Full sample; 191 students	489.36	488.06	No	--

Reading Fluency outcomes—Indeterminate effect found for the domain
Outcome measure	Comparison	Period	Sample	Intervention mean	Comparison mean	Significant?	Improvement index	Evidence tier
DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency	Passport to Literacy vs. Business as usual	0 Days	Full sample; 196 students	102.00	100.78	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.

14% English language learners
Female: 50%
Male: 50%
Rural, Urban

Race
Asian		3%
Black		43%
Native American		21%
Pacific Islander		1%
White		34%

Ethnicity
Hispanic		40%
Not Hispanic or Latino		60%

Study Details

Setting

The study took place in ten elementary schools across four school districts in two states. The school districts included one in a large city, one in a mid-sized city, and two in rural areas.

Study sample

The sample at randomization included 50 percent female students, and 40 percent of students identified as Hispanic, 43 percent African American, 34 percent Caucasian, 21 percent American Indian, 3 percent Asian, and .5 percent Pacific Islander students. Ninety-two percent were low income, 14 percent were English learners, and 18 percent were identified as having a disability.

Intervention Group

Passport to Literacy is a multicomponent, small group supplemental intervention designed for struggling readers. The intervention was implemented in daily, 30-minute sessions in groups of four to six students for a school year. Each lesson addressed phonics, word recognition, reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Across all nine trained teachers implementing the intervention, the number of sessions ranged from 95 to 106, and the number of sessions experienced by students ranged from 70 to 105.

Comparison Group

Students in the comparison condition received the supplemental intervention typically provided at their schools (which varied by school). The length of the intervention and size of the groups varied across schools and classrooms. The sessions most often occurred daily for an average of 25 minutes. Eighty-three percent of students received the comparison intervention in groups of eight or more students.

Support for implementation

Prior to implementing the intervention, the intervention condition teachers participated in eight hours of training over the course of two days. After the initial training, project coordinators provided coaching visits twice each month to provide feedback to teachers and discuss questions or concerns. Intervention teachers also participated in monthly meetings.