At least one finding shows moderate evidence of effectiveness
At least one statistically significant positive finding
Meets WWC standards with reservations
For:
-
IES Performance Measure (findings for IES Funded Studies (NCER))
Rating:
-
Meets WWC standards with reservations
because it is a randomized controlled trial with low attrition, but the randomization was compromised.
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.
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
|
Assessment of Social Studies Knowledge (ASK)
|
IES Funded Studies (NCER) vs.
Business as usual
|
0 Days
|
Full sample;
1,236 students
|
24.34
|
20.76
|
Yes
|
|
|
Assessment of Social Studies Knowledge (ASK)
|
IES Funded Studies (NCER) vs.
Business as usual
|
0 Days
|
Subsample of English language learners.;
359 students
|
20.07
|
16.61
|
No
|
--
|
|
Modified Assessment of Social Studies Knowledge and Reading Comprehension (MASK)
|
IES Funded Studies (NCER) vs.
Business as usual
|
0 Days
|
Subsample of non English language learners;
824 students
|
10.77
|
10.61
|
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.
-
27%
English language learners
-
Female: 49%
Male: 47%
-
Suburban, Urban
-
- B
- A
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- I
- H
- J
- K
- L
- P
- M
- N
- O
- Q
- R
- S
- V
- U
- T
- W
- X
- Z
- Y
- a
- h
- i
- b
- d
- e
- f
- c
- g
- j
- k
- l
- m
- n
- o
- p
- q
- r
- s
- t
- u
- v
- x
- w
- y
South, West
-
Race
Asian |
|
3% |
Black |
|
14% |
Native American |
|
14% |
Pacific Islander |
|
0% |
White |
|
60% |
-
Setting
The study was conducted in seven schools across three school districts. Three school schools were located in the southwest, two of which are located in an urban district and one suburban predominantly Hispanic district. Four schools were located in one southeastern school district.
Study sample
The initial intervention sample included 51% female, 41% Caucasian, 10% African American, 39% Hispanic, and 8% American Indian, 8% receiving special education, 46% who spoke Spanish at home, and 24% English language learners. The initial comparison group sample included 46% female, 38% Caucasian, 8% African American, 41% Hispanic, and 10% American Indian, 11% receiving special education, 48% who spoke Spanish at home, and 29% English language learners. In the five schools, the percent who qualified for free or reduced-price lunch varied from 49 to 83 percent.
Intervention Group
Promoting Adolescents' Comprehension of Text (PACT), as implemented in this study, is a modified version of the PACT reading comprehension and content acquisition intervention. The intervention was modified to be implemented within social studies classes with EL students. PACT is a curricula featuring three units with five components: 1) comprehension canopy (a 10-15 minute introduction) to engage students in the purpose for reading - this includes a video with follow-up questions; 2) five essential words per unit are introduced after the introduction to teach the meaning of concepts connected with the content; 3) knowledge acquisition through text reading included a critical reading routine lasting 15 minutes, three times a week that covers information text on the topic; 4) team-based learning comprehension check, which includes heterogeneous teams of students and opportunities for both individual and group work twice per each unit, and 5) team-based learning knowledge application where teams engage in problem-solving activities around the topic.
Comparison Group
In the comparison classroom, teachers covered the same social studies content but did not interweave PACT components.
Support for implementation
The research team provided two training sessions and ongoing in-class support. They provided a 1-day professional development workshop that provided an overview, discussed the curriculum and provided opportunities for hands on practice. Each teacher was assigned someone to provide as-needed in-class support.