WWC review of this study

Effects of Read It Again! In Early Childhood Special Education Classrooms as Compared to Regular Shared Book Reading

Piasta, Shayne B.; Sawyer, Brook; Justice, Laura M.; O'Connell, Ann A.; Jiang, Hui; Dogucu, Mine; Khan, Kiren S. (2020). Journal of Early Intervention, v42 n3 p224-243. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1260922

  • Randomized Controlled Trial
     examining 
    726
     Students
    , grade
    PK

Reviewed: November 2021

No statistically significant positive
findings
Meets WWC standards with reservations
Alphabetics outcomes—Indeterminate effect found for the domain
Outcome
measure
Comparison Period Sample Intervention
mean
Comparison
mean
Significant? Improvement
    index
Evidence
tier

Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening (PALS) Uppercase and Lowercase Letter Recognition subtests

Read It Again (RIA) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Full sample;
726 students

30.26

30.53

No

--

Prereading Inventory of Phonological Awareness Rhyme Awareness subtest - phonological awareness

Read It Again (RIA) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Full sample;
726 students

4.31

4.27

No

--

Preschool Word and Print Awareness - print-concept knowledge

Read It Again (RIA) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Full sample;
726 students

106.06

105.75

No

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

Renfrew Bus Story - narrative

Read It Again (RIA) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Full sample;
726 students

16.20

17.43

No

--

Test of Preschool Early Literacy (TOPEL), definitional vocabulary subtest

Read It Again (RIA) vs. Business as usual

0 Days

Full sample;
726 students

47.76

48.76

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.


  • Female: 41%
    Male: 59%

  • Rural, Suburban, Urban
  • Race
    Black
    20%
    Other or unknown
    15%
    White
    65%
  • Ethnicity
    Hispanic    
    17%
    Not Hispanic or Latino    
    83%

Setting

The study took place in two states in 109 early childhood special education (ECSE) classrooms. Over one-fourth (27%) were self-contained ECSE classrooms. The majority (72%) were affiliated with local public schools, with the remaining 28 percent affiliated with Head Start programs.

Study sample

Teachers were an average of 42 years old and predominantly female (92%). The majority were White (89%) and the remainder were Black (5%) and LatinX (8%). Students were on average 52 months old and primarily boys (59%). The majority were White (65%) with 20 percent Black, 17 percent Hispanic or LatinX, and 15 percent identified as "other" or multiple races. Children who were receiving special education services had been diagnosed with speech or language impairment (28%); developmental delay (16%); autism spectrum disorder (9%); emotional disturbance (0.9%); specific learning disability (0.9%); intellectual disability (0.6%); visual, hearing, orthopedic, or other health impairment (4%); or multiple disabilities (22%). Parents did not report specific diagnoses for the remaining 19 percent of children with disabilities.

Intervention Group

The Read it again! (RIA) intervention is a curriculum (manual and lessons) plus accompanying 15 commercially available children's books. RIA was implemented over 30 weeks and provided two lessons per week as part of whole-class instruction (60 lessons in total). RIA lessons follow a systematic scope and sequence, and they embed explicit instruction in key meaning-based skills and code-based skills within shared book reading. Lessons are approximately 20 minutes long and soft scripted. RIA encourages teachers to differentiate instruction through scaffolding. Caregivers of children in the intervention group also received four of the RIA books (one book every 6 weeks), and they were encouraged to read these books to their children once a week.

Comparison Group

The comparison teachers used the same 15 books as the intervention teachers. They devoted two sessions per week for 30 weeks to this portion of their curriculum, but they taught using a business-as-usual approach.

Support for implementation

Teachers received an 8-hour RIA training by means of an in-person workshop prior to implementation. A 3-hour, mid-year refresher workshop also was provided.

 

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