At least one finding shows promising evidence of effectiveness
At least one statistically significant positive finding
Meets WWC standards without reservations
For:
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Single Study Review (findings for Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL))
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.
Proficiency in a Language Other Than English outcomes—Statistically significant positive effect found for the domain
Outcome measure
|
Comparison
|
Period
|
Sample
|
Intervention mean
|
Comparison mean
|
Significant?
|
Improvement index
|
Evidence tier
|
Instrumento de Observación (IDO) - Text reading
|
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs.
Business as usual
|
0 Days
|
Full sample;
176 students
|
0.58
|
-0.66
|
Yes
|
|
|
Instrumento de Observación (IDO) - Writing Vocabulary
|
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs.
Business as usual
|
0 Days
|
Full sample;
176 students
|
0.50
|
-0.57
|
Yes
|
|
|
Instrumento de Observación (IDO) - Concepts About Print
|
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs.
Business as usual
|
0 Days
|
Full sample;
176 students
|
0.43
|
-0.50
|
Yes
|
|
|
Instrumento de Observación (IDO) - Letter Identification
|
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs.
Business as usual
|
0 Days
|
Full sample;
176 students
|
0.23
|
-0.26
|
Yes
|
|
|
Instrumento de Observación (IDO) - Ohio Word Test
|
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs.
Business as usual
|
0 Days
|
Full sample;
176 students
|
0.24
|
-0.27
|
Yes
|
|
|
Logramos - Vocabulary subtest
|
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs.
Business as usual
|
0 Days
|
Full sample;
110 students
|
0.26
|
-0.22
|
Yes
|
|
|
Instrumento de Observación (IDO) - Sounds in Words
|
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs.
Business as usual
|
0 Days
|
Full sample;
176 students
|
0.22
|
-0.25
|
Yes
|
|
|
Logramos - Reading subtest
|
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs.
Business as usual
|
0 Days
|
Full sample;
110 students
|
0.22
|
-0.19
|
Yes
|
|
|
Logramos - Word Analysis subtest
|
Descubriendo La Lectura (DLL) vs.
Business as usual
|
0 Days
|
Full sample;
110 students
|
0.19
|
-0.17
|
Yes
|
|
|
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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79%
English language learners
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Female: 37%
Male: 63%
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Urban
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- 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
West
-
Race
Other or unknown |
|
80% |
Two or more races |
|
20% |
-
-
Eligible for Free and Reduced Price Lunch
Free or reduced price lunch (FRPL) |
|
99% |
No FRPL |
|
1% |
Setting
The study took place in 15 elementary schools in two urban school districts, one in the Southwest and one in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. All participating schools offered transitional bilingual programs.
Study sample
The researchers randomly assigned 98 students to the intervention group and 89 students to the comparison group. A total of 176 students in grade 1 were included in the study. The 176 students were in 15 elementary schools. All students were Spanish-speaking, most (79%) were English learners, and all identified as needing additional support in reading. Approximately 63% of the students were male, almost all (99%) were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, and 6% were receiving special education services. All students were Hispanic or Latino (and 20% identified as two or more races).
Intervention Group
Descubriendo la Lectura (DLL) is a one-on-one tutoring program implemented in Spanish by trained bilingual teachers to Spanish-speaking students in grade 1 who are identified as needing additional support in reading. Students in the intervention group received DLL in addition to their regular bilingual instruction. Bilingual teachers implemented DLL for 30 minutes each day during the fall semester. Lessons are tailored to the student’s specific literacy needs and are oriented around reading books, writing stories, and working with letters or words. Teachers complete daily monitoring tools that inform how to adapt the lessons to a student’s individual needs and determine the focus of the next day’s lesson. Students progressed through the program at their own pace, typically over 12–20 weeks. The individualized support that DLL teachers provided was supplemental to students’ regular literacy instruction in class. As such, in this study, DLL services were offered at times that did not interrupt students’ core academic instruction, such as during recess or physical education.
Comparison Group
Students in the comparison group continued their regular bilingual instruction but did not receive one-on-one tutoring through the DLL program in the fall semester. Teachers monitored their academic progress and often provided small group, supplemental reading instruction or, in rare cases, special education services. Once the study concluded, these students were eligible to receive DLL.
Support for implementation
Teachers offering DLL must hold state-required certification, have at least 3 years of overall teaching experience, and have demonstrated successful bilingual teaching. Teachers additionally completed a 1-year master’s level Reading Recovery class followed by a second year of training in DLL offered by teacher leaders and university-based trainers. While implementing DLL, teachers regularly consulted with teacher leaders about students’ progress and participated in ongoing one-on-one coaching and a minimum of four professional development sessions annually. They also received at least one classroom visit annually from a teacher leader experienced in DLL.