Project Activities
The research team will conduct a randomized control trial in 24 schools with linguistically and racially and ethnically diverse populations of students in Northern California. They will assign students within classrooms to use Boost Reading or a traditional e-reader program for 30 minutes, twice a week, for 20 weeks. The research team will monitor Boost Reading and e-reader program use and assess students via standardized measures before and after implementation. They will examine the effects of Boost Reading on word identification processes, language knowledge processes, comprehension processes, reading comprehension, and motivation.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The study will take place in 24 elementary schools with linguistically and racially and ethnically diverse populations of students in Northern California.
Sample
The participating schools will be from two districts, Redwood City Public Schools (RCPS) and San Mateo Foster City Public Schools (SMFCPS). In RCPS, 39.5 percent of students are English learners (ELs), 57.8 percent receive free or reduced-price meals (FRPM), and 54.6 percent of students did not meet grade level standards in English language arts on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System's Smarter Balanced tests. In grades 2 through 5, 65 percent of students in RCPS are Hispanic, 22 percent are White, 6 percent are Asian or Asian Pacific Islander, and 5 percent are two or more races. There are 15 schools in SMFCPS. In this district, 30.1 percent of students are ELs, 28.4 percent receive FRPM, and 42.3 percent of students did not meet grade level standards in English language arts on the CAASPP Smarter Balanced tests. In grades 2 through 5, 39 percent of students in SMFCPS are Hispanic, 30 percent are Asian or Asian Pacific Islander, 19 percent are White, and 10 percent are two or more races.
The intervention is the Boost Reading, a fully developed, supplemental digital program for supporting reading in elementary school. Nationwide, Boost Reading was used by more than 1,200 districts, 63,000 elementary schools, and 1.3 million students in 2022–2023. Boost Reading targets multiple processes involved in reading and includes personalization and gamification.
Research design and methods
The proposed study will conduct a blocked individual-level randomized control trial executed in four 1-year cohorts. Across 4 years, the research team will block randomize students (N = 3,840) within schools (N = 24) by classroom (N = 192), matched on race and ethnicity and initial reading skill, and will randomized to treatment or control, such that half of the students in each classroom will receive the treatment and the other half will receive the control condition. They will pair students within each classroom by race/ethnicity and initial reading skill with one student from each pair assigned to each condition. Further, they will ensure strict adherence to the control condition because only students assigned to the treatment condition will be rostered and receive a login to access Boost Reading, and they will ensure only treatment students access the intervention.
Control condition
Students in the control condition will use a traditional e-reader program for the same amount of time as students in the intervention condition use Boost Reading.
Key measures
The key measures include pre- and post-test results in standardized assessments of word identification processes, language knowledge processes, comprehension processes, reading comprehension, and motivation.
Data analytic strategy
The research team will (1) conduct baseline equiveillance analysis to ensure the treatment and control groups are equivalent; (2) address participant attrition issues; (3) perform descriptive analyses, graphical inspection, and diagnostic checks of assumptions required for subsequent analyses; and (4) conduct separate multilevel mixed-model analyses after each year of implementation and for the entire 4-year implementation period to evaluate whether one year of Boost Reading use had significant effects at post-test for the proposed outcomes.
Cost analysis strategy
The research team will use the ingredients method to document the quality and quantity of all resources (personnel, facilities, materials, other inputs) required to implement Boost Reading and the e-reader used in the control condition over the 20-week implementation period in the four cohorts of schools. They will estimate average implementation costs for Boost Reading per classroom and per student, incremental costs relative to the e-reader, and a cost-effectiveness ratio that indicates the cost per student of producing a one standard deviation increase in reading comprehension. Additionally, the research team will compare the results with costs, effects, and cost-effectiveness ratios of other programs that aim to improve reading comprehension.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Products and publications
The research team will prepare research papers, practitioner articles, and reports for policymakers and program developers on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Boost Reading. These products will include information on the degree to which effects vary for subgroups of underserved students and the extent to which variability in effects can be explained by patterns of usage.
Publications:
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigator(s): McCandliss, Bruce; Biancarosa, Gina; Kennedy, Patrick C.; Cain, Kate
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
