Project Activities
The research team will iteratively develop, refine, test the promise of the GET ON IT for improving language outcomes for EBs with RD using a randomized controlled trial and follow up 6 months later to determine whether effects are sustained over time.
Structured Abstract
Setting
Research activities will occur in public elementary schools in Texas and Utah.
Sample
Eight experienced educators and eight novice elementary school teachers will participate in the iterative development phases of this project. Approximately 120 EBs with RD in grades 2-4 will participate with their interventionists in the pilot study.
Intervention
The intervention to be developed, GET ON IT, will be based on the SKILL program, which has demonstrated efficacy in improving the narrative language abilities of students with or at risk for language disabilities in the elementary grades. SKILL consists of three instructional phases: (1) teaching story structure and causal language, (2) teaching strategies for creating a situation model, and (3) teaching strategies for integration into long-term memory. The lessons are grounded in discourse processing models of comprehension. The new intervention will be an extension that further develops and extends its reach by (1) revising all lessons to leverage EBs students' primary language knowledge and to embed features of instruction associated with improved outcomes for EBs (such as greater focus on academic language and structured peer discussions), and (2) develop 24 additional lessons to support the transfer of improved narrative language to narrative reading comprehension.
Research design and methods
In the first two phases of this project, the research team will work collaboratively with experienced educators of EBs with RD and their students to iteratively develop, implement, and refine GET ON IT. Toward the end of phase 2, additional novice teachers will join the expert teachers in a fidelity-focused study to inform further program refinement. In phase 3, a randomized controlled trial will examine the promise of the manualized program for EBs with RD, assigning students to the intervention or control group where interventionists trained by the research team will provide instruction to the intervention group. In phase 4, follow-up data on key outcome measures for all participating students will be collected 6 months post-intervention to determine whether treatment effects are sustained over time.
Control condition
In the pilot study, the students in the control group will experience business as usual instruction.
Key measures
Researcher-developed questionaries, field notes, direct observations, interviews, and focus groups will be used to collect data from teachers and students on usability, feasibility, and social validity of GET ON IT. To assess intervention effects on narrative understanding, expression, and writing outcomes, the research team will use the Test of Narrative Language, Monitoring Indicators of Scholarly Language, and the story retelling and listening comprehension subtests of the Test of Integrated Language and Literacy. To assess reading comprehension, the team will use the narrative reading comprehension subtest of Test of Integrated Language and Literacy and the reading comprehension subtest of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test. Potential moderators—vocabulary and word reading—will be measured by the Test of Word Reading Efficiency Sight Word and Phonemic Decoding Efficiency, Woodcock-Johnson-III Picture Vocabulary, and the Woodcock-Muñoz Batería-III Picture Vocabulary Test. They will also use the recalling sentences and word structure subtests of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals Fifth Edition to measure student understanding of syntax and morphology.
Data analytic strategy
During the first two phases, researchers will use data coding and triangulation to analyze qualitative data from field notes, instructional observation, and student and teacher interviews to identify recurrent themes and areas for improvement. For the phase 2 fidelity-focused study, researchers will analyze descriptive data on three dimensions of treatment fidelity (treatment adherence, dosage, and instructional quality). For the phase 3 pilot study, researchers will use multilevel modeling to assess the promise of the intervention for improving reading outcomes.
Cost analysis strategy
Researchers will use the ingredients approach to account for all costs associated with GET ON IT and the control condition. The cost-effectiveness ratio will be calculated based on the improvement in student outcomes reflected in the effect sizes for the intervention and the incremental cost per student for those in the intervention compared to the control condition.
Products and publications
Products: The project will yield a fully manualized GET ON IT curriculum for EBs with RD and initial evidence of the usability, feasibility, social validity, fidelity, and impact on student reading outcomes. The project will also produce information about the costs of implementing the intervention and initial information of its cost-effectiveness. Finally, the project will result in peer-reviewed publications and presentations as well as dissemination products that reach education stakeholders such as practitioners and policymakers.
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
Additional project information
Previous award details:
Previous award number:
R324A240182
Previous awardee:
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Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigators: Vaughn, Sharon; Roberts, Greg; Gillam, Sandra Laing; Gillam, Ronald
Questions about this project?
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