Scaling-up Effective Intervention for Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children

In this 5-year project, researchers are studying the process of bringing to scale two empirically proven first-grade reading interventions that differ dramatically: (1) Proactive Reading and (2) Responsive Reading. Each intervention is offered daily in groups of 3 children for 40 minutes by certified teachers. The interventions were shown to be equally effective in a previous study conducted in six schools in a large urban city in Texas. The study is long range and is examining the life cycle of scaling up these interventions in 48 schools in 3 widely separated urban areas, with 4 cohorts of 432 first grade students who are highly diverse in economic status and ethnicity. Intervention teachers are being provided with differing models of ongoing professional development. During year 1, coaching materials, including a technology component, are being developed and piloted. The process of scaling and sustaining will be studied in years 2 through 5. The 48 schools are self-selected from the 2 interventions and then randomly assigned to 1 of 3 coaching conditions (on-site, technology based, or typical practice). The Grade 1 struggling readers within those schools are being randomly assigned to either receive Proactive/Responsive interventions or to the classroom condition only. In addition, the implementation of the two interventions is being studied along with factors within the school contexts that may influence the implementation of the two intervention approaches. Researchers are collecting and analyzing multiple measures of reading achievement, measures of reading growth across the academic year, observations of teachers' and coaches' ability to implement their respective interventions, surveys and questionnaires illuminating school contexts, and interviews of principals and teachers designed to identify barriers and facilitators of effective scaling. The expected outcomes of this project include an evaluation of the scale-up of two reading interventions for young children. Published research reports will become available.