Effectiveness of an extracurricular program for struggling readers: A comparative study with parent tutors and volunteer tutors (original) (raw)
Related papers
Leveraging Volunteers: An Experimental Evaluation of a Tutoring Program for Struggling Readers
Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2016
This study evaluates the impacts and costs of the Reading Partners program, which uses community volunteers to provide one-on-one tutoring to struggling readers in under-resourced elementary schools. The evaluation uses an experimental design. Students were randomly assigned within 19 different Reading Partners sites to a program or control condition to answer questions about the impact of the program on student reading proficiency. A cost study, using a subsample of six of the 19 study sites, explores the resources needed to implement the Reading Partners program as described in the evaluation. Findings indicate that the Reading Partners program has a positive and statistically significant impact on all three measures of reading proficiency assessed with an effect size equal to around 0.10. The cost study findings illustrate the potential value of the Reading Partners program from the schools' perspective because the financial and other resources required by the schools to implement the program are low. Additionally, the study serves as an example of how evaluations can rigorously examine both the impacts and costs of a program to provide evidence regarding effectiveness. KEYWORDS volunteers cost study randomized control trial struggling readers tutors Reading skills are the key building blocks of a child's formal education. Yet, the national statistics on literacy attainment are profoundly distressing: two out of three American fourth graders are reading below grade level and almost one third of children nationwide lack even basic reading skills (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2013). For children in low-income families, the numbers are even more troubling, with 80% reading below grade level (NCES, 2013). Despite several decades of educational reform efforts, only incremental progress has been made in addressing this reading crisis. From 1998 to 2013, the number of low-income fourth graders reading at a proficient level increased by only seven percentage points (NCES, 2013). Although there are a variety of interventions to help struggling elementary school readers, many of the programs with the strongest evidence base are both time-and resource-intensive, and as such may not always be viable options for already under-resourced schools (Hollands et al.
Journal of Behavioral Education, 2010
Peer tutoring is an evidence-based procedure for improving academic performance for a variety of skill areas. The current study evaluated the feasibility and impact of a peer tutoring package for reading fluency with 4 middle school students receiving Tier II remedial supports. This study used a multiple baseline design across participants to evaluate impact of the peer tutoring procedure on students' oral reading rate on instructional passages. Results indicated that students' oral reading rate on instructional probes increased following implementation of the peer tutoring procedure. Moreover, peer tutors implemented most steps of the procedure with a high degree of integrity. Results are discussed in terms of contributions to the peer tutoring and Response to Intervention literatures, as well as application to applied practice.
The Helping One Student to Succeed (HOSTS) Language Arts volunteer tutoring program was evaluated by comparing pre-and post-intervention scores on standardized measures of reading using a 5-month test-retest interval. Students (n = 129) from six elementary schools in Michigan that utilize the HOSTS program served as the experimental group, and the control group (n = 127) was recruited from four elementary schools that do not use the HOSTS program. Both groups contained students who were identified as at-risk for reading failure by their respective schools, but none received special education services. Between-group analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) were conducted using change scores as the dependent variables and pre-scores as the covariate variables. Results suggested that growth experienced by the experimental group significantly exceeded that of the control group on measures of reading fluency, reading comprehension, initial sound fluency, and overall reading skills. Therefore, the HOSTS tutoring program appeared to be an effective intervention for children identified as at risk for reading difficulties. * A certified reading specialist supervises tutors. * Tutors need ongoing training and feedback. * Tutoring sessions are structured and contain basic elements of rereading a familiar story, word analysis, writing, and introducing new stories. * Tutoring is intensive and consistent. * Quality materials are used to facilitate the tutoring model. * Assessments of students are ongoing.
Reading & Writing Quarterly
This study examines the effectiveness of minimally trained tutors providing a highly structured tutoring intervention for struggling readers. We screened students in Grades K-6 for participation in an after-school tutoring program. We randomly assigned those students not meeting the benchmark on a reading screening measure to either a tutoring group or a control group. Students in the tutoring group met twice per week across one school year to receive tutoring from non-education major college students participating in a service-learning course. The goal of this study was to determine whether tutors without prior teaching experience or instruction could improve student reading outcomes with minimal training, a structured reading curriculum, and access to ongoing coaching. Tutored students displayed significantly more growth than control students in letter-word identification, decoding, and passage comprehension, with robust effect sizes of 0.99, 1.02, and 0.78, respectively. We discuss the implications and limitations of these findings.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2007
The present study assessed the effects of summer parent tutoring on 3 children with learning disabilities using empirically derived reading interventions. Brief experimental analyses were used to identify customized reading fluency interventions. Parents were trained to use the intervention strategies with their children. Parents implemented the procedures during parent-tutoring sessions at home and results were measured continuously in high-word-overlap and low-wordoverlap passages to determine whether generalization occurred. Parent and child satisfaction with the procedures was assessed. Results demonstrated generalized increases in reading fluency in both high-word-overlap and low-word-overlap passages as a function of parent tutoring. Also, acceptability ratings by children and their parents indicated that they viewed the interventions as acceptable and effective. Results are discussed in terms of structuring reading fluency interventions that promote generalization and maintenance of treatment effects.
Psychology, 2011
Aim: The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of two different training programs regarding reading skills in 14 reading disabled Swedish children in grade two. Method: The children's results from two different decoding measures plus identification by teachers as having reading difficulties were used to select the participants. Seven of the children used Omega-IS, which entails computerized top-down, orthographic training and no additional homework, and seven children used non-computerized Reading Recovery inspired training with some components of phonological training included plus 20 homework occasions. For both programs the training sessions were conducted individually (one-to-one teaching) and lasted between 15 and 45 minutes. Results: Both groups improved significantly in all tests assessing word and non-word decoding as a result of the intervention. No significant differences were yielded between the intervention programs. Conclusion: The conclusion is that one-to-one teaching has a positive impact regardless whether a top-down or a reading instructional strategy with phonological components is implemented. Due to the result of the Omega-IS group it might also be possible to reduce homework for reading disabled children if reading is well tutored in school.
2020
Addressing literacy concerns for early readers can deliver considerable benefits for students as they progress from lower to upper grades. One literacy intervention known as Paired Reading has been shown to improve student fluency, comprehension, and increase interest in exploring different texts and reading genres. This action research study examined the effects of a six-week paired reading intervention with one student struggling to gain reading automaticity. The study concluded that using paired reading did increase the student’s fluency, aptitude to connect to the text, and increase their ability to attempt higher level reading material.
Reading Rescue: A follow-up on effectiveness of an intervention for struggling readers
The Journal of Educational Research, 2018
The authors examined whether Reading Rescue continues to be an effective literacy intervention and factors that impact its effectiveness. Data were collected on 143 first-grade students, tutored by 104 tutors at 38 schools. There was significant growth on all foundational skills (ps < .001) and significant change in proportion of students attaining grade-level reading status pre- and postin- tervention (ps<.001; d1⁄41.62 sight words, d1⁄41.68 oral reading/comprehension). Student-level factors of Individualized Education Program status, program completion, number of session, and invented spelling; tutor-level factors of sessions delivered and years of experience; school level factors of school size and percentage of language minority students all predicted grade-level passage or word reading (all ps<.05). Findings indicate Reading Rescue continues to be highly effective, even while expanding substantially as a program since Ehri et al.’s (2007) study. Efforts should focus on ensuring program completion and increasing program exposure in neediest schools.
Paraprofessional reading tutors: Assessment of theEdmark Reading Program and flexible teaching1
American Journal of Community Psychology, 1979
The purpose of the study was to assess the effectiveness of two strategies for using undergraduate paraprofessionals as tutors for first-grade children with reading difficulties. The two groups of undergraduates taught first graders the same 150 words, and both reinforced (socially and materially) correct performances. However, one group employed a programmed method of word presentation (i.e., the Edmark Reading Program), while the other group of tutors was allowed flexibility in the pacing and methods for presenting words. The performance of each reading group was compared to that of a control group who engaged in educational activities not directly related to reading. Thirtysix poor readers were randomly assigned to one of the three groups. Subjects were tutored after school by university undergraduates for an average of twenty-three 40-minute sessions. Children in both reading groups showed significantly more improvement than controls on an oral reading posttest of the 150 criterion words. Treatment effects did not emerge on a test composed mainly of noncriterion words.