Title of Study:  Effectiveness of Selected Supplemental Reading Comprehension Interventions:  Findings from Two Student Cohorts

Author(s): S. James-Burdumy, J. Deke, J Lugo-Gil, N. Carey, A. Hershey, R. Gersten, R. Newman-Gonchar, J. Dimino, K. Haymond, B. Faddis, A. Pendleton

Summary:
This study examined the effects of four supplemental reading intervention programs on reading comprehension. The four intervention curricula are: (1) Project CRISS, (2) ReadAbout, (3) Read for Real, and (4) Reading for Knowledge.  ReadAbout is an adaptive, leveled, technology-based reading program.  The other curricula are not technology-based.

Sponsoring entity(s): U.S. Department of Education

Date conducted: 2010

Location of the study: This study can be accessed through the Institute of Education Sciences website.

Setting(s) addressed:

• Classroom

Targeted population(s):

• 5th grade

Primary sources of evidence used in the study or report:

• Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation (reading comprehension assessment)
• Test of Silent Contextual Reading Fluency (assessment of several reading skills)
• Assessments of comprehension of social studies and science informational text
• Classroom observation
• Teacher surveys

Primary Technology Application(s) Addressed:

• Instructional software

Major education topic(s) addressed:

• Reading

Major findings/conclusions:

• After one year, none of the supplemental curricula significantly improved reading comprehension, and classes using the interventions scored slightly lower on reading comprehension assessments than control classes on average.
• After teachers had a second year’s experience with the supplemental curricula, the technology-based program (ReadAbout) had a significantly positive impact on reading comprehension of social studies text, but not of science text or general reading comprehension.  Other intervention programs had no positive effects.

Practical implications of the findings:

• Although none of the reading intervention programs improved general reading comprehension, the study was able to identify specific teacher practices that were correlated with improved test scores, including explicit comprehension strategy instruction, student engagement, classroom management and responsiveness.

Reviewer Comments:
Schools in participating districts were randomly assigned to one of the intervention groups or to the control group.  The experimental design and data analysis were well designed.