National Assessment of Title I Interim Report Volume II: Closing the Reading Gap

Article abstract: "The study evaluates the effectiveness of four remedial reading interventions—Corrective Reading, Failure Free Reading, Spell Read P.A.T., and Wilson Reading—targeting struggling readers in grades 3 and 5. Conducted in the Allegheny Intermediate Unit (AIU) near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the study involved 50 schools across 27 districts, representing a mix of suburban and urban public schools. A total of 779 students were included, all identified as struggling readers scoring at or below the 30th percentile on word-level reading tests and at or above the 5th percentile on vocabulary tests.

The methodology employed a rigorous experimental design with random assignment at two levels: schools were assigned to one of the four interventions, and students within schools were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups. Instruction was delivered in small groups of three students, using a ""pull-out"" model to ensure intensive instruction. Statistical analyses included hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to account for the nested structure of students within schools.

Outcomes examined included reading skills such as phonemic decoding, word reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension, measured through standardized assessments like the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised (WRMT-R) and the Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE). State assessments were also analyzed.

Results showed statistically significant improvements in reading skills for students in the intervention groups compared to controls, with effect sizes varying by intervention and grade level. For example, gap reductions in passage comprehension ranged from 6% to 15%, depending on the intervention. The study demonstrated that intensive, skillfully delivered instruction can accelerate reading growth, though older students (grade 5) showed smaller gains compared to younger students (grade 3).

Compared to students in the control group, third graders receiving instruction using specifically Corrective Reading showed statistically significant gains one year after instruction on the Word Attack (ES = .35) Word Identification (ES = .17) and TOWRE PDE (ES = .37) assessments. For third grade students receiving free/reduced lunch services, the effect sizes were .16, .34, and .01 respectively. Fifth grade students receiving free/reduced lunch services showed gains on the PDE and SWE subtests of the TOWRE, with effect sizes of .26 and .24, respectively."

Torgesen, J., Myers, D., Schirm, A., Stuart, E., Vartivarian, S., Mansfield, W., Stancavage, F., Durno, D., Javorsky, R., & Haan, C. (2006). National Assessment of Title I: Interim Report. Volume II: Closing the Reading Gap: First Year Findings from a Randomized Trial of Four Reading Interventions for Striving Readers. National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance.