In a Florida RCT, Earobics® outperformed no-supplement control on several DIBELS subtests but showed no significant advantage over Lexia Early Reading¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r2 · q3 · i3 large
Currency · newest study 2009 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i3 Against the no-supplemental-instruction control, Earobics® showed positive, statistically significant effects on Initial Sounds Fluency (kindergarten, effect size 2.12), Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (kindergarten effect size 2.39; grade 1 effect size 1.73), and Nonsense Words Fluency (grade 1, effect size 1.29). → What Works Clearinghouse 2009 q3 i? Against Lexia Early Reading, the author found no statistically significant effect on any of the four DIBELS subtests for either grade, though the WWC judged three positive effects substantively important. → What Works Clearinghouse 2009 (2)

Evidence¶

What Works Clearinghouse 2009¶

What Works Clearinghouse. (2009). WWC Intervention Report: Earobics®. U.S. Department of Education, What Works Clearinghouse. https://www.earobics.com

q3 · i3 · causal · r2

RCT with 39 kindergarten and 37 first-grade at-risk students randomly assigned to Earobics® Step 1, Lexia, or control; intervention students used software 20 minutes daily for 25 days. Appendix A3.1 prints effect sizes of 2.12, 2.39, 1.73, and 1.29 for the significant subtests versus control, e.g. "2.39 Statistically significant" for kindergarten Phoneme Segmentation Fluency.

"the author found, and the WWC confirmed, positive and statistically significant effects of Earobics® for three DIBELS subtests: Initial Sounds Fluency (kindergarten), Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (kindergarten and grade 1) and Nonsense Words Fluency (kindergarten and grade 1)."

What Works Clearinghouse 2009 (2)¶

What Works Clearinghouse. (2009). WWC Intervention Report: Earobics®. U.S. Department of Education, What Works Clearinghouse. https://www.earobics.com

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Same RCT, second comparison arm. Appendix A3.1 shows effect sizes from 0.00 to 0.88 versus Lexia, all ns; the WWC judged three of the positive effects substantively important but not statistically significant.

"The study also compared Earobics® to Lexia, and the author found no statistically significant effect on any of the four DIBELS subtests for either of the two grades."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Phonological Awareness — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Lexia Early Reading shows no significant advantage over Earobics on alphabetics, with several negative effects substantively important — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Lexia Early Reading outperforms no supplemental instruction on kindergarten alphabetics outcomes in Gale (2006), significant by author but not WWC calculations — related
• In an Anchorage RCT with severe differential attrition, Earobics® effects on alphabetics were not statistically significant and one subtest showed a substantively important negative effect — related
• In a Chicago quasi-experiment, Earobics®'s overall effect was not significant, but the CTOPP Sound Matching subtest showed a significant positive effect — related
• Superkids Reading Program improves kindergarten sound and word reading with an average effect size of +0.23 versus controls — related
• In a Los Angeles RCT, Earobics® plus Open Court improved phonological awareness but not letter knowledge, phonics, or fluency — related