Fast Track produced a positive, statistically significant effect on reading achievement/literacy after one year, significant on the Spache DRS but not on the Woodcock-Johnson Letter-Word Identification subtest¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causalr3·q4
Currency · newest study 2014 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q4 i? The study found a positive and statistically significant difference on the Spache Diagnostic Reading Scale but no statistically significant difference on the Woodcock-Johnson Letter-Word Identification subtest; domain average improvement index +8. → Fast Track: Elementary School 2014
Evidence¶
Fast Track: Elementary School 2014¶
Fast Track: Elementary School. (2014). WWC Intervention Report, U.S. Department of Education, What Works Clearinghouse. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/InterventionReport/628
q4 · i? · causal · r3
Findings from the same RCT (Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 1999a) after one year of implementation. The report notes the Letter-Word Identification subtest "was too difficult for many of the children in the high-risk sample in cohort 1" and was replaced by the Spache DRS for cohorts 2 and 3. Average improvement index +8 (range +3 to +13) for 847 students; no standardized effect size is printed.
"a positive and sta-tistically significant difference between the intervention and comparison groups on the Spache Diagnostic Read-ing Scale (DRS), and no statistically significant difference between the intervention and comparison groups on the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery–Revised, Letter-Word Identification subtest"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Fast Track showed positive, statistically significant effects on some external behavior measures after one year, with no significant differences on eight other measures — related
- SMART® tutoring produced a statistically significant positive effect on first-graders' word identification after two years of intervention — related
- Repeated reading shows no discernible effects on alphabetics for students with learning disabilities — related
- Enhanced math instruction adapted to after-school settings produced modest but statistically significant math gains after one year, while enhanced reading instruction showed no differences — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
fast-track-positive-reading-achievement-mixed-measures |
title |
Fast Track produced a positive, statistically significant effect on reading achievement/literacy after one year, significant on the Spache DRS but not on the Woodcock-Johnson Letter-Word Identification subtest |
description |
Fast Track produced a positive, statistically significant effect on reading achievement/literacy after one year, significant on the Spache DRS but not on the Woodcock-Johnson Letter-Word Identification subtest |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
mixed |
newest_evidence |
2014 |
source_checked |
2026-10-20 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-07 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — fast-track-elementary-school-2014 |
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