Ladders to Literacy shows potentially positive effects on fluency based on a single non-significant finding with an effect size of 0.72 and an improvement index of +26¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · reviewr3·q2·i2medium
Currency · newest study 2007 · not yet checked against its sources · 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.
q2 i2 For fluency, the single qualifying study (O'Connor et al., 1996) found a positive but not statistically significant effect (effect size 0.72, improvement index +26), which the WWC rated potentially positive. → What Works Clearinghouse 2007
Evidence¶
What Works Clearinghouse 2007¶
What Works Clearinghouse, U.S. Department of Education. (2007). Ladders to Literacy for Kindergarten Students. WWC Intervention Report. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/InterventionReport/259
q2 · i2 · review · r3
WWC synthesis of one quasi-experimental study (5 teachers/66 students in the analysis sample) reporting end-of-first-grade fluency. The report states it "found a positive, but not statistically significant effect"; the WWC-calculated effect size for fluency was 0.72 and the improvement index +26.
"O'Connor et al. (1996) found a positive, but not statistically significant effect of Ladders to Literacy on the fluency outcome (Test of Oral Reading Fluency)."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Ladders to Literacy shows mixed effects on comprehension, with no statistically significant vocabulary effects in any study despite an average improvement index of +9 — related
- Segmentation is the only alphabetics outcome the WWC confirmed statistically significant across multiple studies — related
- Ladders to Literacy shows potentially positive effects on alphabetics, with an average improvement index of +25 percentile points and a domain average effect size of 0.69 — related
- Fluency interventions for older students show very small effects on rate and accuracy and virtually no effect on standardized comprehension — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
ladders-to-literacy-potentially-positive-fluency |
title |
Ladders to Literacy shows potentially positive effects on fluency based on a single non-significant finding with an effect size of 0.72 and an improvement index of +26 |
description |
Ladders to Literacy shows potentially positive effects on fluency based on a single non-significant finding with an effect size of 0.72 and an improvement index of +26 |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
weak |
newest_evidence |
2007 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-07 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — what-works-clearinghouse-2007 |
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