For first-grade nonresponders, PALS showed no statistically significant effects on seven alphabetics outcomes compared with adult tutoring¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2012 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? McMaster et al. (2005) reported no statistically significant difference between the PALS group and the adult-tutoring comparison group of first graders on Blending, Rapid Letter Naming, Rapid Letter Sound, Word Attack, Word Identification, Spelling, and Segmentation; the WWC-calculated average effect was –0.15, not statistically significant and below the substantively-important threshold of 0.25. → Peer-Assisted Learning/Literacy Strategies 2012

Evidence¶

Peer-Assisted Learning/Literacy Strategies 2012¶

Peer-Assisted Learning/Literacy Strategies. (2012). WWC Intervention Report, Beginning Reading. U.S. Department of Education, What Works Clearinghouse. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/InterventionReport/364

q3 · i? · quant-synthesis · r2

Randomized field trial by McMaster et al. (2005) with 41 first-grade nonresponders in eight Nashville schools, comparing PALS to one-on-one adult tutoring; the WWC found "no statistically significant difference between the PALS group and the comparison group." The WWC domain average effect size was –0.15 (improvement index –6), not significant.

"no statistically significant difference between the PALS group and the comparison group of first graders on the seven alphabetics outcomes: Blending, Rapid Letter Naming, Rapid Letter Sound, Word Attack, Word Identification, Spelling, and Segmentation."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Peer-assisted instruction and small-group instruction by adults have large, robust short-term effect sizes for K-6 struggling students — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
• For first-grade nonresponders, PALS showed a substantively important negative (but statistically non-significant) effect on reading comprehension versus adult tutoring — related
• PALS showed no statistically significant effects on near-transfer and far-transfer reading fluency for first graders — related
• K-PALS shows statistically significant positive effects on Rapid Letter Sounds for kindergarten students in all three training-support conditions — related
• Early Steps one-to-one tutoring substantially raises first graders' Word Attack and Passage Comprehension scores (average effect size +0.86) — related
• TRI shows an average effect size of +0.51 on Woodcock reading outcomes across two studies — related
• Only letter naming among rapid-naming measures showed significant correlation with reading and writing — related
• Alphabet instruction benefits did not transfer to letter-word identification, phonological awareness, emergent reading, or developmental spelling — related
• Early literacy intervention reduced the proportion of nonresponders to 7.05% versus 25.35% among controls
• PALS shows potentially positive effects on reading comprehension for students with learning disabilities (average effect size 0.75, not statistically significant) — related
• Peer-Assisted Literacy Strategies showed a substantively important positive (but statistically non-significant) effect on WRMT-R Passage Comprehension for first graders — related
• PALS shows strong evidence of positive effects on first-grade literacy, with an average effect size of +0.23 across three studies — related