Reading Recovery has potentially positive effects on alphabetics for beginning readers¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r2 · q3 · i2 medium
Currency · newest study 2013 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i2 Two RCTs reported positive effects in the alphabetics domain—one statistically significant and one substantively important—with a WWC domain average effect size of 0.55 and an average improvement index of +21 percentile points. → Reading Recovery® 2013

Evidence¶

Reading Recovery® 2013¶

Reading Recovery®. (2013). What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report, Beginning Reading. Updated July 2013. http://www.readingrecovery.org

q3 · i2 · review · r3

WWC synthesis of two RCTs including 148 students. Table 1 reports a "Potentially positive effects" rating with improvement index "+21" (range +9 to +42) and a small extent of evidence for the alphabetics domain; the appendix prints a domain average effect size of 0.55 across the two studies (0.47 for Pinnell, DeFord, & Lyons 1988, not statistically significant; 0.62 for Schwartz 2005, statistically significant).

"Alphabetics Potentially positive effects +21 +9 to +42 2 148 Small"

Reading Recovery® 2013 (2)¶

Reading Recovery®. (2013). What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report, Beginning Reading. Updated July 2013. http://www.readingrecovery.org

q3 · i2 · causal · r2

The effectiveness summary reports that across phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, and phonics constructs, one study showed a statistically significant positive effect (Schwartz 2005) and one a substantively important positive effect (Pinnell, DeFord, & Lyons 1988). The report's appendix prints the domain-level effect sizes: 0.62 for Schwartz (2005) and 0.47 for Pinnell et al. (1988), averaging 0.55 (improvement index +21).

"Thus, for the alphabetics domain, among the two studies with a strong design, one showed a statistically significant positive effect and one showed a substantively important positive effect."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Alphabet Knowledge and Print Awareness — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Phonemic awareness effects of Reading Recovery were positive and substantively important but not statistically significant in one trial — related
• Reading Recovery has potentially positive effects on comprehension, with mixed findings across two trials — related
• Reading Recovery has potentially positive effects on reading fluency, from a single randomized trial — related
• SpellRead™ shows potentially positive effects on alphabetics for adolescent readers, with an average improvement index of +23 across two studies — related
• SpellRead™ shows potentially positive effects on reading fluency for adolescent readers, with an average improvement index of +14 — related
• In the Rashotte, MacPhee, and Torgesen (2001) RCT, SpellRead™ produced statistically significant positive effects on alphabetics and reading fluency for fifth- and sixth-grade struggling readers after eight weeks — related
• SpellRead™ has potentially positive effects on reading fluency, with an average improvement index of +9 percentile points — related
• Sound Partners tutoring has positive effects on the alphabetics of beginning readers in grades K–3 — related
• The WWC rates PALS as having potentially positive effects on alphabetics, no discernible effects on fluency, and mixed effects on comprehension for beginning readers — related
• LiPS has mixed effects on alphabetics for beginning readers: positive and statistically significant in one trial, negative and substantively important (but not significant) in another — related