SMART® tutoring produced statistically significant positive effects on oral reading fluency on both first- and second-grade passages¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r? · q3 · i2 medium
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.

q3 i2 SMART® students significantly outperformed comparison students on Oral Reading Fluency first-grade passages (ES 0.45) and second-grade passages (ES 0.47) at the end of second grade. → What Works Clearinghouse 2007

Evidence¶

What Works Clearinghouse 2007¶

What Works Clearinghouse, U.S. Department of Education. (2007). What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report: Start Making a Reader Today® (SMART®). https://www.getsmartoregon.org

q3 · i2 · causal · r?

In the randomized controlled trial, fluency was measured as words read correctly in one minute on first- and second-grade passages; effect sizes were 0.45 and 0.47, both statistically significant, with a domain average improvement index of +17 percentile points (Appendix A3.2).

"The Baker, Gersten, & Keating (2000) study reported, and the WWC confirmed, statistically significant positive effects of SMART® on the Oral Reading Fluency test, first- and second-grade passages (both administered to students at the end of second grade)."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

Reading Fluency — outcome: instruction changes it

After one year of SMART® intervention, only the fluency outcome was statistically significant, while alphabetics and comprehension effects were not — related
SMART® tutoring produced a statistically significant positive effect on first-graders' word identification after two years of intervention — related
SMART® effects on comprehension were not statistically significant on either subtest, though the domain-average effect size was substantively important — related
Chapter One tutoring significantly improves kindergarten students' oral reading fluency (ES = +0.23) — related
Literacy First tutoring significantly improved grade 2 ITBS passage comprehension in a multisite randomized controlled trial (effect size +0.19) — related
The first-year APS Turnaround Strategy evaluation reports implementation and impact findings focused on High Impact Tutoring and PBS operation of Thomasville Heights Elementary — related
Two years of multicomponent fluency intervention produced greater word-reading and fluency growth than one year or control, with no comprehension differences — related
Students with LD made statistically significant gains in oral reading fluency on off-grade-level passages but no significant gains on word reading or comprehension standard scores — related
Fluency Formula™ shows a positive but statistically non-significant effect on second-grade oral reading fluency (effect size 0.26, improvement index +10) — related

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`claim`
`id`	`smart-significant-oral-reading-fluency-effects`
`title`	`SMART® tutoring produced statistically significant positive effects on oral reading fluency on both first- and second-grade passages`
`description`	`SMART® tutoring produced statistically significant positive effects on oral reading fluency on both first- and second-grade passages`
`status`	`review`
`evidence_strength`	`moderate`
`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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