Four remedial reading interventions for striving readers: Corrective Reading, Failure Free Reading, Spell Read P.A.T., and Wilson Reading¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · 3 claims (3 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The evaluation employed parts or all of four existing, widely used remedial reading programs delivered to struggling third and fifth graders in groups of three for about 90 hours over the school year. Failure Free Reading "uses a combination of computer-based lessons, workbook exercises, and teacher-led instruction to teach sight vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension," while Corrective Reading uses scripted lessons, Spell Read P.A.T. provides systematic fluency-oriented phonemic instruction, and Wilson Reading uses multi-sensory Orton-Gillingham-based teaching. Corrective Reading and Wilson were modified to focus on word-level skills.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Delivered by teachers recruited for relevant experience who received, on average, nearly 70 hours of training and professional development support during the intervention year

Constraints¶

• Corrective Reading and Wilson Reading were modified, so results do not provide complete evaluations of those intact programs
• Spell Read sessions averaged closer to 55 minutes rather than the 70-minute clinical sessions, shifting the balance away from comprehension instruction

Target Learners¶

• Elementary students in grades three and five identified as struggling readers by teachers and low test scores

Target Learning Goals¶

• Phonemic decoding, word reading accuracy and fluency, and reading comprehension

Claims¶

• The Power4Kids evaluation covered four widely used reading programs for elementary students with reading problems: Corrective Reading, Failure Free Reading, Spell Read P.A.T., and Wilson Reading [+W]
• The four Power4Kids interventions delivered about 100 hours of pull-out instruction in small groups of three students over one school year [+W]
• The Power4Kids first-year report presents impacts on reading achievement at the end of the intervention year, with nearly 800 children in the study [+W]

Related Elements¶

• Power4Kids evaluation: impact study, implementation study, and functional neuroimaging study of four reading interventions

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Torgesen, J., Schirm, A., Castner, L., Vartivarian, S., Mansfield, W., Myers, D., Stancavage, F., Durno, D., Javorsky, R., and Haan, C. (2007). National Assessment of Title I, Final Report: Volume II: Closing the Reading Gap, Findings from a Randomized Trial of Four Reading Interventions for Striving Readers (NCEE 2008-4013). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/national-assessment-of-title-i-final-report-volume-ii-closing-the-reading-gap-findings-from-a-randomized-trial-of-four-reading-interventions-for-striving-readers