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

Element · All elements
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 2 studies (2 causal), q3 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The Power4Kids evaluation is a multi-component assessment of four reading interventions for struggling elementary readers, conducted in the Allegheny Intermediate Unit near Pittsburgh. According to the report, "The evaluation consists of an impact study, an implementation study, and a functional neuroimaging study." The impact study used two-level random assignment with nearly 800 children, and the report presents impacts on reading achievement at the end of the intervention year. It was prepared for the U.S. Department of Education and The Smith Richardson Foundation as part of a congressionally mandated Title I report.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Random assignment at two levels: schools to interventions and struggling readers within schools to treatment or control

Constraints¶

• Findings reported are interim first-year findings from a 2003-2008 evaluation time frame

Target Learners¶

• Elementary school students with reading problems in grades three and five

Target Learning Goals¶

• Reading achievement for striving readers

Claims¶

• The four Power4Kids interventions delivered about 100 hours of pull-out instruction in small groups of three students over one school year [+M]
• The Power4Kids first-year report presents impacts on reading achievement at the end of the intervention year, with nearly 800 children in the study [+M]
• 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 [+M]
• Failure Free Reading, the only word-level-plus-comprehension program, showed impacts for third graders but no impacts for fifth graders [+M]

Related Elements¶

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

Examples¶

-

Key Sources¶

• Joseph Torgesen, David Myers, Allen Schirm, Elizabeth A. Stuart, Sonya Vartivarian, Wendy Mansfield, Fran Stancavage, Donna Durno, Rosanne Javorsky, Cinthia Haan. (2006). Closing the Reading Gap: First Year Findings from a Randomized Trial of Four Reading Interventions for Striving Readers. Washington, DC: Corporation for the Advancement of Policy Evaluation. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/closing-the-reading-gap-first-year-findings-from-a-randomized-trial-of-four-reading-interventions-for-striving-readers