Person:

Kim, James

Research has found that peers influence the academic achievement of children. However, the mechanisms through which peers matter remain underexplored. The present study examined the relationship between peers’ reading skills and children’s own reading skills among 4,215 total second- and third-graders in 294 classrooms across 41 schools. One innovation of the study was the use of social network analysis to directly assess who children reported talking to or seeking help from and whether children who identified peers with stronger reading skills experienced higher reading skills. The results indicated that children on average identified peers with stronger reading skills and the positive association between peer reading skills and children’s own reading achievement was strongest for children with lower initial levels of reading skills. The study has implications for how teachers can leverage the advantages of peers via in-class activities.

This meta-analysis reviewed research on summer reading interventions conducted in the United States and Canada from 1998 to 2011. The synthesis included 41 classroom- and home-based summer reading interventions, involving children from kindergarten to Grade 8. Compared to control group children, children who participated in classroom interventions, involving teacher-directed literacy lessons, or home interventions, involving child-initiated book reading activities, enjoyed significant improvement on multiple reading outcomes. The magnitude of the treatment effect was positive for summer reading interventions that employed research-based reading instruction and included a majority of low-income children. Sensitivity analyses based on within-study comparisons indicated that summer reading interventions had significantly larger benefits for children from low-income backgrounds than for children from a mix of income backgrounds. The findings highlight the potentially positive impact of classroom and home-based summer reading interventions on the reading comprehension ability of low-income children.

Time to Act, a 2009 report of the Carnegie Corporation’s Council on Advancing Adolescent Literacy, concludes that U.S. students are ill-prepared for the literacy challenges of 21st century higher education, employment, and citizenship. The poor performance of U.S. high schoolers in international comparisons contrasts sharply with the relatively good performance of U.S. 4th graders. The success of 4th graders, and indeed the recent rise in 4th grade NAEP scores, is believed to reflect the success of federal and state policies focused on primary literacy. It seems we have learned to teach students to read at the 4th grade level without preparing them for subsequent literacy challenges. As a result, a high proportion of middle and high school students are struggling. These strugglers are overrepresented in urban districts, among students living below the poverty line, and among ethnic and linguistic minorities. Improving reading for understanding in the post-primary grades requires exposing students who read at all levels to new instructional elements that focus on higher-order comprehension skills (e.g., analysis, synthesis, critique, problem-solving). To target these higher order skills, teachers need (1) a better understanding of the component skills required and how they develop, (2) a set of digestible instructional activities that, if well executed, build these skills, and (3) opportunities to learn the classroom discussion procedures that support student progress. High quality discussions are critical to three basic components of reading comprehension: perspective-taking, complex reasoning, and academic language skill. Word Generation (WG) is a research-based vocabulary program for middle school students designed to teach words through language arts, math, science, and social studies classes. The program consists of weekly units that introduce 5 high-utility target words through brief passages designed to spark active examination and discussion of contemporary issues. WG was designed with the understanding that promoting classroom discussion can result in particular kinds of academic benefits, such as improved word knowledge, reasoning, and expression. The IES funded evaluation of WG (as part of the Reading for Understanding initiative) is a school-level experimental study that includes two cohorts of schools randomized to treatment and control conditions. The first cohort has been studied for three years and the second cohort for two years; we present findings after the end of the 2nd year of the study and at the end of the 3rd year of the study

The effects of a voluntary summer reading intervention with and without a parent training component were evaluated with a sample of low-income Latino children from language minority families. During the last month of fourth-grade, 370 children were pretested on a measure of reading comprehension and vocabulary and randomly assigned to (1) a treatment group in which children received 10 self-selected books during summer vacation, (2) a family literacy group in which children received 10 self-selected books and were invited with their parents to attend 3 2-hour summer literacy events, and (3) a control group. Although children in the treatment group and family literacy group reported reading more books than the control group, there was no significant effect on reading comprehension and vocabulary. Recommendations for improving the efficacy of the intervention are discussed, including efforts to improve the match between reader ability and the readability of texts and the instructional goals of the family literacy events.

The purpose of this study was (1) to examine the causal effects of READ 180, a mixedmethods literacy intervention, on measures of word reading efficiency, reading comprehension and vocabulary, and oral reading fluency and (2) to examine whether print exposure among children in the experimental condition explained variance in posttest reading scores. A total of 294 children in Grades 4 to 6 were randomly assigned to READ 180 or a district after-school program. Both programs were implemented four days per week over 23 weeks. Children in the READ 180 intervention participated in three 20-minute literacy activities, including (1) individualized computer-assisted reading instruction with videos, leveled text, and word study activities, (2) independent and modeled reading practice with leveled books, and (3) teacher-directed reading lessons tailored to the reading level of children in small groups. Children in the district after-school program participated in a 60-minute program in which teachers were able to select from 16 different enrichment activities that were designed to improve student attendance. There was no significant difference between children in READ 180 and the district after-school program on norm-referenced measures of word reading efficiency, reading comprehension, and vocabulary. Although READ 180 had a positive impact on oral reading fluency and attendance, these effects were restricted to children in Grade 4. Print exposure, as measured by the number of words children read on the READ 180 computer lessons, explained 4% of the variance in vocabulary and 2% of the variance in word reading efficiency after all pretest reading scores were partialed out.

In this study, 72 secondary English teachers from the Santa Ana Unified School District were randomly assigned to participate in the Pathway Project, a cognitive strategies approach to teaching interpretive reading and analytical writing, or to a control condition involving typical district training focusing on teaching content from the textbook. Pathway teachers learned how to use an on-demand writing assessment to help mainstreamed English learners understand, interpret, and write analytical essays. In Year 2, treatment effects were replicated on an on-demand writing assessment (d = .67) and showed evidence of transfer to improved performance on a standardized writing test (d = .10). The results underscore the efficacy of a cognitive strategies reading/writing intervention for mainstreamed English learners (ELs) in the secondary grades.

This study reports year 1 findings from a multi-site cluster randomized controlled trial of a cognitive strategies approach to teaching text-based analytical writing for mainstreamed Latino English Language learners (ELLs) in 9 middle schools and 6 high schools. 103 English teachers were stratified by school and grade and then randomly assigned to the Pathway Project professional development intervention or control group. The Pathway Project trains teachers to use a pretest on-demand writing assessment to improve text-based analytical writing instruction for mainstreamed Latino ELLs who are able to participate in regular English classes. The intervention draws on well documented instructional frameworks for teaching mainstreamed ELLs. Such frameworks emphasize the merits of a cognitive strategies approach that supports these learners' English language development. Pathway teachers participated in 46 hours of training and learned how to apply cognitive strategies by using an on-demand writing assessment to help students understand, interpret, and write analytical essays about literature. Multilevel models revealed significant effects on an on-demand writing assessment (d = .35) and the California Standards Test in English Language Arts (d = .07).

Randomized field trials were used to examine the impact of the Teacher Study Group (TSG), a professional development model, on first grade teachers’ reading comprehension and vocabulary instruction, their knowledge of these areas, and on the comprehension and vocabulary achievement of their students. The multi-site study was conducted in three large urban school districts from three states. A total of 81 first grade teachers and their 468 students from 19 Reading First schools formed the analytic sample in the study. Classrooms observations of teaching practice showed significant improvements in TSG schools. TSG teachers also significantly outperformed control teachers on the teacher knowledge measure of vocabulary instruction. Confirmatory analysis of student outcomes indicated marginally significant effects in oral vocabulary.

A randomized trial involving 19 elementary schools (K-5) was conducted to replicate and extend two previous experimental studies of the effects of a voluntary summer reading program that provided (a) books matched to students' reading levels and interests and (b) teacher scaffolding in the form of end-of year comprehension lessons. Matched schools were randomly assigned to implement one of two lesson types. Within schools, students were randomly assigned to a control condition or one of two treatment conditions: a basic treatment condition replicating procedures used in the previous studies or an enhanced treatment condition that added teacher calls in the summer. During summer vacation, children in the treatment conditions received two lesson books and eight books matched to their reading level and interests. Overall, there were no significant treatment effects, and treatment effects did not differ across lesson type. However, there was a significant interaction between the treatment conditions and poverty measured at the school level. The effects of the treatments were positive for high poverty schools (d = + .08 and + .11), defined as schools where 75% to 100% of the students were receiving free or reduced-price lunches (FRL). For moderate poverty schools (45%-74% FRL), the effects of the treatments were negative (d = - .11 and - .12). The results underscore the importance of looking at patterns of treatment effects across different contexts, settings, and populations.

The authors conducted a cluster‐randomized trial to examine the effectiveness of structured teacher adaptations to the implementation of an evidence‐based summer literacy program that provided students with (a) books matched to their reading level and interests and (b) teacher scaffolding for summer reading in the form of end‐of‐year comprehension lessons and materials sent to students’ homes in the summer months. In this study, 27 high‐poverty elementary schools (75–100% eligibility for free or reduced‐price lunch) were matched by prior reading achievement and poverty level and randomly assigned to one of two implementation conditions: a core treatment condition that directly replicated implementation procedures used in previous experiments, or a core treatment with structured teacher adaptations condition. In the adaptations condition, teachers were organized into grade‐level teams around a practical improvement goal and given structured opportunities to use their knowledge, experience, and local data to extend or modify program components for their students and local contexts. Students in the adaptations condition performed 0.12 standard deviation higher on a reading comprehension posttest than students in the core treatment. An implementation analysis suggests that fidelity to core program components was high in both conditions and that teachers in the adaptations condition primarily made changes that extended or modified program procedures and activities in acceptable ways. Adaptations primarily served to increase the level of family engagement and student engagement with summer books. These results suggest that structured teacher adaptations may enhance rather than diminish the effectiveness of an evidence‐based summer literacy program.