Early intervention to mitigate special education and reading risk is especially critical for low socioeconomic and minority learners. This study examined the lasting effects of an early reading intervention package of phonemic awareness on the reading skills of 38 second-grade students one and two years after intervention ended. The participants…

Situated in the heart of the fertile San Joaquin Valley twenty miles north of Fresno, the city of Madera has a population of 56,710 people. Agriculture is the driving force behind the local economy; the area produces more than 100 crops including raisin grapes, almonds, figs, pistachios, alfalfa, corn, milk, cattle and poultry. The total value of…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of Whole Faculty Study Groups on student achievement and teacher practices in grades K-3 of a Nebraska school district. Whole-Faculty Study Groups (WFSG) are a type of professional learning community (PLC). Using a mixed method approach, both K-3 student scores on Dynamic Indicators of Basic…

The goal of this study was to compare the efficacy of assisted reading with digital audiobooks with the traditional practice of sustained silent reading (SSR) in terms of reading fluency and reading attitude with upper elementary students with reading disabilities. Treatment group participants selected authentic children's literature and engaged…

A primary purpose of early childhood education and interventions is to promote children's acquisition of knowledge and skills linked to later social competence and academic success. In this report, special attention is given to summarizing what has been learned about early childhood classrooms as contexts for development and learning, the kinds of…

Randomized field trials were used to examine the impact of the Teacher Study Group, a professional development model, on first grade teachers' reading comprehension and vocabulary instruction, their knowledge of these areas, and on the corollary comprehension and vocabulary achievement of their students. The multi-site study was conducted during…

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to determine the efficacy of the Leveled Literacy Intervention program (LLI) in increasing reading achievement for K-2 students and (2) to examine LLI program implementation fidelity. This study evaluated LLI in two U.S. school districts and used a mixed-method design to address the following key research…

The research indicates that there are many benefits to pre-kindergarten participation which includes positive social and emotional benefits and academic achievement gains (Barnett et al., 2005; Cody, 1993; Neuman, 2007; U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, 2010). The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the effects of the…

The current investigation studied the effects of a computer software program of the oral reading fluency and comprehension of eight, first grade students. These students were identified as being either "at-risk" or "some-risk" for reading failure on the DIBELS oral reading fluency winter benchmark assessment. A multiple probe…

The purpose of this study was to determine if the implementation of a Response to Intervention framework had a positive impact on student reading achievement in urban elementary schools. This was a causal-comparative study that examined the reading performance of a sample of kindergarten through grade three students who experienced the Response to…

With budget cuts and the heavy emphasis placed in recent years on student achievement in language arts and mathematics, arts instruction has been greatly reduced in California elementary schools. Yet the research literature has shown arts instruction to be associated with improved literacy skills (Bransford & Schwartz, 1999). Podlozny (2002),…

This report summarizes evaluation results for an efficacy study of the Leveled Literacy Intervention system (LLI) implemented in Tift County Schools (TCS) in Georgia and the Enlarged City School District of Middletown (ECSDM) in New York during the 2009-2010 school year. Developed by Fountas & Pinnell (2009) and published by Heinemann, LLI is…

Due to the increased demands for accountability with the passage of the No Child Left Behind legislation signed in 2002 by President Bush, schools are required to use reading strategies and programs that are supported by scientific research. In Arizona state statute, ARS 15-704, the law outlines the requirements for Arizona school districts to…

This "Third Annual Report Card" looks at improvements in the cradle-to-career educational pipeline, the areas where Boston has made modest progress but still has a great deal of work to do, and the places where observers have failed to see the gains that are needed to ensure that Boston is a city of opportunity for all. This report card…

Response to Intervention (RTI) provides a challenge for schools to deliver appropriate and scientifically validated reading instruction to all students through a three-tier model. While many educators recognize the need for a strong core-reading program (Tier 1), interventions for Tier 2 and Tier 3 students remain more difficult to implement. We…