Scaling-up Effective Interventions for Preventing Reading Difficulties
Principal Investigator
Dr. Carolyn Denton, Vaughn Gross Center
Other Investigators
Dr. Patricia Mathes, Southern Methodist University
Funding Agency
Institute for Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education
Description of the Project
This five-year research project studies the process of bringing to scale two research-validated first-grade reading interventions, Proactive Reading and Responsive Reading Instruction, which differ dramatically in terms of their theoretical orientations and instructional design. Proactive Reading is based on the principles of direct instruction and Responsive Reading on the guided reading approach, with some important modifications to reflect recent research findings on reading acquisition. Each intervention is offered daily to groups of 3–4 children for 40 minutes by certified teachers. In previous research conducted in six schools in Houston (Mathes et al., 2005), the interventions were shown to be equally effective. The current research examines the process of scaling up the two interventions in 48 urban, suburban, and rural schools in the Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth areas, including a total of 1,728 first-grade students. The primary objective of the project is to investigate the processes involved with implementing research-validated early reading interventions on a wide scale, in multiple schools with multiple contexts. The team also is studying the impact of ongoing support, or coaching, provided periodically to reading intervention teachers either through in-person visits or through interactive technology.
Population/Participants
A total of almost 1,800 first grade students who struggle with learning to read and approximately 60 certified teachers who provide supplemental reading instruction to first-grade struggling readers will be included in the study over the five-year period.
Sites
During the 2007-2008 school year, the following school districts have agreed to participate: Austin, Bastrop, Burnet, New Braunfels, Rockdale, Comal, and UT Elementary School.
Timeline
During Year 1, the research team developed and piloted high-quality professional development materials, including a sophisticated technology component that is being used to test the effectiveness of providing technical assistance to schools via technology, which team members believe is essential to wide-scale implementation of educational interventions. The process of scaling up and sustaining the interventions is being studied in Years 2–5. Participating schools self-select one of the two interventions, and the team provides teacher training and coaching support to help them implement their selected intervention well. Researchers will evaluate each intervention teacher’s implementation of Proactive or Responsive Reading, evaluate the growth of at-risk students in the participating schools, and study factors within differing school contexts that may influence the effective and sustained implementation of the two approaches to intervention. The 2007–2008 school year will be year 5 of the project.
Results/Findings/Publications:
Denton, C. A., & Hocker, J. K. (2006). Responsive Reading Instruction: Flexible intervention for struggling readers in the early grades. Longmont, CO: Sopris West.
Hasbrouck, J. E., & Denton, C. A. (2005). The reading coach: A how-to manual for success. Longmont, CO: Sopris West.
Mathes, P. G., Denton, C. A., Fletcher, J. M., Anthony, J. L., Francis, D. J., & Schnatschneider, C. (2005). The effects of theoretically different instruction and student characteristics on the skills of struggling readers. Reading Research Quarterly, 40, 148–182.
Read more about the study on which the Scale-up Project is based.