This independent quasi-experimental study conducted by WestEd reported that Lalilo had a large significant positive impact on students' oral reading fluency skills. This is an important outcome because fluency is both a critical component of literacy and a strong predictor of later reading success. Effects were particularly strong for students…

Young students who are struggling with reading need a strong foundation in decoding skills. The need for strong decoding skills is particularly true for students facing multiple risk factors. A robust research base exists for interventions that improve decoding skills, but that research base extends minimally to students facing several risk…

The focus of this study was to examine the effective instructional practices, philosophies, values, and beliefs of highly effective reading teachers, as evidenced by their students' rate of reading growth over the course of one academic year across all demographic subgroups. Teacher instructional strategies, approaches to tier one and tier two…

Problem Statement: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, students were negatively impacted academically and social-emotionally (Kuhfeld et al., 2020). Preexisting academic inequities were exacerbated, especially for students of color, students with disabilities, multilingual learners, and those from low-income backgrounds (Kuhfeld et al., 2022).…

One relatively low-cost mechanism to assist teachers serving many English learner (EL) students and struggling readers is to hire, train, and manage paraprofessionals to provide supplementary instruction to such students. This study evaluated a program in which one district provided instructional aides to all first-grade teachers in the…

The development of emergent literacy, a precursor to formal reading, has been linked to subsequent conventional literacy skills in Chinese children. The factors important for acquiring Chinese reading skills, such as phonological and morphological awareness, have primarily been studied in primary school children rather than preschoolers. The…

This article provides an analysis of how a large, diverse Title I class of 1st-grade students spent independent reading time when an exemplary teacher provided instructional supports to foster engaged independent reading. The data derived from observational checklists that documented students' literacy-related, off-task, and transition behaviors;…

In Haiti, 49% of students cannot read a single word in Creole by the time they start grade 3, which is reflective of a broader learning crisis in low-income and fragile contexts. Read to Learn, an early-grade literacy intervention, was implemented and evaluated from fall 2014 through spring 2016 with the aim of improving students' reading skills.…

The WWC practice guide "Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade" presents a set of evidence-based practices that teachers and other educators can use to successfully teach reading comprehension to young readers. The guide, developed by a panel of experts, presents a set of evidence-based practices that teachers…

This study examined a combined reading curriculum (CRC) containing all the essential reading components of phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. The CRC combines a word study curriculum with a specifically designed supplemental reading curriculum to create a developmental, systematic, and comprehensive…

In the context of trying to improve reading proficiency in elementary school students, this study investigated the use of digital technology as part of a blended learning program, Core5, in kindergarten and first grade classes. A quasi-experimental design compared 283 treatment students instructed in schools using Core5 with 237 control students…

This paper reviews findings from four research syntheses that report the effects of academic language and/or reading interventions on language and reading outcomes for English learners who have or are at risk for learning difficulties. Studies included in the syntheses varied in research design and addressed multiple areas of reading and language.…

This essay challenges whether or not the use of district money for Reading Recovery© (RR) instruction is an effective expenditure of funds that results in sustained improvement in student reading outcomes. As a Tier 3 intervention, RR provides expensive, one-on-one tutoring for first- and second-grade readers that is occupying an increasingly…

The present study explores whether the relation between aspects of first-grade reading instruction and reading growth through eighth grade differed for Asian language minority (LM) children and native-English-speaking (NE) children. The sample consisted of 6,715 NEs and 242 Asian LMs, followed from first to eighth grade. Findings were as follows:…

This study examined the effects of Reading Recovery on children's motivational levels, and how motivation may contribute to the effect of the intervention on literacy achievement. Prior studies concluded that Reading Recovery was positively associated with increased student motivation levels, but most of those studies were limited…