This study investigated the use of computer-aided instruction (CAI) as an intervention for kindergarten students at risk for reading failure. Headsprout Early Reading (Headsprout 2005), a type of CAI, provides internet-based, reading instruction incorporating the critical components of reading instruction cited by the National Reading Panel (NRP…

This article describes a study conducted with four Kindergarten teachers and students. The researchers were the building's literacy specialist/reading teacher and a college professor teaching pre-service teachers on site at the school. This was a naturally evolving teacher research study generated from questions raised as children demonstrated…

Teaching a child to read is one of the greatest gifts we can give to that individual and to society as a whole, and yet many students exit school without the necessary literacy skills. For decades, research has demonstrated the importance of phonemic awareness in the development of the alphabetic principle, a prerequisite for competent reading,…

In this article, the authors present a snapshot of how one kindergarten and Reading Recovery teacher organized instruction in her classroom, enabling her to provide constructively responsive reading assessment and instruction for her developing and struggling readers. (Contains 2 figures.)

Six instructional assistants taught the Early Reading Intervention (ERI) curriculum to 38 at-risk kindergarten students, and 32 nonrisk students served as comparisons. Student risk was determined based on performance on the "Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills" subtests of Nonsense Word Fluency, Letter Naming Fluency, and…

The purpose of this article was twofold: (1) to explore the feasibility of the regression discontinuity design (RDD) in response-to-intervention implementation research and (2) to expand upon the limited research on vocabulary instruction for kindergarten students who are at risk for reading failure due to limited vocabularies. This pilot study…

The profound consequences of early reading failure necessitate the provision of early literacy interventions to struggling readers. Many schools struggle, however, to address early reading difficulties because of insufficient human resources. Accordingly, the present study investigated the effectiveness of incremental rehearsal (IR) as a Tier 3…

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact and sustainability of successfully discontinued first grade Reading Recovery students as compared to non-Reading Recovery students in reading achievement measures as third graders. Schools are facing the unprecedented challenge to ensure reading success for all students by the end of second…

School systems across the country continuously seek to find ways to increase academic achievement at all grades. Possessing the ability to read is one of the keys to academic success; not being able to presents many challenges. Union County Public Schools and the state of North Carolina expect students leaving their kindergarten year to be able to…

This study examined the effectiveness of an assessment and intervention study targeting prekindergarten children at risk for reading failure. Across 38 child care sites, 220 children were identified as "at risk" for reading failure due to their performance on a screening measure of early literacy skills and randomly assigned to receive…

Start Making a Reader Today[R] (SMART[R]) is a volunteer tutoring program widely implemented in Oregon for students in grades K-2 who are at risk of reading failure. The program is designed to be a low-cost, easy-to-implement intervention. Volunteer tutors go into schools where at least 40% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch…

This study investigated the effects of a supplemental early reading intervention program on the phonemic awareness and alphabetic principle skills of students identified as at risk for reading failure. Seven kindergarten students and one first-grade student received 20 min of supplemental reading instruction 3 days a week for 16, 12, and 8 weeks.…

Although over 15 years have passed since Witt (1990) noted that no empirical evidence exists to support the contention that a collaborative approach to consultation leads to more positive outcomes than a hierarchical or expert driven approach, this issue generally remains unaddressed (Schulte & Osborne, 2003). While the literature documenting…