The problem is that fourth-grade students in the United States are not meeting reading proficiency benchmarks. Phonemic awareness is a strong predictor of reading success; however, few studies have investigated its effectiveness for intermediate elementary students who are at risk or struggling readers. The purpose of this quantitative…

This study employed a single-case design with an AB structure to examine the effect of implementing a Response to Intervention (RTI) model on a fourth-grade elementary school student with reading difficulties. The participant in the study was Deniz, a fourth-grade elementary school student. The pretest measures revealed that Deniz was at the…

Up until third grade, reading instruction is focused on learning to read, while in fourth grade and up, students begin reading to learn (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2024; Grunke et al., 2013). This reading with purpose includes increasing critical thinking skills and using newfound reading skills to understand complex subjects such as math and…

A person's literacy level impacts multitudinous aspects of their life. Determining and implementing effective procedures to address reading struggles continues to plague the education sector. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how teachers in the fourth grade describe how they select and implement reading intervention…

Background: According to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS, 2006 with 87%, 2011 with 82%, 2016 with 78%, 2021 with 81%), an international reading comprehension assessment conducted at the Grade 4 level, South African learners perform very poorly in reading comprehension, even when reading in their African home languages.…

This case study investigates how teachers supported below-level readers who made reading comprehension gains in a virtual reading clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data sources included case reports, lesson plans with reflections, and recorded instructional sessions for 10 participants--5 teachers and 5 students. All student participants were…

We evaluate the direct and inferential mediation (DIME) model for reading comprehension with a sample of struggling readers in Grades 3 to 5 (N = 364) in the context of a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) investigating two theoretically distinct reading interventions (text processing + foundational skills [n = 117] or text processing…

Two potential pathways for improving reading outcomes for students with reading disabilities are presented: (a) systematically integrating self-regulation instructional practices within reading interventions and (b) aligning small-group reading intervention with core reading instruction to reduce the pressure on the executive system. Two separate…

Prior research supports the need for elementary-aged students with reading difficulties (RDs) to receive explicit systematic small-group evidence-based reading instruction. Yet for many students, simply receiving evidence-based reading instruction in a small-group setting is insufficient to reach the progress milestones needed to meet grade-level…

Prior research supports the need for elementary-aged students with reading difficulties (RDs) to receive explicit systematic small-group evidence-based reading instruction. Yet for many students, simply receiving evidence-based reading instruction in a small-group setting is insufficient to reach the progress milestones needed to meet grade-level…

Fluency is one of the critical factors necessary for proficient reading due to its connection with reading comprehension yet many students with reading difficulties struggle to become efficient readers of connected text. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of a digital reading fluency program that incorporates…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a virtual intensive reading intervention embedded with mindset training compared with typical reading instruction in a business-as-usual (BAU) condition delivered to fourth-grade students with or at risk for reading disabilities. After screening, the 59 participants were stratified and…

Many students struggle to read multisyllable words (Burns et al., 2017). These students may benefit from additional support to move from the full-alphabetic phase to the consolidated-alphabetic phase of reading acquisition to proficiently read multisyllable words (Bhattacharya & Ehri, 2004). There is limited research on advanced phonics…

We present findings from the first cohort of third- and fourth-grade students with reading difficulties (128 students from 31 classrooms) who participated in a 2-year intervention examining the effects of a reading intervention with and without anxiety management. Using a randomized controlled trial, students were assigned to one of three…

Most students with reading difficulties struggle to read words. We examined intervention effects for students with "significant" word reading difficulties (SWRD; standard score of 80 on at least one pretest measure of word reading), which includes individuals with or at risk for dyslexia. We investigated: (a) What are the effects of…