This quantitative study examines the Lexile level, estimated volume, and genre of fourth- and fifth-grade texts used in four popular core reading series to analyze the programs' possible effects on instruction and comprehension. The four series include Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Into Reading, Lucy Calkins' Units of Study for Teaching Reading,…

It has been suggested that the reading acceleration program (RAP) (Breznitz et al. in Nature Communications 4: 1486, 2013), in which participants are forced to read at a rate faster than their normal reading fluency rate, improves reading fluency and comprehension in alphabetic languages. However, its effectiveness has never been examined in…

This rubric was developed for the analysis of intervention programs against the criteria of implementing the four recommendations and accompanying action steps presented in the IES Practice Guide "Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4-9" for the Adolescent Literacy Intervention Selection Tool (A-LIST). Each item in…

Reading in upper-elementary grades includes comprehending complex texts and learning disciplinary-specific vocabulary. This study aims to determine the effects of a computer-adaptive supplementary reading program on fifth-grade students' reading achievement. Using propensity score matching to create equivalent groups of 450 students for both…

Year 4 continued the Adolescent Literacy Intervention Selection Tool (A-LIST) development work from Year 3 and focused on reviewing the degree to which selected adolescent interventions support evidence-based recommendations. To inform that review, Region 1 Comprehensive Center (R1CC) and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary…

This report evaluates the effects of Lexia[TM] Core5[TM] Reading (Core5) -- a product of Lexia Learning Systems -- on the reading achievement of students in grades 3-5 during the 2021-2022 academic year. Core5 is a program that focuses on various student literacy skills, such as fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. This report represents the…

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…

Educators and researchers have been fighting the reading wars for the last century, with battles see-sawing literacy instruction in American schools from phonics to whole language and, most recently, back to phonics again. Over the last decade, 32 states and the District of Columbia have adopted new "science of reading" laws that require…

Helping English learners and economically disadvantaged students read as well as their more advantaged peers is a struggle for many schools. This study tested WordGen Elementary, a program to improve fourth- and fifth-grade students' ability to understand the academic language used in school and support their reading achievement. This Study…

The purpose of this Action Research study was to investigate the curricula used by Readers' Workshop teachers at an independent day school and the successes and barriers of having an external reading consultant provided by the program. The study compared the relationship between an external reading consultant with the desire of an in-house…

Despite the implementation of district approved programs at Maplebrook Elementary, a Mid-Atlantic school district, students in third, fourth, and fifth grades continue to show reading comprehension below grade level as measured by standardized test scores and district-created assessments. The goal of this study was to gain teacher perceptions…

LXD Research was engaged by 95 Percent Group to conduct a third-party, mixed-methods efficacy study of their 95 Phonics Core Program (95 PCP) to evaluate the impact on fourth and fifth grade literacy outcomes over the school year 2023-2024. LXD analyzed the formative assessment data from i-Ready, focusing on overall scale scores, subdomains, and…

These are the appendices for the report "The Effects of an Academic Language Program on Student Reading Outcomes." This study investigated WordGen Elementary, a program designed to improve fourth- and fifth-grade students' ability to understand and communicate academic language and their general reading skill. The program provider…

The problem addressed in this study is that the low reading proficiency levels of marginalized elementary students significantly affect their future academic achievement and life outcomes. The purpose of this quantitative comparative study was to investigate the differences in the reading proficiency levels of marginalized Grade 3-5 students in a…

As students' reading proficiency gaps persist across the United States, educational leaders have turned to alternative methods to foster effective instructional literacy practices. One approach to combat this dilemma is the implementation of scripted reading programs. The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of scripted reading…