Reading skills are an important component of academic success for school-age youth, and are associated with increased academic performance and positive attitudes about school. The presence of an animal appears to reduce stress during reading. Therefore, the goal of this study was to assess the feasibility and effects of a 6-week after-school…

The purpose of this study was to explore the efficacy of two Response to Intervention (RTI) Tier 2 literacy programs used with sixth graders in a middle school setting to determine if the use of either the SuccessMaker® or READ 180® Tier 2 RTI literacy program for two marking periods, or eighteen weeks, positively impacted student achievement as…

Though campus principals must take on many leadership roles, their primary responsibility is to facilitate effective teaching and learning with the overall mission of enhancing student achievement. One way to provide instructional leadership is to evaluate and select effective instructional programs that align with campus goals of improving…

A cluster randomized trial estimated the effects of a supplemental vocabulary program, Elements of Reading[R]: vocabulary on student vocabulary and passage comprehension in moderate- to high-poverty elementary schools. Forty-four schools participated over a period spanning 2 consecutive school years. At baseline, 1,057 teachers and 16,471 students…

Success for All (SFA), one of the best-known school reform models, aims to improve the reading skills of all children but is especially directed at schools that serve large numbers of students from low-income families. First implemented in 1987, SFA combines a challenging reading program, whole-school reform elements, and an emphasis on continuous…

Success for All (SFA), one of the best-known school reform models, aims to improve the reading skills of all children but is especially directed at schools that serve large numbers of students from low-income families. First implemented in 1987, SFA combines a challenging reading program, whole-school reform elements, and an emphasis on continuous…

The "TextNow" Transition Programme, developed by national charity Unitas, is a reading for pleasure literacy programme with one to one sessions with a volunteer coach occurring 20 minutes a day each weekday. This occurs at two time points: in Year Six, the final year of primary school for five weeks in the second half of the summer term;…

First implemented in 1987, Success for All (SFA) is one of the best-known and most thoroughly evaluated school reform models. It combines three basic elements: (1) Reading instruction that emphasizes phonics for beginning readers and comprehension for students at all levels, and that is characterized by a highly structured curriculum, an emphasis…

The purpose of this study was to examine progress monitoring, reading self-concept, and the literacy skills of first and second grade struggling readers. Progress monitoring is an instructional process used by teachers to assess students' academic performance on a regular basis, typically weekly or monthly. When based on the skill level of the…

This article systematically reviews research on the achievement outcomes of four types of approaches to improving the reading success of children in the elementary grades: reading curricula, instructional technology, instructional process programs, and combinations of curricula and instructional process. Study inclusion criteria included use of…

This article systematically reviews research on the achievement outcomes of four types of approaches to improving the beginning reading success of children in kindergarten and first grade: Reading curricula, instructional technology, instructional process programs, and combinations of curricula and instructional process. Study inclusion criteria…

Summative evaluations have often been undertaken to determine the impact of educational programs on student academic achievement employing a quasi-experimental design. The summative finding is expected to be less misleading if a statistical model is performed on a dataset including a sound matched sample as a control group. This is because an…

This article reviews research on the achievement outcomes of alternative approaches for struggling readers in grades K-5: One-to-one tutoring, small group tutorials, classroom instructional process approaches, and computer-assisted instruction. Study inclusion criteria included use of randomized or well-matched control groups, study duration of at…

This Cooperative Language Development Project had two objectives: (1) to provide a modified language program for culturally disadvantaged first graders and (2) to evaluate the effectiveness of the program in terms of academic, intellectual, and linguistic growth. In a 2-year intervention program experimental versions of the Peabody Language…