Technology has been widely used to teach reading skills to students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but the quality of research backing up this practice has not yet been fully investigated. The purpose of this review was to examine the quality of research on technology-aided reading interventions for students with ASD and summarize study…

This dissertation is guided by my driving research question: what works for whom in education and why? I examine issues of instruction, assessment, and research approaches that begin to answer this question. Study 1 examines a classroom intervention's child x instruction interactions. Study 2 examines underlying cognitive factors, including…

The Ontario Human Rights Commission's (OHCR) "Right to Read Report" calls for school districts to implement early literacy interventions that have been scientifically proven to be effective for young children with reading difficulties. The acknowledgment of early intervention as an essential service for young children experiencing…

The science of reading (SOR) refers to the sum of what we know about how people learn to read based on empirical studies across multiple disciplines. The purpose of this review was to identify research evidence to inform the SOR for multilingual learners (MLs). We reviewed 30 systematic reviews related to reading and reading instruction for MLs…

This best-evidence synthesis reviews the past 20 years of rigorous reading intervention research to identify effective programs of instruction for Grade K-3 English Learners (ELs), as well as to determine the average effect of reading instruction on reading outcomes for this population. We identified 10 studies, all of which only included students…

While policymakers have demonstrated considerable enthusiasm for "science of reading" initiatives, the evidence on the impact of related reforms when implemented at scale is limited. In this pre-registered, quasi-experimental study, we examine California's recent initiative to improve early literacy across the state's lowest-performing…

In-person tutoring has been shown to improve academic achievement. Though less well-researched, virtual tutoring has also shown a positive effect on achievement but has only been studied in grade five or above. We present findings from the first randomized controlled trial of virtual tutoring for young children (grades K-2). Students were assigned…

Direct Instruction (DI), commercially marketed by McGraw-Hill as Reading Mastery and Corrective Reading, is a bundle of highly scripted reading programs emphasizing phonics and phonemic awareness. This assessment considers 40 recently published studies on DI in order to consider the program's aims and efficacy as a means of teaching reading. Our…

Reading is a vital skill for functioning in society. People need to read road signs, prescription labels, restaurant menus, and job applications just to make it through everyday life. Unfortunately, approximately 20% of the population (Washburn, & Joshi, & Binks-Cantrell, 2011) are said to be dyslexic which means they will struggle…

Recent initiatives in the United States and United Kingdom have added greatly to the amount and quality of research on the effectiveness of secondary reading programs, especially programs for struggling readers. In this review of the experimental research on secondary reading programs, the authors focused on 69 studies that used random assignment…

In 1997, The National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, appointed a National Reading Panel (NRP). The NRP findings, released in 2000, summarized the effectiveness of a variety of instructional approaches in reading. In turn, the NRP report, despite disputed inconsistencies, became the basis of the 2001 legislation, "No Child…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the effects of the Response to Intervention Three Tier Model on third graders' reading achievement. Two hundred forty-three students participated in this study. Students were from an elementary school in the southeastern region of the United States. The data on the students was collected…

This article provides an extensive review of the literature on the use of repeated reading to improve the reading fluency and comprehension skills of elementary-age students with learning disabilities. A systematic review of the published literature from 2001 to 2011 was conducted and nineteen (N = 19) research-based repeated reading studies were…

Premier League Reading Stars (PLRS) is in its eighth year. To complement a pre-post quantitative survey, an impact evidence base was required to inform consideration of continued funding into 2011 and beyond. PLRS is very highly regarded among child participants, parents, and librarians. The structure of the scheme, its basis on football, and the…

Schools in the United States have been using the Accelerated Reader (AR) program since the mid-1980s. A search of the literature related to the effectiveness of the AR program revealed that many of the studies were conducted more than a decade ago, and a large number of those studies failed to utilize a control group to provide comparative data.…