Reducing Reading Failure for Kindergarten Urban Students

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 Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF). The Word Attack (WA) and Letter-Word Identification (LWID) subtests of the Woodcock–Johnson III Tests of Achievement were used to confirm risk status and also as pre- and posttest measures. Treatment students received between 6.85 and 13.70 hr of instruction, with varying degrees of treatment quality. Multiple linear regression was used to analyze the amount of variance in gain scores that could be explained by participation in ERI, treatment quality, and treatment duration. Results showed WA and LWID gains with large effect sizes for treatment students. Findings for treatment quality and duration were mixed, without clear indications of their effects on gain scores.

An Inclusive Approach to Improving Early Literacy Skills of Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a comprehensive reading program using the Scott Foresman Reading program (Foresman, 2000), supplemented with Torgeson and Bryant's (1994) Phonological Awareness Training for Reading (PATR) program in a general education classroom with four kindergarten special education students identified as having emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD). Following the implementation of the Scott Foresman curriculum by classroom teachers, university-trained research assistants implemented the PATR program. A multiple baseline design was used to evaluate the impact of the supplemental program on the reading performance of the participants. Academic measures included assessment of nonsense-word fluency, letter naming, and initial-sound fluency. Moderate, albeit inconsistent, improvements in reading skills were shown for the participating students. Implications for classroom practice and future directions for this line of research will be discussed.