Evaluation of Reading Comprehension Interventions

Many children struggle with reading.  They may struggle even more with the complex science and social studies material used in upper elementary school.  Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act addresses the difference between high and low achievers in such areas and aims to bridge the gap through instructional approaches shown to be effective by scientifically based research.  Yet little is known about the effectiveness of different approaches for teaching reading comprehension strategies.  In response to this problem, the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences has contracted with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., and its subcontractors to conduct a rigorous evaluation or reading comprehension approaches.  This project entitled Evaluation of Reading Comprehension Interventions will study three to five reading comprehension programs with the support from expert researchers. 

The researchers will work with about 10 school districts to choose approximately 100 schools for the study (primarily Title I schools).  Out of these, 80 will be chosen by a lottery to receive one reading program or another.  The rest of the schools will continue with their current reading program.  The reading programs will be used in fifth-grade classrooms by providing an average of 30 minutes of supplemental reading instruction during science, social studies, or reading classes for the full school year.  Prior to the start of the school year, fifth-grade teachers will be trained to use one of the selected reading programs in their classroom.  Students will be asked to take a reading test at the beginning and end of the school year, and the study will last for 1-2 years.  All schools will receive compensation for participating in the study. 

The U.S Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences is sponsoring the study, which will be conducted by a team of researchers from the following organizations: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. in Washington, DC; RMC Research Corporation in Oregon; RG Research Group in California; the University of Texas at Austin’s Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts; and the University of Utah.

Russell Gersten of RG Research serves as co-Principal Investigator of the project. Key staff include Joseph Dimino and Mary Jo Taylor.

For additional information on Reading Comprehension, please visit:

http://www.texasreading.org/utcrla/research/evaluation.asp

http://readingcomp.mathematica-mpr.com

Evaluation of Reading Comprehension Programs’ Research Partners

Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

In conjunction with:

RMC Research, University of Texas, University of Utah