Extensive Reading Intervention in K-3 Bruce Hawk Angel Haworth Tina Stelogeannis Teresa Viles Susan Zahner

We know considerably more about the effectiveness of early interventions than we do about interventions provided at later stages of development.

All of the effective early interventions examined in these studies shared four essential elements training in phonological awareness, decoding, and word study; Guided and independent reading of progressively more difficult texts writing exercises; and engaging students in practicing comprehension strategies while reading text.

Other elements of these interventions that may be related to their success include group size (one-on-one, small group), the daily or near-daily frequency of the intervention sessions, and the early identification (in K or Grade 1) of students in need of intervention. These elements were evident though not directly tested in most relevant research studies.

Most of these implications apply best to students who are judged to be To Consider: Most of these implications apply best to students who are judged to be among the 20% to 25% most at risk for reading problems at the beginning of kindergarten, first, or second grade. As the research intervention literature extends to more severely disabled students, these conclusions may need to be modified.

Implications for Practice Extensive interventions can be effective when provided by relatively lost cost implementers (paras). A range of training was provided to the interventionists. Gains from early extensive interventions appear to be maintained over time—at least into second grade. No single intervention is “the right way”

Other Elements Group size: One on one or small group Daily or near daily frequency 100 Sessions per year Duration: 15-20 minutes

Cost of Interventions Average per student $2,000 per year Range: $156-$6,500

Outcome Measures Included Spelling test consisting of 12 words administered on the screening pretest and 3 new words Word recognition test involving 40 common words from first- and second-grade materials

Implications Continued… Passage reading test where six progressively more difficult 100-word passages were presented Follow-up assessment in fall of second grade using the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test and Word Identification, Word Attack, and Passage Comprehension subtests.