Version 1
: Received: 29 December 2022 / Approved: 4 January 2023 / Online: 4 January 2023 (12:08:33 CET)
Version 2
: Received: 4 January 2023 / Approved: 6 January 2023 / Online: 6 January 2023 (09:39:03 CET)
Coggins, J.V. Using Readable English Leads to Reading Gains for Rural Elementary Students: An Experimental Study. PLOS ONE 2023, 18, e0288292, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0288292.
Coggins, J.V. Using Readable English Leads to Reading Gains for Rural Elementary Students: An Experimental Study. PLOS ONE 2023, 18, e0288292, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0288292.
Coggins, J.V. Using Readable English Leads to Reading Gains for Rural Elementary Students: An Experimental Study. PLOS ONE 2023, 18, e0288292, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0288292.
Coggins, J.V. Using Readable English Leads to Reading Gains for Rural Elementary Students: An Experimental Study. PLOS ONE 2023, 18, e0288292, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0288292.
Abstract
Reading proficiency is requisite in our read-to-learn educational system, yet two-thirds of American students are not proficient readers. Assuring educational equity means supporting all learners with multiple component reading interventions that individually scaffold students while remediating weak literacy skills and providing intensive and sustainable intervention early. This study (N = 855) measured the efficacy of two different multiple component reading programs for students in grades three, four, and five. Grade levels of students were assigned to either the treatment intervention or the typical practice condition; and all students were pre-and post-tested using EasyCBM Reading Benchmarks. Students scoring at/below the 30th percentile on either benchmark were also assessed with the WRMT-3 Passage Reading Comprehension and Oral Reading Fluency measures. Students in the treatment condition received Readable English and students in typical practice condition continued to receive Amplify CKLA during their regular ELA times for 45—60 hours. Students receiving Readable English significantly outperformed students in the typical practice condition on measures of oral reading fluency, reading rate, accuracy, and passage comprehension. Raw scores, growth scale values, and grade equivalents are reported, and implications for practice are discussed. In a school year fraught with pandemic instructional interruptions and learning loss, elementary students in the intervention condition averaged a year’s worth of growth in reading fluency and nine months of growth in reading comprehension compared to three- and five-months fluency and comprehension growth in the typical practice condition. Students in the Readable English condition experienced meaningful gains in reading rate and accuracy that will give exponential word reading volume dividends to students able to read text faster and more accurately going forward. This study adds to accumulating evidence that multiple component reading programs designed to reinforce fluency skills also support reading comprehension gains for all students.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Commenter: Joanne Coggins
Commenter's Conflict of Interests: Author