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Since the introduction of iPads in 2010, educators have been working to effectively incorporate this technology as a supplement to curriculum and a tool to increase student engagement and student achievement. The current investigation examines the effectiveness of iPad applications in supporting the instruction of students identified on the autism spectrum. Specifically, this investigation provides a meta-analysis of available research that examines the use of iPad technology and its impact on learning outcomes for students with autism. Four studies were found that provided results for groups of students. The findings of this research are based on 12 effect-size measures, representing a synthesized sample size of 99 participants. The results suggest that the use of iPad technology can have a positive, significant effect on student learning outcomes. The moderators of these positive outcomes are presented and discussed.

This research explores the impact of one-to-one computing on student achievement in Ohio high schools as measured by student performance on the Ohio Graduation Test. The study sample includes 24 treatment schools that are individually paired with a similar control school. The 1:1 programs in treatment schools have been in place for one to four years using various devices including laptops, netbooks, and iPads. An Interrupted Time Series methodology was deployed to examine OGT data over a period of five to eight years depending on how long the 1:1 program had been in place. Overall student performance and content specific achievement in math, reading, science, social studies, and writing are not significantly affected by the introduction of 1:1 computing when analyzed using IPD meta-analysis. When broken down by the longevity of the 1:1 program, consistent patterns did not emerge for any of the four time clusters that were examined using linear regression or meta-analysis. However, there are instances of the treatment group significantly outperforming the control group in one content area for one time cluster. These same findings hold true across demographic subgroups including gender, race, disability status and economic status. Patterns are not evident when studying the sample by time cluster for the various demographic subgroups; however, students with disabilities in the control group performed significantly higher that than their peers in the treatment schools for time clusters 1 and 4. Treatment schools, using a netbook device for their 1:1 program, produced the greatest overall change in scores (pre-treatment vs. treatment period) when compared to the other devices being used. Although statistically significant, the gain in test scores is very small.

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Read-aloud is a technique predominantly utilized at the elementary level. This study was designed to research the effectiveness of this technique at the middle school level, specifically, students who were not receiving special education or additional reading intervention services. For the current investigation, students in two middle schools within the same Virginia school district were assigned to receive the treatment of Structured Read-Aloud or received traditional middle-school reading instruction. These students were tested using the Diagnostic Online Reading Assessment (DORA) both in the fall before the intervention was implemented, and then again in the spring of the same year to assess gains. Results indicated that the use of Read-Aloud instruction had an impact on student DORA scores and implications of the research are considered.