Despite the importance of literacy skill training for incarcerated youth, a very limited number of empirically based research studies have examined reading instruction in correctional facilities. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the Fast ForWord computer-assisted reading program improved the reading and spelling abilities of incarcerated youth. A group of 51 incarcerated male youth identified by facility staff as low performers in reading composed the target group for this study. Both standardized and curriculum-based measures were employed to determine reading and spelling skill growth over an average of 24 sessions in an 11-week intervention. Results indicated no clear literacy skill improvement for the treatment group. Implications for future research are discussed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.