An efficacy randomized controlled trial of Reciprocal Reading in secondary schools

O’Keeffe

et al. 2022

Review of Education

Self Cite

There continue to be challenges of transfer from research evidence to practice in education. This paper reports on the implementation of a well‐evidenced Reciprocal Reading approach in 35 schools across a high poverty region in England, working cooperatively at transition between primary and secondary. The purpose of the research reported here was not to test children to establish whether Reciprocal Reading improves student outcomes, as randomised controlled trial evidence from studies in England has already established the positive impact of this approach in primary and secondary schools. Instead, a process evaluation was undertaken using naturally occurring data and staff survey data, to understand whether it is possible to implement this approach across a region with high fidelity. The theory of change exemplified in previous randomised controlled trial evaluations was used to interrogate the data in respect of teacher behaviours and attitudes, and student behaviours as reported by school staff during implementation. Findings suggest high levels of adherence to programme design and resources by schools was present across the sample during implementation, together with staff competence and positive relational factors during programme delivery. These findings are in line with health‐based research where high fidelity of implementation is used as an indicator of transfer to practice.

Section: The Reciprocal Re Ading Progr Amme (Rr)mentioning

confidence: 80%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Reciprocal Reading: Theory and Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Reciprocal Reading for struggling readers: An exemplar of evidence implementation in schools

O’Keeffe

et al. 2022

Review of Education

Self Cite

“…Positive evidence of cooperative learning for literacy instruction in elementary schools with effect size of ES+0.20 is found in a meta-analysis including 18 studies in elementary schools (Puzio & Colby, 2013). Most recently, literacy trials using cooperative learning approaches to improve Reading outcomes also support this approach with positive effect sizes of ES+0.13-0.25 (Thurston et al, 2020) and ES+0.24 (Thurston et al, 2021).…”

Section: Theory Of Interventionmentioning

confidence: 95%

A Phase 2 Exploratory Trial of a Vocabulary Intervention in High Poverty Elementary Education Settings

Taylor

et al. 2021

Self Cite

This article reports results of a phase 2 exploratory trial of a vocabulary program delivered in elementary schools to improve student’s reading ability, including their comprehension. The intervention was tested as a targeted intervention in classrooms with children aged 7–10 across 20 weeks during one school year, with eligible students learning in small groups of four. Teachers and support staff received training in this cooperative learning approach to develop children’s vocabulary with particular focus on Tier‐2 words. School staff received additional support and resources to equip them to develop and implement the vocabulary instruction sessions to targeted students. The trial was undertaken with a sample of 101 students in seven schools from three English district areas with high levels of socio‐economic disadvantage. A standardized reading test was used to measure reading outcomes, with significant gains found in student’s overall reading ability, including comprehension. Owing to the positive results found in this trial, including positive feedback about implementation of the technique, next steps should be a larger trial with 48 schools to avoid the risk of sampling error due to limited number of schools.

Protocol: A randomized controlled trial of the Fluency into Comprehension program in primary schools

International Journal of Educational Research Open

O’Keeffe

et al. 2021

Self Cite

This paper presents the research protocol for a Phase 2 randomized controlled trial of the Fluency into Comprehension program in primary schools. The program is a workforce development program that supports teachers and teaching assistants develop and deliver targeted reading fluency and comprehension instruction to children aged 7-9. The protocol outlines a research design to assess whether the program delivered over approximately 12 weeks improves reading outcomes, in a sample of up to 192 children from 12 schools in four English districts with high socio-economic disadvantage. The outcome measures are two reading standardized tests. A process evaluation will measure fidelity and potential for scale-up.