Intensive reading remediation in grade 2 or 3: Are there effects a decade later?

Abstract

Despite data supporting the benefits of early reading interventions, there has been little evaluation of the long-term educational impact of these interventions, with most follow-up studies lasting less than two years (Suggate, 2010). This study evaluated reading outcomes more than a decade after the completion of an 8-month reading intervention using a randomized design with second and third graders selected on the basis of poor word-level skills (Blachman et al., 2004). Fifty-eight (84%) of the original 69 participants took part in the study. The treatment group demonstrated a moderate to small effect size advantage on reading and spelling measures over the comparison group. There were statistically significant differences with moderate effect sizes between treatment and comparison groups on standardized measures of word recognition (i.e., Woodcock Basic Skills Cluster, d = 0.53; Woodcock Word Identification, d = 0.62), the primary, but not exclusive, focus of the intervention. Statistical tests on other reading and spelling measures did not reach thresholds for statistical significance. Patterns in the data related to other educational outcomes, such as high school completion, favored the treatment participants, although differences were not significant.

A Meta-Analysis of the Long-Term Effects of Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, and Reading Comprehension Interventions

“…In five instances the authors of original studies were contacted to clarify or obtain missing information (see Note 1). A further study (i.e., Blachman et al, 2014) reported, in addition to a 12-month follow-up, a 10-year follow-up; however, this was judged to be too great of an outlier with regard to follow-up to be included here, and instead the 12-month follow-up data are included. Only two studies had samples that had learning disabilities, so these were collapsed into the category of reading disabled, based on the reasoning that both represent severe learning impairment.…”

Executive functioning deficits increase kindergarten children's risk for reading and mathematics difficulties in first grade

“…Collectively, these findings have led to repeated calls for interventions to be delivered early in children’s school careers. Early interventions may be necessary in order to best help those children with or at risk of experiencing reading or mathematics difficulties (e.g., Blachman et al, 2014; Clark, Pritchard, & Woodward, 2010; Partanen & Siegel, 2014). …”

Accumulating Knowledge: When Are Reading Intervention Results Meaningful?

“…These findings, which parallel the results of Al Otaiba et al (this issue), were interpreted as reflecting the need for a more sustained reading intervention and inadequate statistical power to detect small effects. However, we would suggest that in the context of other studies, the results of Blachman et al (2014) are meaningful.…”

“…More important, what all three studies suggest is that for many students, 1 year of reading intervention is not sufficient. Like Blachman et al (2014), we wonder what the long-term effects would be for 2 years of sustained efforts for students not meeting grade-level benchmarks. Such sustained efforts make the most sense from a public health framework in which all students are screened, monitored, and receive increasingly intense interventions.…”

“…It is worth noting that a significant clinical trial demonstrating the effects of aspirin maintenance on heart attack prevention was discontinued because of clear efficacy in preventing cardiovascular events and death despite an effect size of .07 (Steering Committee of the Physicians' Health Study Research Group, 1989). Blachman et al (2014) completed a 10-year follow-up of students who randomized to an 8-month reading intervention or business as usual comparison in Grades 2 and 3 (Blachman et al, 2004). At postintervention, Blachman et al (2004) reported statistically significant differences favoring the treatment group for word reading, fluency, and comprehension with medium to large effect sizes (.55-1.69).…”