Replicating the Effects of a Teacher-Scaffolded Voluntary Summer Reading Program: The Role of Poverty

Abstract

A randomized trial involving 19 elementary schools (K-5) was conducted to replicate and extend two previous experimental studies of the effects of a voluntary summer reading program that provided (a) books matched to students' reading levels and interests and (b) teacher scaffolding in the form of end-of year comprehension lessons. Matched schools were randomly assigned to implement one of two lesson types. Within schools, students were randomly assigned to a control condition or one of two treatment conditions: a basic treatment condition replicating procedures used in the previous studies or an enhanced treatment condition that added teacher calls in the summer. During summer vacation, children in the treatment conditions received two lesson books and eight books matched to their reading level and interests. Overall, there were no significant treatment effects, and treatment effects did not differ across lesson type. However, there was a significant interaction between the treatment conditions and poverty measured at the school level. The effects of the treatments were positive for high poverty schools (d = + .08 and + .11), defined as schools where 75% to 100% of the students were receiving free or reducedprice lunches (FRL). For moderate poverty schools (45%-74% FRL), the effects of the treatments were negative (d = -.11 and -.12). The results underscore the importance of looking at patterns of treatment effects across different contexts, settings, and populations. Keywords: comprehension, socioeconomic factors, research methodology, childhood Running head: EFFECTS OF A VOLUNTARY SUMMER READING PROGRAM 3Replicating the Effects of a Teacher-Scaffolded Voluntary Summer Reading Program:The Role of Poverty During the summer months, low-income elementary students lose ground in reading relative to their middle-and high-income counterparts (Alexander, Entwisle, & Olson, 2001;Burkam, Ready, Lee, & LoGerfo, 2004;Cooper, Nye, Charlton, Lindsay, & Greathouse, 1996;Heyns, 1978;Kim, 2004;Phillips & Chin, 2004). On average, summer vacation creates a 3-month gap in reading achievement between low-and middle-income children (Cooper et al., 1996). Even The key features of READS are (a) providing summer books that are matched to students' reading levels and interests, and (b) providing teacher "scaffolding" and parent support for summer reading in the form of teacher lessons at the end of the school year and materials sent to students and parents in the summer .The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend previous studies of READS. Our specific goals were to: (a) replicate, with a larger sample of schools, the positive effects of READS that were observed in two studies conducted previously in another state; and (b) extend previous studies by studying the effects of an enhanced version of READS that added teacher calls in the summer. In addition, we conducted exploratory analyses of the effects of poverty at the school level and student level and the effects of modified end-of-year lessons focusing on content...

Effectiveness of Structured Teacher Adaptations to an Evidence‐Based Summer Literacy Program

“…Adherence to the core lesson components was high across both a lesson using a narrative text (lesson 1) and a lesson using an informational text (lesson 4). On average, Core READS teachers implemented 87% of the essential lesson elements, compared with 83% for Adaptive READS teachers, and adherence levels across both schools was comparable to our previous studies (Kim et al., ; White et al., ). High overall adherence may have been due, in part, to the closeness with which most teachers stuck to the lesson scripts, often reading them verbatim.…”

“…**p < .01. ***p < .001. of the essential lesson elements, compared with 83% for Adaptive READS teachers, and adherence levels across both schools was comparable to our previous studies (Kim et al, 2016;White et al, 2014). High overall adherence may have been due, in part, to the closeness with which most teachers stuck to the lesson scripts, often reading them verbatim.…”

“…Journal of Educational Psychology , 102 (1), 20–31. e White, T.G., Kim, J.S., Kingston, H.C., & Foster, L. (). Replicating the effects of a teacher‐scaffolded voluntary summer reading program: The role of poverty.…”

Delayed Effects of a Low-Cost and Large-Scale Summer Reading Intervention on Elementary School Children's Reading Comprehension

“…All children in the study completed a survey when they returned to school in the fall. To measure reading amount during summer vacation, we used an item and response options that have been included in the National Assessment of Education Progress, prior studies on reading habits outside school, and our previous experiment studies (White et al, 2014;Cunningham & Stanovich, 1991;Donahue et al, 2001). The survey included an item that asked them to report the total number of books they had read independently during the summer: "During summer vacation, about how many books did you read?"…”

Summers: Some Are Reading, Some Are Not! It Matters

“…Through a series of planned variations in their evaluations of READS, White, Kim, and their colleagues tested the efficacy of different teacher and parent scaffolds and, in the last study, teacher phone calls to support students’ voluntary reading. The most recent study (White, Kim, Kingston, & Foster, ) is a replication of two previous experimental studies. In the replication study, students were randomly assigned to one of two strategy treatments: either books plus teacher scaffolds that were the same as in previous studies (multiple strategy application plus fluency) or books plus a K‐W‐L strategy.…”