The effects of a comprehensive and supplemental middle school reading program

Abstract

We present results of an evaluation of the first year of a multi-year comprehensive middle school reading program. Four public middle schools in rural Virginia with large populations of students with limited reading proficiency participated in a study to determine the reading program’s impact. We evaluated 235 students with low reading achievement scores, including students with disabilities, to determine reading gains. The multi-year curriculum consisted of multiple components (word-level instruction, comprehension and vocabulary, motivation and engagement, and assessment) and seven related instructional units, each taught using explicit instruction. A quasi-experimental design was used to determine the intervention’s effectiveness. Statistically significant differences were found between the experimental and comparison conditions on a standardized measure of reading achievement with some scores favoring the experimental condition. Results support, in part, the reading program’s promise to improve middle school students’ reading achievement scores at a level that may narrow the reading achievement gap.

Monitoring Reading Component Skills during a Word‐Level Intervention for Adolescents with Limited Reading Proficiency

“…The intervention under study was TBS, one of seven units within the comprehensive Fusion Reading program. While TBS has not previously been studied as a stand‐alone reading strategy, it is important to recognize that the comprehensive Fusion Reading program has been found effective at improving reading comprehension (Hock et al., 2015, 2016) and silent contextual reading fluency (Brasseur‐Hock et al., 2021). In the current study, ninth graders with diverse reader profiles improved their performance in varied reading component skills while learning TBS.…”

“…Fusion Reading is usually taught as a supplemental reading course and includes four major components: (a) engagement and motivation, (b) word–level instruction, (c) comprehension instruction, and (d) ongoing assessment. Studies support the effectiveness of Fusion Reading to improve reading comprehension among urban, suburban, and rural middle and high school students (Brasseur–Hock et al, 2021; Hock et al, 2015, 2016).…”