Effects of a Year Long Supplemental Reading Intervention for Students With Reading Difficulties in Fourth Grade

Research examining effective reading interventions for students with reading difficulties in the upper elementary grades is limited relative to the information available for the early elementary grades. In the current study, we examined the effects of a multicomponent reading intervention for students with reading comprehension difficulties. We used a partially nested analysis with latent variables to adequately match the design of the study and provide the necessary precision of intervention effects. We examined the effects of the intervention on students' latent word reading, latent vocabulary, and latent reading comprehension. In addition, we examined whether these effects differed for students of varying levels of reading or English language proficiency. Findings indicated the treatment significantly outperformed the comparison on reading comprehension (Effect Size = 0.38), but no overall group differences were noted on word reading or vocabulary. Students' initial word reading scores moderated this effect. Reading comprehension effects were similar for English learner and non-English learner students. Educational Impact and Implications Statement This study examined the effects of a multi-component reading intervention for students with reading difficulties in fourth grade. Findings indicated students receiving the intervention made greater gains in reading comprehension than students who did not receive the intervention. This finding was similar for students who were English learners or non-English learners. However, students with higher initial word reading scores benefited more from the intervention. These findings suggest students receiving the intervention made progress in closing the gap between their current level of performance and expected levels of performance in reading comprehension.