Early Steps: Replicating the Effects of a First-Grade Reading Intervention Program

This study examined the effectiveness of Early Steps, a 1st-grade reading intervention program. Forty-three at-risk 1st graders, identified in September, received an average of 91 1-to-1 tutoring lessons during the school year. The work of the tutors was carefully guided by a trainer who made 9 site visits. At the end of the school year, the Early Steps group outperformed a comparison group on a variety of reading measures, including oral reading accuracy, comprehension, and pseudoword decoding. Moreover, Early Steps tutoring made the largest difference for those children who were most at risk (lowest in reading ability) in September. In discussing the intervention model, emphasis is given to its systematic word study component and to the critical role of the trainer of tutors.