A parent involvement intervention with elementary school students: The effectiveness of parent tutoring on reading achievement

This study evaluated an intervention that integrated explicit instruction of word recognition strategies within a home tutoring program. A randomized controlled trial paradigm was used to study the efficacy of the parent-tutoring program Paired Reading (PR; Topping, 2001) and an experimental modification of PR on the reading achievement of children in Grades 2 to 4. Fifty-seven families were recruited to participate in this study. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) the PR parent tutoring program that taught parents to read with their child, providing corrective feedback to their child in the form of supplying the misread word, when needed (PR); (2) a modified parent tutoring intervention which used the PR program, but included training in the word identification strategies of the Phonological and Strategy Training Program (PHAST; Lovett, Lacerenza, & Borden, 2000) to be used during the PR activity when assistance with reading was needed (PR-PHAST); and (3) a wait-list control group that continued with their regular family reading activities. Children’s reading abilities were assessed twice: prior to intervention and immediately after the 16-week intervention. Questionnaires were used to assess parental involvement with home literacy activities and to evaluate parental perception of the home tutoring program. Intervention fidelity was monitored via audio taped samples of reading sessions and follow-up telephone calls. The results suggest that superior reading gains can be achieved at home with a modification of the PR technique that incorporates teaching the word identification strategies of the PHAST Program.
Authors citation
Goudey, J.
Publication
ERA
Year of Study
2009
Subject
Literacy
Program Evaluated
Paired Reading
Tutor Type
Parent
Duration
16 weeks
Sample size
39
Grade Level(s)
2nd Grade,
3rd Grade,
4th Grade
Student-Tutor Ratio
1
Effect Size
0.35
Study Design
Randomized Controlled Trial
Goudey, J. (2009). A parent involvement intervention with elementary school students: The effectiveness of parent tutoring on reading achievement. ERA