Reading rescue: An effective tutoring intervention model for language-minority students who are struggling readers in first grade

The Reading Rescue tutoring intervention model was investigated with 64 low-socioeconomic status, language-minority first graders with reading difficulties. School staff provided tutoring in phonological awareness, systematic phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and reading comprehension. Tutored students made significantly greater gains reading words and comprehending text than controls, who received a small-group intervention (d = 0.70) or neither intervention (d = 0.74). The majority of tutored students reached average reading levels whereas the majority of controls did not. Paraprofessionals tutored students as effectively as reading specialists except in skills benefiting nonword decoding. Paraprofessionals required more sessions to achieve equivalent gains. Contrary to conventional wisdom, results suggest that students make greater gains when they read text at an independent level than at an instructional level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Authors citation
Ehri, L. C., Dreyer, L. G., Flugman, B., & Gross, A.
Publication
American Educational Research Journal, 44(2), 414–448
Year of Study
2007
Subject
Literacy
Program Evaluated
Reading Rescue
Tutor Type
Teaching assistant
Duration
6 months
Sample size
126
Grade Level(s)
1st Grade
Student-Tutor Ratio
1
Effect Size
0.39
Study Design
Quasi-experimental
Ehri, L. C., Dreyer, L. G., Flugman, B., & Gross, A. (2007). Reading rescue: An effective tutoring intervention model for language-minority students who are struggling readers in first grade. American Educational Research Journal, 44(2), 414–448. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831207302175