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May
2004 issue | Washington Parent
Wiser Parent
Reading Remediation Programs
by Cinthia
Haan
I was tired
of the fight. I was lost in a maze of contradictory approaches to reading
interventions that would help my son who struggled to read. After spending
a fortune on programs and tutors that produced little in the way of reading
improvement, my husband and I were devastated, realizing we had wasted
valuable developmental years. As options available in our community were
exhausted, we recognized the urgent need to do something dramatic or our
son would fail to be proficient in the one skill that is essential
for success in this text-driven economy–Reading.
As the last
hope we turned to research universities. Thankfully, they solved our problem
by pointing out that the essential elements of effective reading instruction
have been clearly identified by science (see sidebar). Today our son is
a fluent reader and a very successful student. After years of work, we
had solved the problem¾
for ONE child.
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Sadly, the reality
for 10 million children is very different
only 32 percent of fourth graders read on grade level, according to the
U.S. Department of Education, Education Statistics (www.nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/).
Worse, 37 percent of our children read well below the basic level
needed to complete their education, and this will affect virtually every
aspect of their lives. It’s not that these children don’t read at all.
Most simply haven’t acquired the fluency skills needed to read for knowledge,
so they avoid reading wherever possible, and this cycle will limit their
success in school and life.
The importance
of reading is indisputable. Additionally, an increasing number of Americans
are becoming aware that all students can become skilled and efficient readers.
However, achieving this goal requires many changes, and these changes are
being implemented slowly because of differing educational philosophies.
Many believe that steady progress depends on a steady stream of irrefutable
evidence with practical application that will create a clear and united
path forward. Dr. Joe Torgesen, renown reading researcher at Florida State
University says, "Good educators want to know what types of reading, math
and science curriculum and instructional practices are best for educating
children, and they want to know what sorts of professional development
and support is required to enhance the performance of teachers in these
subjects."
Regrettably,
as a nation, we spend far too little on education research. For fiscal
year 2004, the federal budget for education research is merely $162 million.
By way of comparison, the Department of Health and Human Services gives
$33 billion in funding for health research to the NIH, FDA, and
Centers for Disease Control. No wonder we have so little progress in education
and so much progress in the biomedical arena.
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Critical Elements of Effective Reading Instruction
Effective reading
instruction must explicitly and systematically teach students how to:
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Identify words accurately and confidently through instruction in:
1. Phonemic
awareness (sounds)
2. Phonics (sound/letter)
3. Fluency (automaticity)
• Form meaning once the words are recognized through instruction in:
4.
Vocabulary development
5. Comprehension strategies
Source: Dr. Joseph K.
TorgesenFlorida Center for Reading ResearchPrinciple Investigator of the
Power4Kids Initiative |
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Seeking fresh evidence, I turned to the
research community and private foundations to fund a large study of reading¾
looking to "close the reading gap." With support from 28 organizations,
we launched a rigorous research project to find out which reading interventions
work best, and for which kids. The project, called the Power4Kids
Reading Initiative©, speaks to the four primary
causes of reading failure in students: educational oversight, biological
deficits, the effects of an impoverished environment, and the effects of
having English not spoken in the home. Ultimately, Power4Kids will demonstrate
the value of intense remedial instruction and the realistic capability
of implementing these programs in schools. Bottom line: All children have
the right to read, and Power4Kids© sets out to
determine whether or not we have the tools to virtually eradicate reading
failure in public schools.
| Fast Facts About POWER4Kids Objective: To provide irrefutable evidence
that all but a small percentage of our student population can become skilled
readers. Size: 800 students, 50 schools, 27 school districts, 4 programs
making it the 2nd largest clinical trial ever undertaken in education in
the United States public schools. Programs Being Evaluated: Corrective
Reading, FailureFreeReading, Spell Read P.A.T. and Wilson. Amount of Instruction:
Certified teachers are delivering instruction to small groups of severely
reading disabled students (below the 30th percentile on entry) for one
hour each day for 100 days. Availability of Data: Three reports will be
widelydistributed, beginning late 2004. The first will report student results
during the intervention period and the next two will report the change
in student skills over the following two years. |
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The scientific advisory board of Power4Kids
chose four intense reading interventions that had solid evidence of success
for the study: Spell Read P.A.T., the Wilson Learning System, Corrective
Reading and Failure Free Reading. (More information can be found at www.haan4kids.org.)
Using these programs, Power4Kids endeavors to establish an effective and
affordable working model that will help educators take the guesswork
out of reading instruction.
Launched in Pennsylvania in late 2003,
Power4Kids (P4K) was designed after the successful model of medical science.
P4K is a randomized field trial, considered the "gold standard" in research,
and is the largest study of remedial methods ever to be conducted in public
schools. Power4Kids is being studied in 27 different school districts with
800 children. Forty-four teachers are participating
It provides 100 hours of reading instruction,
in groups of three, to the lowest 30 percent of readers in the third and
fifth grades. These children who are currently in special education, compensatory
education and regular classrooms cannot read. Their schools have identified
them as having a serious reading deficiency, which means they have
a high likelihood of academic failure and school dropout and are at risk
for social-emotional issues such as low esteem, depression and behavioral
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Biomedical research has led to enormous improvements in life and health
in America over the past half-century. One of the main reasons for this
progress is that in the early 1960s, the NIH and FDA adopted the randomized
controlled trial as a way of conclusively establishing which treatments
work, for whom and under what conditions¾
along with establishing which treatments don’t work. As a nation of parents
and citizens we must demand similar progress in education. We all need
to focus our efforts on strategies that have been proven to work, (see
sidebar) because only then can we give every child a chance for an education.
Cinthia
Haan is Executive Director of the Power4Kids Reading Initiative.
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