Following
the successful models of rigorous medical science, the Power4Kids reading
study will be a landmark in education ~ a large-scale, randomized,
controlled, longitudinal field trial. It is the second largest study
of its kind ever to be conducted in public schools. It is designed
to provide conclusive evidence of the effectiveness of quality remedial
reading programs, along with determining common learning profiles
of students and the best targeted-intervention for each profile. Regardless
of the reason a child struggles to learn to read, Power4Kids will
provide the information and winning models of how to close the reading
gap in our schools.
Additionally, Power4Kids has
a strong brain sciences component, a neurological
component that looks into the brain of readers as they perform language
tasks. This is called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
and is very exciting new science because the more we learn about how
the mind functions while performing learning tasks, the more easily
we will be able to "target instruction" to learning profiles
in the future. We hope to determine if some programs more quickly and
permanently improve learning functions and require less mental struggle
as our children become better students. The future implications are
enormous for helping all children who struggle in various subjects
and areas of learning. This component
will also be conducted as a randomized controlled trial.
Power4Kids Facts:
The Power4Kids study
begins in the Fall of 2003 and continues through 2007.
More
than 800 children will participate in the study that will be conducted
in 23 school districts and in 50 schools. The main goal of the Power4Kids Reading
Initiative is
to teach children to become proficient readers. The students will receive
100 hours of intense, small group instruction. They will meet with
their teachers and two classmates each day for an hour, and their progress
will be followed for two years.
Conducted
with the "gold standard" of science, the Power4Kids study
has attracted an outstanding team of leaders and advisors in the field
of reading. (Please see the list of Power4KidsPartners below.)
We believe that reading is
the cornerstone of academic success ~ in fact, reading is the most
important foundational skill. If a student cannot read a text book,
he or she will be left behind. The consequences of reading failure
affects every aspect of a child's academic career, as well as that
child's potential to lead a satisfying life. Millions of American students
are struggling readers; essentially, they are functionally illiterate
with little hope for a bright future.
Power4Kids is
lead by world renown reading researcher, Dr.
Joseph Torgesen. Dr. Torgesen of Florida
Center for Reading Research is supported by his team and an outstanding
team of intellectual experts in the fields of reading, neuroscience,
and clinical research. Eighteen top universities, research and
educational organizations have joined the Haan Foundation for Children
and Dr. Torgesen's Power4Kids team.
(See section "About Us" for biographies of the team members.)
Drs. John Gabrieli of Stanford University, Marcel
Just of Carnegie Mellon University, and Bennett
Shaywitz of Yale University are heading the fMRI study
and have formed a Neuroscience Advisory Board of Advisors. Dr.
David Myers of Mathematica Policy Research and his team
are heading the Impact Evaluation and Random Assignment of Power4Kids. Dr.
George Bohrnstedt of American Institute of Research and
his team are heading the Implementation and Cost studies of Power4Kids. Mrs.
Cindy Haan of the Haan Foundation is facilitating private/public
partnerships and heading the financial management of Power4Kids.
Power4Kids Specifics:
Launched in Pennsylvania, Power4Kids is
being studied in the Allegheny Intermediate Unit under the direction
of Dr. Donna Durno, Dr. Paula Butterfield and Rosanne Jarvorsky. 44
teachers will deliver instruction to the students. The teachers were
randomily assigned to one of four intervention, and low-performing
students were randomily assigned to each teacher. Our Power4KidsTeachers received
40 hours of instruction over the summer from Master Trainers of the
assigned intervention. The Power4KidsTeachers then
entered a seven-week "residency" where they practiced their
new skills with children who are not participating in the study.
Four (4) highly effective remedial
reading programs have been awarded a position in the study by virtue
of their scientifically-based evidence of effectiveness. The programs
are:
Corrective
Reading
Failure
Free Reading
Spell
Read P.A.T.
Wilson
Learning Program
Dr. Torgesen and our Scientific
Advisory Board carefully reviewed all applications that were submitted
from vendors and publishers of remedial reading program. Submission
were received from all over the United States and Canada. After careful
review of program proposal submissions and a review of the Evidence-Data
that was presented by the venders and publishers to the Board at a
conference in San Francisco (Fall of 2002), the Board cafefully selected
the programs that demonstrated conclusive evidence of effectiveness.
Power4KidsGoals:
The
study is designed to answer three key questions:
(1) With effective reading
remediation programs performed with students in public school, can
training within small groups raise the bottom 20% of poor readers to
an average reading ability with only 100 hours of intervention? Can
these interventions "close the reading gap" for all critical
reading skills, such as accuracy, comprehension and fluency?
(2) Can we identify common
learning profiles of struggling readers, and determine if certain interventions
work better and faster for specific profiles? Our goal is to determine
what programs work best for which children.
(3) What are the costs and
benefits for the schools, teachers and children when reading failure
is corrected and special services are not required throughout the rest
of a child's education?
Power4KidsVision:
The
study will create "winning" school models for our local policy
makers, superintendents, principals and teachers so they have the knowledge
to make intelligent decisions on practices and programs for their schools
and students. Power4Kids will
show how highly effective programs are:
Affordablefor
a school's budget
Replicable in
student reading achievement
Scalable to
classrooms around the country
Sustainable systemically
over time
The study will teach us how to train
our teachers; assess struggling readers; set standards and bench marks
for student achievement; and, scale winning practices and programs
into our classrooms.
Power4Kids will
help the older students, third and fifth graders, who failed to learn
to read in early-elementary school and who were previously thought
to be beyond hope—the children who are left behind.
