Intervention Provided to Linguistically Diverse Middle School Students with Severe Reading Difficulties

In the last decade considerable knowledge has been synthesized (Ehri, Nunes, Stahl, & Willows, 2001; Khun & Stahl, 2003; McCardle & Chhabra, 2004; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998), policy written and implemented (No Child Left Behind Act of 2001), and guidance provided to schools (e.g., Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborn, 2003; Senechal, 2006) about how to effectively instruct students with reading difficulties and disabilities in the early grades. Though there are still significant research questions to be addressed, the research on beginning reading instruction is robust and convincing (Fletcher, Lyon, Fuchs, & Barnes, 2006). Considerably less is known about effective intervention for older readers with reading difficulties and disabilities, particularly those who are English language learners (ELLs). The purpose of this article is to describe an experimental study conducted with middle school students with significant reading disabilities, many of whom were also ELLs. The research question addressed was whether an intervention designed to teach code-based skills, fluency, and comprehension, incorporating English as a Second Language (ESL) practices, would be associated with significantly better reading outcomes for students with significant and persistent reading difficulties than outcomes demonstrated by students who received the school’s typical remedial reading or special education instruction. Older Students with Reading Difficulties: State of the Research Several syntheses have examined the effectiveness of reading interventions with older students with reading difficulties (Edmonds et al., in press; Scammacca et al., 2007) as well as adults who are learning to read (Kruidenier, 2002). In the Edmonds et al. synthesis, interventions conducted with older readers (grades 6–12) that primarily addressed word study, fluency, comprehension, and multicomponent approaches to improving reading comprehension were examined. Twenty-nine studies were located, and 13 of these met criteria for the synthesis. The synthesis was conducted examining comprehension outcomes for treatment and comparison students. Results indicated a mean weighted average effect size of .89. The effects of word-level interventions, comprehension interventions, and multicomponent interventions were examined separately and were associated with medium to high effects on reading comprehension. Similarly, Scammacca and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis that included many of the studies in the Edmonds et al. review but extended the grade levels from 4th to 12th and included more recent studies. Analyzing approximately 31 studies, they derived similar findings ranging from moderate to large effects on reading comprehension outcomes when treatment students were compared with control students. Effect sizes were lower when outcomes from standardized rather than researcher-developed measures were considered. They also reported that studies including participants with learning disabilities yielded moderate to high effects on reading comprehension. Overall, these syntheses indicate that many students with severe reading disabilities benefit from interventions that address basic word-level reading and those that integrate word reading with comprehension instruction. Few studies (e.g., Klingner & Vaughn, 1996) reported in these syntheses addressed students with reading difficulties who were ELLs. These findings suggest that interventions with older students can be moderately effective in improving reading comprehension outcomes, though the level of intensity needed to close the gap between struggling older students and their peers may require extensive and long-term interventions (Scammacca et al., 2007). These findings lend support to the notion that older readers are generally responsive to reading interventions, and we need not consider adolescents with reading difficulties too old for remediation (Ehren, Lenz, & Deshler, 2004). ELLs with Reading Difficulties Older students who are ELLs and demonstrate significant reading difficulties have unique challenges. Not only are they struggling with word reading, but they also have difficulty with word meaning. Furthermore, these students have often been deprived of adequate background knowledge because of a lack of reading skills as well as contextual factors more likely to be present with ELLs that compromise successful reading including: (a) being less likely to attend schools with highly qualified teachers, (b) being more likely to move frequently with disconnected learning opportunities, and (c) lack of access to books and materials in the home and community (Hansen, 1989; Kennedy & Park, 1994). Instructional Needs of Older Students with Reading Difficulties There is a crisis in middle school, with more than 25 percent of students unable to read well enough to adequately identify the main idea of passages (Kamil, 2003). Older students with reading difficulties read less, and teachers typically find ways to circumvent text reading so that these students’ access to print is minimal. The RAND Reading Study Group (2002) was charged by the U.S. Department of Education with identifying the most pressing issues related to reading research. They focused attention on reading comprehension with older students largely because these students (a) are making inadequate progress on the National Assessment of Educational Progress with no change in the percentage of eighth-graders scoring at or above the Proficient level between 1992 and 2005 (U.S. Department of Education, 2005), (b) are unable to adequately learn from content area texts, and (c) demonstrate unacceptable achievement gaps among students from various demographic groups. The RAND Study Group recognized the importance of the skills and strategies associated with improved outcomes for older readers with significant reading difficulties. One possible explanation for the low reading skills of older learners is that many possess inadequate knowledge of the alphabetic principle and word reading. Curtis and Longo (1999) indicate that as many as 10 percent of all older readers have difficulty with word-level reading. When considering the subgroup of students with reading difficulties the number could be as high as 60 percent (Fletcher, 2007). There are many older students who have not adequately mastered the foundation skills of word reading, which in turn influences their fluency and text comprehension. For example, in a recent study examining the word reading skills, fluency, and comprehension knowledge of middle school students with reading difficulties, more than half of the sample demonstrated significant difficulties with word reading (Fletcher, 2007). Another possible explanation for the reading difficulties of older students is that they lack adequate understanding of word meaning (i.e., vocabulary) and adequate reasoning abilities to comprehend text. Engaging students in constructing and interpreting meaning yields improved knowledge of words, particularly for low achieving students (Dole, Sloan, & Trathen, 1995; Jenkins, Matlock, & Slocum, 1989). Additionally, older students benefit from learning reading comprehension strategies such as comprehension monitoring, generating and answering questions, and summarization (Edmonds et al., in press). A third possible explanation is that older students with reading difficulties lack the task orientation and disposition toward reading to effectively acquire reading proficiency. Guthrie and Wigfield (2000) report that students who are more engaged in reading are also more likely to use reading strategies associated with reading comprehension.