Past, Present, Future: Preparing Students for 21st

Century Literacy Skills

Literature Review-Chapter 2
Ann Fesenmyer

It is beyond me how a student can get to the 8th grade and not be able
to read above a 2nd or 3rd grade level! I see it every day and those are the
students that I work with year after year. Reading interventions are
important to every facet of education. Students who struggle with basic
reading skills are not successful as students. Our school has a mandatory
scheduled reading intervention in place called Learning Labs. Students who
score Below Basic or Basic on the PSSA are automatically scheduled into
these classes. The purpose is to provide interventions to struggling
students. The idea is simple; however, we are not producing results.
Implementing a combination of strategic intervention research-based
programs will impact student achievement measured by performance on the
reading benchmarks.
Year after year our students have been placed in a Learning Lab
intervention, and year after year the intervention fails. Typically, the content
area teachers are responsible for the materials that are used in Learning
Labs. It sounds easy, locate reading materials that meet the individual
needs of the students and teach them to read. The problem is that
secondary teachers are not confident that they are reading teachers

therefore, the twelve extra hours per month of intervention time is spent on
ineffective teaching.
The No Child Left Behind law brought about many changes in
education. The act was the first major move by the education field to
promote evidence based programs

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(Taylor, 2007) The NCLB increased pressure on schools to improve student
achievement. (Dahlkemper 2003) The law requires schools to adopt new
programs based on rigorous research that proves they are effective.
(Dahlkemper, 2003) According to the US Department of Education,
scientifically based research applies rigorous, systematic, and objective
procedures to evaluate whether a program is successful. (Dahlkemper,
2003) Using programs in schools that are backed up with scientific evidence
is new to the field of education but is becoming more widespread. US
Department of Education, Russ Whitehearst, Head of the Institute of
Education Sciences, claimed that in the past, schools relied on hunches.
They may have chosen programs that were recommended because there
was a personal connection with some employee. It was a game of chance.
He says that now is not the time to gamble on curriculum selection, now is
the time to make wiser choices. Under the NCLB, there are consequences
for schools who fail to make gains. (Taylor, 2007) Because of this, it is
imperative that schools choose research-based programs that are proven to

be effective. I believe that the design of our Learning Labs fails in this area
and this is a possible reason that we are still failing our students.
It has been a contention of the teachers from the inception of Learning
Labs that mandatory intervention classes without professional development
for the intervention facilitators would be futile. The reading teachers have a
plethora of reading resource materials that reinforce skills. The reading
teachers have knowledge of the reading skills. The content area teachers do
not feel qualified to teach these interventions. They are still of the mindset
that they are not reading teachers. For years we have heard these
statements. The reading
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teachers believe that the content teachers are the best non-fiction source of
reading that the students can be exposed to. The content teachers maintain
that they are not reading teachers. It is not actually teaching reading but
teaching children to read their content that we are asking.
Until we can overcome this major obstacle, we will not have the success that
we need to improve student achievement.
In addition, the content teachers struggle with the concepts that need
to be taught. Just because they can read themselves doesnt mean they can
teach students to read. A strategic, systematic program would enable the
content teachers to become more effective in their Learning Lab instruction.
Short of making the Learning Lab groups larger and reading teachers
teaching all reading and content teachers monitoring the students who dont

need reading interventions, the problem has not been solved. The purpose
of the Learning Lab is to provide small group instruction to struggling
learners. The administrators have purchased any materials that the teachers
have requested and each student is exposed to not only different teaching
styles, but different reading programs. For example, in 8th grade we have the
PSSA Coach, Ladders to Success, PSSA Workout, PSSA Common Core and
then one teacher uses Scholastic online resources, one teacher uses
edhelper.com, one teacher uses SCOPE magazines and the list of different
program goes on. None of the programs that we have is used with fidelity.
Each has different components and each teacher uses different materials
and language. It is my belief that we lack a consistent, systematic program
and that is the reason that we are not successful with our interventions.

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Our District has purchased several programs but for the purpose of my
research there are two specific research-based programs that, when used
with fidelity and in conjunction with another reading program, have been
successful in improving academic achievement. My intention is to prove to
the administration and my colleagues that everyone is a stakeholder in the
success of our students and using research-based programs consistently and
systematically will improve our students academic success

The first program that I intend to use for my experimental group is the
SRA Reading Laboratory. The program has been used since the 1950s in
schools across the country. It was developed by Don Parker, an educator
who received his Masters Degree in Psychology and his Doctorate from
Columbia University. His philosophy was that students learn different and at
different paces. He coined the phrase multi-level learning and used it in
his lectures across the country. The premise behind multi-level learning was
to let each student start where he is and move ahead as fast and as far as
his learning rate and capacity would let him. (McGraw Hill) Parker spent
fourteen years researching and developing learning systems that supported
his multi-level learning philosophy.
His first job was in a rural school district that had no money to spend.
Necessity is the mother of invention, and invent he did. He was familiar
with a workbook series that contained ten different levels and was very
inexpensive, one dollar per workbook. He knew that the series components
were all very similar but different levels so he worked diligently at cutting

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apart the pages and gluing them to folders. Each day the students could
complete a folder and pass it on to another student. Written work was
completed on a separate piece of paper and

the folders were reusable. He also created answer keys so that the students
were able to correct their work (to lessen his load). He was working with
students individually while his
other students were working independently. Parker used an old tomato box
to hold all of his folders.
To avoid embarrassing his students, Parker avoided using grade levels
on the folders. He used a system of ten colors to code the levels. He made
his students accountable by having
them keep track of their progress on a chart and then when they maintained
high comprehension, vocabulary and word analysis scores they were able to
move to another color.
Parker noticed that his students were engaged and motivated and that their
test and retest results were showing measureable gains. His colleagues
began to notice the changes and wanted him to teach them how to
implement his program. Students who were participating in the multi-level
learning system after three months in different grades were showing gains
one year and some even showed gains of three years.
His work did not go unnoticed. He was chosen by the University of
North Carolina to open a reading lab and teacher training center. He was
also given the title of state reading consultant. After employing the help
from PTAs and womens groups to help him create the individualized reading
labs, it was suggested to get his work published. In 1955, after several
rejections, a small Chicago publisher, Science Research Associates gave him

the chance that he was looking for. It took him several meetings to persuade
the publisher to get on board. The
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first print was released in 1957 and in one year from the publication date,
the millionth copy was printed.
The SRA Reading lab provides high interest fiction and non-fiction
stories. Each story contains multi-level comprehension questions about the
selection. The types of questions
include drawing conclusions, compare and contrast, cause and effect, main
idea, and context clues. There is also a section containing word study
exercises. Students complete a diagnostic test at the beginning of
instruction which allows the teacher to correctly place the student into the
program. From there, the students work independently to advance through
the program
levels. The program is designed so that students have immediate feedback.
I believe that this keeps the students motivated. Students will track their
progress to be accountable for their learning. They will be identified through
conferences and appropriate interventions for specific skills will be addressed
and then re-tested. The students will decide when they feel that they are
ready to advance to the next color after meeting the criteria for mastery.
I looked on the What Works Clearinghouse site to check the
effectiveness of the SRA Reading Program. At first I was disappointed in the
results that were reported. According to the research, the SRA reading

program offered no discernible effects overall. However, there were certain

components that offered a one to six percentile point growth. I learned
through reading more of the report that the results were reported when using
the program alone. The SRA program has changed over the last fifty years
and has added more components for interventions. My study will be
particular to the SRA Reading Laboratory and the What Works Clearinghouse
does not have any defined studies on the Laboratory, yet. However, I did
check
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the SRA site reviews and there are some schools that use the program that
have written positive reviews with claims from individual teachers that class
academic performance has increased since using the program.
The second program that I will use to complete the research and
answer my question will be the Reading Assistant program. The software
program uses speech recognition
technology to strengthen fluency, vocabulary and
comprehension.(gemmlearning.com) Reading Assistant is an on-line
program that has more than three hundred leveled reading
passages that are aligned to the Common Core Standards. Students are able
to make choices between fiction and non-fiction selections that support the
content area curriculum. There is a range of reading levels that utilizes
Gemm Learning to customize the program for the students difficulty level
and adjust it accordingly.

The way that it works is that the students listen to a model fluent
selection and then they preview a list of vocabulary words. After they finish
the preview, they read orally into a microphone and the reading assistant
listens and monitors. When the students show any sign of difficulty, the
program will intervene. Students read the selections a minimum of three
times but may read them several times to build confidence or raise their
scores. After reading, the students are assessed on comprehension to
determine their level of skill. The program monitors their words correct per
minute and will generate a list of words that were troublesome. The program
provides a visual clue to help read the word. If the student does not selfcorrect, the program will intervene and correct. After reviewing their
individualized word list, they play back their reading so that they hear
themselves. The selections contain
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illustrations and are often science or social studies related to build
background knowledge which allows the students to read common
vocabulary from different contexts. Reading Assistant is considered to be an
on-line tutor for every student who uses the program.
Students receive individualized reading coaching every time they use the
software, making the most of each instructional minute. (scilearning.com)
Another important feature that the Reading Assistant program offers is
the Progress Tracker. This is an invaluable tool for the teacher. While the
program gives the student

immediate feedback, it is monitoring and recording the data for the teacher.
Progress Tracker enables the teacher to have individual student data and
group data. It provides action-oriented (Scientific Learning Corporation,
1996-2010) information on the student, class, or a group. The Progress
tracker analyzes the data and then provides diagnostic and prescriptive
(Scientific Learning Corporation, 1996-2010) information to aid the teacher in
the what next? phase. The program also provides recommendations for
individual interventions.
Reading Assistant is one of the components in the Fast ForWord
reading series. According to the What Works Clearinghouse, eight studies
were completed which included two thousand students from the ages of five
to seventeen. In reading fluency and comprehension the Improvement Index
ranged from eight to seventeen percentage points and in general literacy
achievement a range from -1 to +9 percentile points. In the Rate of
Effectiveness category, reading fluency and comprehension demonstrated
potentially positive effects on student achievement. (US Dept. of Ed,
August 2010)

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Implementing a combination of strategic intervention research-based
programs will impact student achievement measured by performance on the
reading benchmarks.

To be effective in our Learning Lab interventions, consistent and systematic

programs that show evidence of effectiveness on impacting student
achievement need to be used with fidelity. Integrating the past-- SRA
Reading Lab and the present-- Reading Assistant technology based
intervention program, allows the students to move forward and embrace21 st
Century Literacy skills needed to succeed.

References

BeAmazingLearning. (n.d). Reading Assistant.

Retrieved from
http://www.beamazinglearning.com/reading_assistant.html
Dahlkemper,L. (2003,December). What Does Scientifically Based Research
Mean For Schools?
SEDL Letter. XV(1), 1-5.
Deshler,D., andHock, M. (2006). Interventions for Struggling Adolescent
Readers:
SRA Corrective Reading. Retrieved from
http://www.adlit.org/article/19750
GemmLearning. (n.d) Fast ForWord. Retrieved from
http://gemmlearning.com/ Reading-program/php.
McGraw-Hill Companies. (n.d). History of Reading Laboratory.
Retrieved from http://srareadinglabs.com/data/history_of_reading_labs.pc
Scientific Learning Corporation. (1996-2010). Professional Development
Resource Guide
(2nd Ed.).
Scientific Learning. (2009-2012). Reading Assistant Software.
Retrieved from
http://www.scilearningglobal.com/reading-assistantsoftware/

Scientific Learning. (n.d). Scientific Learning Reading Assistant.

Retrieved from
http:// www.scilearn.com/products/reading-assistant/
Taylor,L. (2007, September). Evidence Based Programs and Practices: What
Does It All Mean?.
Research Review.
US Department of Education. (2010, August). What Works Clearinghouse.
WWC Intervention
Report: Fast ForWord. Retrieved from
http:// www.ies.gov/
US Department of Education. (2010, September). What Works Clearinghouse.
WWC Intervention Report: SRA Corrective Reading. Retrieved from
http:// www.ies.gov./