Closing the Gap: A New Model for Adolescent Reading Intervention

Matthew J. Glavach, PhD

Healdsburg, California

Abstract

Closing the Gap: A New Model for Adolescent Reading Intervention is a research study using a new approach to connect middle and high school students who struggle to read to core textbooks and to increase reading skills, and self esteem. The study describes the instructional design, which organized words from core science, social studies, English, and mathematics textbooks into difficulty levels based on identical morphological patterns. Few reading intervention programs focus on teaching multisyllable words to middle and high school students who struggle to read, and the program developed during the study may be the only program using words taken directly from core textbooks and organized into a reading intervention program specifically for middle and high school students.

Closing the Gap:

A New Model for Adolescent Reading Intervention

A middle school Title I English support teacher responded in this way while using Core Reading, an innovative middle and high school reading intervention program that focuses on decoding, spelling, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and self-esteem for older struggling readers and connects them to core classes including English, science, and social studies.

I am very impressed with the Core Reading program. The students love it. During their independent choice work time, they ask to work on the packets. After Lesson 7 or 8 I almost had to hide the upcoming lesson packets because students were taking them off the shelf before I had a chance to introduce the lesson -- to work on them on their own! Each lesson has a similar format, which allows the student to be self-directed and comfortable with what is coming next.

One-on-one time with each student is built into each lesson. This has been a real treat for me as it has been completely "doable." The 2-3 minutes spent with each student is invaluable; the other students are so involved with other Core activities that management problems are almost non-existent -- these struggling readers are engaged!

Closing the Gap: A New Model for Adolescent Reading Intervention describes the program’s development; its intervention strategies, including the key strategy of organizing multisyllable words by identical suffixes and word endings and by rhyming patterns; and its consistent and exceptional reading gains and core class successes.

Many middle and high school students are unsuccessful in core classes because they cannot read the textbooks. Addressing reading inadequacies and connecting students to core classes is a primary goal for educators, yet meeting the goal is a challenge. In middle school, learning new vocabulary and organizing, summarizing, and interpreting information are emphasized (Readance, Bean, & Baldwin, 1998). To be successful, students must decode and understand difficult words, read fluently, and implement strategies for understanding text. But, often students are frustrated and unmotivated, they find reading formidable and do not like to read, and, therefore, they are unskilled in vocabulary, sentence structure, and text organization. (Akerman & Dykman, 1996; Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997). They are not prepared for the increasing academic requirements of core textbooks.

Beginning the Research Study

The research study began when administrators at a public high school asked the author of the study, a high school teacher and researcher, to participate in designing and implementing a federally funded, Title I, reading lab at the 1600-student high school with many students reading far below grade level and not able to access the school’s core classes.

Selecting Students for the Reading Lab

School-wide assessment data were used in screening students for the reading lab. Students scoring in the lowest quartile on the Standardized Achievement Test 9 (SAT 9) were given individual reading assessments. The individual reading assessments for the focus of the study included the Brigance Word Recognition Test to determine a reading level for individual words and the Brigance Oral Reading Test to determine a reading level for oral reading. Initially, 90 students were assessed with 65 students qualifying for the reading lab. Qualifying students scored between grades 2 and 7 in oral word recognition (with approximately 90% scoring between grades 4 and 6). The students scored between grades 3 and 8 in oral reading (with most scoring between grades 5 and 8). Word recognition scores averaged 2 to 4 years lower than oral reading scores; however, oral reading grade level scores did not reveal that most students struggled to read the passages fluently. The test results indicated a consistent relationship between low word recognition scores and poor oral reading. They demonstrated the findings that a word recognition deficit underlies poor reading and that poor readers at any age exhibit weaknesses in phonological processing and in word recognition speed and accuracy (Catts et al., 1999; Shaywitz et al., 1999).

Ascertaining Student Interests and Attitudes

Conversations with students during assessment revealed how their reading problems had affected them. Students were asked, “How has reading affected you in school?” and “What do you find most difficult about reading?” Responses included their experiencing fear and embarrassment when having to read aloud and in core classes saying nothing rather than exposing their inadequate reading skills. Almost all students responded that reading and understanding the “big” words was their greatest difficulty in reading.

Evaluating the Reading Lab:

The Need for a Reading Intervention Change Emerges

Students participating in the reading lab, usually 15 students with one teacher, were scheduled for five hours per week, a 1-hour block and a couple of 2-hour blocks. Much of the reading lab instruction was delivered by a computer software program at individual learning stations. The software program was a well-designed, individualized program with lessons for five reading levels focusing on vocabulary and comprehension. Students could be placed close to their reading levels and have their progress monitored through computer printouts of lesson scores. The lesson presentations were almost exclusively visual. Other reading lab instruction included weekly 1-hour explicit phonics lessons focusing on single-syllable words and silent reading and response writing using the reading lab’s extensive library with appropriate reading levels and a wide range of book titles of interest to high school students. At the end of the first year, reading posttests indicated that most students had made one year’s progress in oral word recognition and oral reading fluency. The test results would have been encouraging if most of the students had not already been three or four years behind their grade levels and struggling in their core classes. In the middle of the first quarter of the second year, the following question begged an answer: Is there a way to short circuit the reading intervention process and connect students to the core texts?

Researching the New Reading Intervention Model

The reading intervention model research began atypically by reviewing middle school and high school core textbooks to determine core content reading requirements. It was theorized that when the text requirements had been identified, a program could be designed to address them. During the textbook review, it became evident that core text meaning was carried by multisyllable words. The review also showed that certain word patterns in multisyllable words were consistent: affixes (prefixes and suffixes) and some word endings (see Figure 1 for affixes).

Figure 1. Affixes (prefixes and suffixes) examples.

Designing the Reading Intervention Model

The reading intervention model design included word recognition, reading fluency, and comprehension. The design began with word recognition. Student assessment results had revealed a consistent pattern of difficulty beginning with word recognition, and research strongly supports the importance of word recognition to vocabulary attainment and reading comprehension (Stanovich, 1996). Many researchers claim that limited word recognition and reading fluency are probable causes for the lack of comprehension because students use all of their working memory capacity to decode information, and meaning is lost at the expense of decoding (Brown, 1982; Samuels, 1994; Spear-Swerling & Sternberg, 1994).

Reading, spelling, and vocabulary words for the new program were taken directly from core texts and organized into patterns of suffixes and identical word endings by levels of difficulty. In the English language, variations of words are built by adding suffixes. The results are words with identical endings like port able, flamm able, and employ able. Although suffixes carry meaning, their primary function is changing words into different parts of speech (nouns, verbs, and adjectives, for example). The program focused on suffixes and identical word endings, but prefixes also were included. According to Stanovich (1980), proficient readers use specific orthographic information when reading. The information includes individual letters, letter clusters, morphemes, word stems, and word patterns. Shefelbine & Calhoun (1991) state that students unskilled in word recognition often mispronounce affixes and leave out syllables. Most words that students study, approximately 80%, contain one or more affixes, and affixes are important to decoding long words even when they do not give knowledge of the words’ meanings. (Cunningham, 1998). While designing the intervention model, it was noted that when looking at groups of multisyllable words, the words with identical endings, Group B, were easier to read (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Word pattern examples.

It seemed that organizing multisyllable words in consistent patterns could have instructional and cognitive advantages: (a) There is greater focus on beginning syllables. (b) Repeating the suffix or ending pattern strengthens learning the ending suffix or syllable because the pattern is continually repeated. “ The brain’s neural networks respond in a pattern. . . the more often a specific pattern is fired in response to a stimulus, the more firm the nerve assembly becomes (Ratey, 2001).” and (c) Many multisyllable words with the same suffix or ending have the same accented vowel and rhyme. The rhyming feature could serve as a bridge to multisyllable word development because it makes use of the natural rhythms of language (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. Suffix pattern examples.

The thought was to use the unique language features (suffixes and identical word endings organized by patterns and rhyming) to create a fast-paced program (the program spans grades 4 to 12 in 25 weekly lesson packets) that focused on word recognition, core vocabulary and reading fluency to increase the students’ abilities to read core texts. Because older students have greater knowledge of language and are more advanced cognitively; perhaps a fast-paced program of word recognition, core vocabulary, and reading fluency could accomplish in months something which for younger students would take years.

Describing the Instructional Design

The instructional design had specific components: spelling; vocabulary study; visual word representation; word study, rapid word reading; pre-reading paced fluency practice; reading fluency, repeated reading; and comprehension. Experience with teaching and writing literacy programs for older students helped in choosing and designing the program components. The components were integrated into 25 individual lesson packets of 8 to 10 pages beginning with 2-syllable word patterns (mid/d le, bat/t le) and going to 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-syllable word patterns (a/mend/ ment, ec/o/nom/ ic, civ/i/li/za/ tion, and si/mul/ta/ne/ ous/ly). The lessons began at approximately grade 4 reading level and went to grade 12 level. While the structure of each lesson was the same, the words and activities became progressively more difficult. The consistent structure had benefits: (a) it provided security in knowing what was coming next, (b) it eliminated confusion from changing instructions, (c) it focused on lesson content and a smooth transition from lesson to lesson, and (d) it made the program easy to administer. Each Core Reading lesson had two parts and specific components (see Figure 4).

Figure 4. Core Reading lesson components, Part 1 and Part 2.

Also, in each lesson an oral reading chart and a silent reading chart were included to record and monitor reading fluency progress.

The Core Reading Lessons, Part 1, Components 1 to 4

Each lesson was presented in 2 parts. Part 1 began with spelling.

Component 1, Spelling

Spelling strengthens important word recognition skills: sound symbol association, letter sequencing, and syllable identification. The spelling component had a list of 10 core pattern words and 2 to 4 bonus words. The lists called attention to the distinctive spelling patterns (see Figure 5).

Figure 5. Spelling presentation chart pages examples.

The spelling words were presented by syllables to divide them into pronounceable segments. Words were pronounced slowly with an emphasis on each syllable followed by a blending of the syllables in a normal pronunciation, which helped in word pronunciation, especially in longer words such as civ/il/i/za/tion and ex/am/i/na/tion.

Next, the words were to be written as one word and an arc, or loop, was drawn under each syllable to reinforce syllable boundaries through fluent hand and eye movement (see Figure 6).

Figure 6. Spelling practice pages examples.

A practice spelling test with word cues provided reinforcement and feedback. The cues included word endings, lines for the number of letters, and slashes for syllable division (see Figure 7).

Figure 7. Practice spelling test pages examples.

Component 2, Vocabulary

Words for the vocabulary activity were taken directly from core texts. The activity required a dictionary definition to be written for each word. After lesson 10, words were categorized in core classes including English, social studies, science, and mathematics (see Figure 8).

Figure 8. Vocabulary, dictionary activity pages examples.

Vocabulary development is fundamental to reading comprehension, and students benefit from direct instruction in vocabulary that they cannot decode independently. The dictionary activity was followed by a sentence-writing activity to reinforce the meanings of five dictionary activity words.

Component 3, Visual Word Representation

Reading motivation and comprehension strengthen when students use mental imagery, or drawing. Suziki (1985) found that imagery combined with verbal elaboration dramatically improved learning and remembering. The vocabulary in visual context activity reinforced 4 independently chosen core vocabulary words through drawing. The words could be drawn as a picture, a symbol, a cartoon, an ad or, for words that could not be pictured, written in an interesting way (see Figure 9).

Figure 9. Vocabulary in visual context drawing master example.

Component 4, Word Study, Rapid Word Reading

The rapid word reading was a timed reading of the word study word list. Word study core words were organized by number of syllables and similarity of sound or rhyming pattern, easing the transition to longer words. The stressed syllable in each word was underlined. Emphasis was on reading the words rapidly while being timed. (see Figure 10).

Figure 10. Word study pages examples.

Rapid naming, or lexical retrieval, (the amount of time needed to name stimuli, numbers, letters, or words) is highly correlated to reading ability (Wolf, 1994).

The Core Reading Lessons, Part 2, Components 5 to 9

Part 2 of the lesson began with a spelling test.

Component 5, Spelling Test

The spelling test consisted of the same words as the practice spelling (Component 1) without the lines for letters and without word endings.

Component 6, Vocabulary Test

The vocabulary test included 10 vocabulary words, ten matching dictionary definitions, and a synonym quiz with 4 synonyms. Because discussion and group interaction were critical to vocabulary test results, a group vocabulary study review became a part of the component..

Component 7, Pre-Reading Paced Fluency Practice

The pre-reading fluency practice developed automatic word recognition, or automaticity, and served as a bridge to the reading fluency, repeated reading passage (Component 8). Automaticity allows mental resources to be devoted to understanding text. To enhance automaticity, practice and overlearning are often necessary (Clay, 1991, 1993). Skills in the pre-reading fluency practice were (a) beginning syllables of words, (b) vowel sounds, (c) syllables and sentences, and (d) the sounds of words or isolated word parts. Instruction in each skill was practiced as sentences were read at a challenging pace (see Figure 11).

Figure 11. Pre-Reading fluency practice page example.

Component 8, Reading Fluency Repeated Reading

Reading fluency is the ability to read with speed and accuracy. Fluent readers decode words quickly and accurately, thus retaining many resources that can be used for comprehension (LaBerge and Samuels, 1974). One fluency strategy that has an extensive research base is repeated reading, which consists of re-reading a short, meaningful passage until a satisfactory level of fluency is reached.

Each lesson in the Core Reading program had 2 timed readings of a passage, an oral 1-minute timed reading and a silent 1-minute timed reading. Two charts provided for recording and monitoring progress, an oral reading chart and a silent reading chart. The repeated reading passages were written about core textbook topics and spanned grade 4 to grade 12 levels. Many lesson study words and words from previous lessons were in the passages. Before the timed reading, the passage was practiced, read aloud, by the teacher. The oral timed reading was read with a partner. Each student kept his or her score (words per minute) on an individual chart. Most students averaged between 150 and 200 words per minute (an average for most middle and high school students) or higher for most lessons. Scores on higher level lesson readings (grade 10 to grade 12 levels) usually averaged 100 to 120; therefore, additional practice was given (see Figure12).

Figure 12. Repeated reading passages examples.

Component 9, Comprehension

After the reading fluency, repeated reading, passages (Component 8) were completed, the comprehension questions from the passages were answered. The first four comprehension questions were the same type. The first question was for the main idea, asking what the story was mostly about. Questions 2, 3, and 4, were fill-in recall questions that provided a review or scanning of the text. The remaining questions were literal and interpretive comprehension questions and a vocabulary question.

Reporting Assessment Results

At the end of each school year, all students were assessed for reading progress (see Tables 1-4 for results).

Table1. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.80	8.75	+2.95 years

Table 2. Brigance Oral Reading Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
6.88	8.78	+1.90 years

Table 3. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2002-2003 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.94	8.95	+3.05 years

Table 4. Brigance Oral Word Recognition scores organized by number of students and number of years growth, 2002-2003

6 Years	5 Years	4 Years	3 Years	2 Years	1 Year
4 Students	6 Students	15 Students	15 Students	18 Students	9 Students

Discussing the Assessment Results

The assessment results showed that with only a brief intervention, 5 hours a week for 1 school year (25 weeks of Core Reading lessons), older students (those in middle school and high school), could grow significantly more in reading, especially in word recognition and reading fluency, than younger students. In 2001-2002 the average word recognition growth was 2.95 years, and the average oral reading growth was 1.90 years. In 2002-2003 the average word recognition growth was 3.05 years, and 60% of the students made 3 or more years’ growth. The assessment scores could have been higher had they not been limited because the highest levels tested on the Brigance test were grade 10 for oral word recognition and grade 9 for oral reading. Additionally, around 90% of reading lab students successfully read the highest Core Reading lesson passages, rated at grades 11 and 12, with speed and accuracy. The assessment results were typical of results recorded each year for five years with 60 to 70 students each year. Most of the students (around 90%) were second language learners.

Discussing the Instructional Design

Five important components for reading intervention were included in the instructional design: spelling, vocabulary, word study, reading fluency and comprehension. Within each lesson, the sequence and interaction of all five components were important to improving reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension. Yet, organizing core words by identical suffixes and word endings made it possible to accelerate the decoding of multisyllable words and to short circuit the reading intervention process. All students worked on the same lesson daily, and for students needing extra support, two self instructional programs, one focusing on phonics and the other on reading fluency were used to assist students in keeping pace with the program. The self-instructional programs were audio-workbook programs in which students could work independently. Core lessons were followed by silent reading of student-chosen books.

Summarizing the Study

The critical issue at middle and high school is success in core classes. Although data were not recorded, a high percentage of students who attended the reading lab were successful in core classes. The high school counselor responsible for placement of Title I students was among those, including many core class teachers, who affirmed that students who completed the reading lab were successful in core classes. A colleague of the author’s who taught in the reading lab throughout the study commented that students consistently told her that the reading lab helped them to succeed in core classes. A student comment, one of many similar comments, summarizes the rationale for the study: After reading a passage from a science text, the student was asked to discuss the meaning of the passage. The student responded, “I can’t tell you what I read; I was busy trying to pronounce the words.” Many middle and high school students are not successful in core classes because of the gap between their reading skills and core textbooks. The new model for adolescent reading intervention offers a way to close the gap.

References

Ackerman, P. T. & Dykman, R. A. (1996). The speed factor and learning disabilities: The toll of slowness in adolescents. Dyslexia, 2, 1-21.

Cates, H. W., Fey, M. E., Zhang, X., & Tomblin, J. B. (1999). Language basis of reading and reading disabilities: Evidence from a longitudinal investigation. Scientific Studies of Reading, 3, 331-361.

Clay, M. (1991). Becoming literate. The construction of inner control. Auckland: Heinermann Education.

Clay, M. (1993). Reading Recovery. A guidebook for teachers in training. Auckland: Heinermann Education.

Cunningham, A. E. & Stanovich, K. E. (1997). Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later. Developmental Psychology, 33, 934-945.

Cunningham, P. M. (1998). The multisyllabic word dilemma: Helping students build meaning, spell, and read “big” words. Reading and Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 14, 189-218.

LaBerge, D., & Samuels, S. J. (1974). Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 292-323.

Rately, J. J. (2001). Perception. A users guide to the brain (pp. 48-109). New York: Vintage Books.

Readance, J. E., Bean, T. W., & Baldwin, R. S. (1998). Content area literacy: An integrated approach (6^th ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.

Shaywitz, S. E., Fletcher, M., Holahan, J. M., Shneider, A. E., Marchione, K. E, Stuebing, K. K., et al (1999). Persistence of dyslexia: The Connecticut Longitudinal Study at Adolescence. Pediatrics 104 (6),1351-1359.

Shefelbine, J., & Calhoun, J. (1991). Variability in approaches to identifying polysyllabic words: A descriptive study of sixth graders with highly, moderately, and poorly developed syllabication strategies. In J. Zutell & S. McCormick (Eds.), Learning factors/teacher factors: Issues in literacy instruction (pp. 169-177). Chicago: National Reading Conference.

Stanovich,, K.E. ((1980). Toward an interactive compensatory model of individual differences in the development of reading fluency. Reading Research Quarterly, 16, . 32-71.

Stanovich, K.E. (1993). Does reading make you smarter? Literacy and the development of verbal intelligence. In H. Reese (Ed), Advances in child development and behavior (Vol. 24, pp. 133-180). San Diego: Academic Press.

Suzuki, N.S. (1985). Imagery research with children: Implications for education. In A.A. Sheikh & K.S. Shekh (Eds.), Imagery in education (pp 179-198). Farmingdale, NY: Baywood.

Torgesen, J. K., Wagner, R. K., Rashotte, C. A., Burgess, S., & Hecht, S. (1997). Contributions o phonological awareness and rapid automatic name ability to the growth of word-reading skills in second- to fifth-grade children. Scientific Studies of Reading, 1 161-185.

Wolf, M. (1991). Naming speed and reading: The contribution of the cognitive neurosciences. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, 123-141.

Component 4, Word Study, Rapid Word Reading

The rapid word reading was a timed reading of the word study word list. Word study core words were organized by number of syllables and similarity of sound or rhyming pattern, easing the transition to longer words. The stressed syllable in each word was underlined. Emphasis was on reading the words rapidly while being timed. (see Figure 10).

Figure 10. Word study pages examples.

Rapid naming, or lexical retrieval, (the amount of time needed to name stimuli, numbers, letters, or words) is highly correlated to reading ability (Wolf, 1994).

The Core Reading Lessons, Part 2, Components 5 to 9

Part 2 of the lesson began with a spelling test.

Component 5, Spelling Test

The spelling test consisted of the same words as the practice spelling (Component 1) without the lines for letters and without word endings.

Component 6, Vocabulary Test

The vocabulary test included 10 vocabulary words, ten matching dictionary definitions, and a synonym quiz with 4 synonyms. Because discussion and group interaction were critical to vocabulary test results, a group vocabulary study review became a part of the component..

Component 7, Pre-Reading Paced Fluency Practice

The pre-reading fluency practice developed automatic word recognition, or automaticity, and served as a bridge to the reading fluency, repeated reading passage (Component 8). Automaticity allows mental resources to be devoted to understanding text. To enhance automaticity, practice and overlearning are often necessary (Clay, 1991, 1993). Skills in the pre-reading fluency practice were (a) beginning syllables of words, (b) vowel sounds, (c) syllables and sentences, and (d) the sounds of words or isolated word parts. Instruction in each skill was practiced as sentences were read at a challenging pace (see Figure 11).

Figure 11. Pre-Reading fluency practice page example.

Component 8, Reading Fluency Repeated Reading

Reading fluency is the ability to read with speed and accuracy. Fluent readers decode words quickly and accurately, thus retaining many resources that can be used for comprehension (LaBerge and Samuels, 1974). One fluency strategy that has an extensive research base is repeated reading, which consists of re-reading a short, meaningful passage until a satisfactory level of fluency is reached.

Each lesson in the Core Reading program had 2 timed readings of a passage, an oral 1-minute timed reading and a silent 1-minute timed reading. Two charts provided for recording and monitoring progress, an oral reading chart and a silent reading chart. The repeated reading passages were written about core textbook topics and spanned grade 4 to grade 12 levels. Many lesson study words and words from previous lessons were in the passages. Before the timed reading, the passage was practiced, read aloud, by the teacher. The oral timed reading was read with a partner. Each student kept his or her score (words per minute) on an individual chart. Most students averaged between 150 and 200 words per minute (an average for most middle and high school students) or higher for most lessons. Scores on higher level lesson readings (grade 10 to grade 12 levels) usually averaged 100 to 120; therefore, additional practice was given (see Figure12).

Figure 12. Repeated reading passages examples.

Component 9, Comprehension

After the reading fluency, repeated reading, passages (Component 8) were completed, the comprehension questions from the passages were answered. The first four comprehension questions were the same type. The first question was for the main idea, asking what the story was mostly about. Questions 2, 3, and 4, were fill-in recall questions that provided a review or scanning of the text. The remaining questions were literal and interpretive comprehension questions and a vocabulary question.

Reporting Assessment Results

At the end of each school year, all students were assessed for reading progress (see Tables 1-4 for results).

Table1. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.80	8.75	+2.95 years

Table 2. Brigance Oral Reading Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
6.88	8.78	+1.90 years

Table 3. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2002-2003 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.94	8.95	+3.05 years

Table 4. Brigance Oral Word Recognition scores organized by number of students and number of years growth, 2002-2003

6 Years	5 Years	4 Years	3 Years	2 Years	1 Year
4 Students	6 Students	15 Students	15 Students	18 Students	9 Students

Discussing the Assessment Results

The assessment results showed that with only a brief intervention, 5 hours a week for 1 school year (25 weeks of Core Reading lessons), older students (those in middle school and high school), could grow significantly more in reading, especially in word recognition and reading fluency, than younger students. In 2001-2002 the average word recognition growth was 2.95 years, and the average oral reading growth was 1.90 years. In 2002-2003 the average word recognition growth was 3.05 years, and 60% of the students made 3 or more years’ growth. The assessment scores could have been higher had they not been limited because the highest levels tested on the Brigance test were grade 10 for oral word recognition and grade 9 for oral reading. Additionally, around 90% of reading lab students successfully read the highest Core Reading lesson passages, rated at grades 11 and 12, with speed and accuracy. The assessment results were typical of results recorded each year for five years with 60 to 70 students each year. Most of the students (around 90%) were second language learners.

Discussing the Instructional Design

Five important components for reading intervention were included in the instructional design: spelling, vocabulary, word study, reading fluency and comprehension. Within each lesson, the sequence and interaction of all five components were important to improving reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension. Yet, organizing core words by identical suffixes and word endings made it possible to accelerate the decoding of multisyllable words and to short circuit the reading intervention process. All students worked on the same lesson daily, and for students needing extra support, two self instructional programs, one focusing on phonics and the other on reading fluency were used to assist students in keeping pace with the program. The self-instructional programs were audio-workbook programs in which students could work independently. Core lessons were followed by silent reading of student-chosen books.

Summarizing the Study

The critical issue at middle and high school is success in core classes. Although data were not recorded, a high percentage of students who attended the reading lab were successful in core classes. The high school counselor responsible for placement of Title I students was among those, including many core class teachers, who affirmed that students who completed the reading lab were successful in core classes. A colleague of the author’s who taught in the reading lab throughout the study commented that students consistently told her that the reading lab helped them to succeed in core classes. A student comment, one of many similar comments, summarizes the rationale for the study: After reading a passage from a science text, the student was asked to discuss the meaning of the passage. The student responded, “I can’t tell you what I read; I was busy trying to pronounce the words.” Many middle and high school students are not successful in core classes because of the gap between their reading skills and core textbooks. The new model for adolescent reading intervention offers a way to close the gap.

References

Ackerman, P. T. & Dykman, R. A. (1996). The speed factor and learning disabilities: The toll of slowness in adolescents. Dyslexia, 2, 1-21.

Cates, H. W., Fey, M. E., Zhang, X., & Tomblin, J. B. (1999). Language basis of reading and reading disabilities: Evidence from a longitudinal investigation. Scientific Studies of Reading, 3, 331-361.

Clay, M. (1991). Becoming literate. The construction of inner control. Auckland: Heinermann Education.

Clay, M. (1993). Reading Recovery. A guidebook for teachers in training. Auckland: Heinermann Education.

Cunningham, A. E. & Stanovich, K. E. (1997). Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later. Developmental Psychology, 33, 934-945.

Cunningham, P. M. (1998). The multisyllabic word dilemma: Helping students build meaning, spell, and read “big” words. Reading and Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 14, 189-218.

LaBerge, D., & Samuels, S. J. (1974). Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 292-323.

Rately, J. J. (2001). Perception. A users guide to the brain (pp. 48-109). New York: Vintage Books.

Readance, J. E., Bean, T. W., & Baldwin, R. S. (1998). Content area literacy: An integrated approach (6^th ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.

Shaywitz, S. E., Fletcher, M., Holahan, J. M., Shneider, A. E., Marchione, K. E, Stuebing, K. K., et al (1999). Persistence of dyslexia: The Connecticut Longitudinal Study at Adolescence. Pediatrics 104 (6),1351-1359.

Shefelbine, J., & Calhoun, J. (1991). Variability in approaches to identifying polysyllabic words: A descriptive study of sixth graders with highly, moderately, and poorly developed syllabication strategies. In J. Zutell & S. McCormick (Eds.), Learning factors/teacher factors: Issues in literacy instruction (pp. 169-177). Chicago: National Reading Conference.

Stanovich,, K.E. ((1980). Toward an interactive compensatory model of individual differences in the development of reading fluency. Reading Research Quarterly, 16, . 32-71.

Stanovich, K.E. (1993). Does reading make you smarter? Literacy and the development of verbal intelligence. In H. Reese (Ed), Advances in child development and behavior (Vol. 24, pp. 133-180). San Diego: Academic Press.

Suzuki, N.S. (1985). Imagery research with children: Implications for education. In A.A. Sheikh & K.S. Shekh (Eds.), Imagery in education (pp 179-198). Farmingdale, NY: Baywood.

Torgesen, J. K., Wagner, R. K., Rashotte, C. A., Burgess, S., & Hecht, S. (1997). Contributions o phonological awareness and rapid automatic name ability to the growth of word-reading skills in second- to fifth-grade children. Scientific Studies of Reading, 1 161-185.

Wolf, M. (1991). Naming speed and reading: The contribution of the cognitive neurosciences. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, 123-141.

Component 4, Word Study, Rapid Word Reading

The rapid word reading was a timed reading of the word study word list. Word study core words were organized by number of syllables and similarity of sound or rhyming pattern, easing the transition to longer words. The stressed syllable in each word was underlined. Emphasis was on reading the words rapidly while being timed. (see Figure 10).

Figure 10. Word study pages examples.

Rapid naming, or lexical retrieval, (the amount of time needed to name stimuli, numbers, letters, or words) is highly correlated to reading ability (Wolf, 1994).

The Core Reading Lessons, Part 2, Components 5 to 9

Part 2 of the lesson began with a spelling test.

Component 5, Spelling Test

The spelling test consisted of the same words as the practice spelling (Component 1) without the lines for letters and without word endings.

Component 6, Vocabulary Test

The vocabulary test included 10 vocabulary words, ten matching dictionary definitions, and a synonym quiz with 4 synonyms. Because discussion and group interaction were critical to vocabulary test results, a group vocabulary study review became a part of the component..

Component 7, Pre-Reading Paced Fluency Practice

The pre-reading fluency practice developed automatic word recognition, or automaticity, and served as a bridge to the reading fluency, repeated reading passage (Component 8). Automaticity allows mental resources to be devoted to understanding text. To enhance automaticity, practice and overlearning are often necessary (Clay, 1991, 1993). Skills in the pre-reading fluency practice were (a) beginning syllables of words, (b) vowel sounds, (c) syllables and sentences, and (d) the sounds of words or isolated word parts. Instruction in each skill was practiced as sentences were read at a challenging pace (see Figure 11).

Figure 11. Pre-Reading fluency practice page example.

Component 8, Reading Fluency Repeated Reading

Reading fluency is the ability to read with speed and accuracy. Fluent readers decode words quickly and accurately, thus retaining many resources that can be used for comprehension (LaBerge and Samuels, 1974). One fluency strategy that has an extensive research base is repeated reading, which consists of re-reading a short, meaningful passage until a satisfactory level of fluency is reached.

Each lesson in the Core Reading program had 2 timed readings of a passage, an oral 1-minute timed reading and a silent 1-minute timed reading. Two charts provided for recording and monitoring progress, an oral reading chart and a silent reading chart. The repeated reading passages were written about core textbook topics and spanned grade 4 to grade 12 levels. Many lesson study words and words from previous lessons were in the passages. Before the timed reading, the passage was practiced, read aloud, by the teacher. The oral timed reading was read with a partner. Each student kept his or her score (words per minute) on an individual chart. Most students averaged between 150 and 200 words per minute (an average for most middle and high school students) or higher for most lessons. Scores on higher level lesson readings (grade 10 to grade 12 levels) usually averaged 100 to 120; therefore, additional practice was given (see Figure12).

Figure 12. Repeated reading passages examples.

Component 9, Comprehension

After the reading fluency, repeated reading, passages (Component 8) were completed, the comprehension questions from the passages were answered. The first four comprehension questions were the same type. The first question was for the main idea, asking what the story was mostly about. Questions 2, 3, and 4, were fill-in recall questions that provided a review or scanning of the text. The remaining questions were literal and interpretive comprehension questions and a vocabulary question.

Reporting Assessment Results

At the end of each school year, all students were assessed for reading progress (see Tables 1-4 for results).

Table1. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.80	8.75	+2.95 years

Table 2. Brigance Oral Reading Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
6.88	8.78	+1.90 years

Table 3. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2002-2003 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.94	8.95	+3.05 years

Table 4. Brigance Oral Word Recognition scores organized by number of students and number of years growth, 2002-2003

6 Years	5 Years	4 Years	3 Years	2 Years	1 Year
4 Students	6 Students	15 Students	15 Students	18 Students	9 Students

Discussing the Assessment Results

The assessment results showed that with only a brief intervention, 5 hours a week for 1 school year (25 weeks of Core Reading lessons), older students (those in middle school and high school), could grow significantly more in reading, especially in word recognition and reading fluency, than younger students. In 2001-2002 the average word recognition growth was 2.95 years, and the average oral reading growth was 1.90 years. In 2002-2003 the average word recognition growth was 3.05 years, and 60% of the students made 3 or more years’ growth. The assessment scores could have been higher had they not been limited because the highest levels tested on the Brigance test were grade 10 for oral word recognition and grade 9 for oral reading. Additionally, around 90% of reading lab students successfully read the highest Core Reading lesson passages, rated at grades 11 and 12, with speed and accuracy. The assessment results were typical of results recorded each year for five years with 60 to 70 students each year. Most of the students (around 90%) were second language learners.

Discussing the Instructional Design

Five important components for reading intervention were included in the instructional design: spelling, vocabulary, word study, reading fluency and comprehension. Within each lesson, the sequence and interaction of all five components were important to improving reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension. Yet, organizing core words by identical suffixes and word endings made it possible to accelerate the decoding of multisyllable words and to short circuit the reading intervention process. All students worked on the same lesson daily, and for students needing extra support, two self instructional programs, one focusing on phonics and the other on reading fluency were used to assist students in keeping pace with the program. The self-instructional programs were audio-workbook programs in which students could work independently. Core lessons were followed by silent reading of student-chosen books.

Summarizing the Study

The critical issue at middle and high school is success in core classes. Although data were not recorded, a high percentage of students who attended the reading lab were successful in core classes. The high school counselor responsible for placement of Title I students was among those, including many core class teachers, who affirmed that students who completed the reading lab were successful in core classes. A colleague of the author’s who taught in the reading lab throughout the study commented that students consistently told her that the reading lab helped them to succeed in core classes. A student comment, one of many similar comments, summarizes the rationale for the study: After reading a passage from a science text, the student was asked to discuss the meaning of the passage. The student responded, “I can’t tell you what I read; I was busy trying to pronounce the words.” Many middle and high school students are not successful in core classes because of the gap between their reading skills and core textbooks. The new model for adolescent reading intervention offers a way to close the gap.

References

Ackerman, P. T. & Dykman, R. A. (1996). The speed factor and learning disabilities: The toll of slowness in adolescents. Dyslexia, 2, 1-21.

Cates, H. W., Fey, M. E., Zhang, X., & Tomblin, J. B. (1999). Language basis of reading and reading disabilities: Evidence from a longitudinal investigation. Scientific Studies of Reading, 3, 331-361.

Clay, M. (1991). Becoming literate. The construction of inner control. Auckland: Heinermann Education.

Clay, M. (1993). Reading Recovery. A guidebook for teachers in training. Auckland: Heinermann Education.

Cunningham, A. E. & Stanovich, K. E. (1997). Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later. Developmental Psychology, 33, 934-945.

Cunningham, P. M. (1998). The multisyllabic word dilemma: Helping students build meaning, spell, and read “big” words. Reading and Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 14, 189-218.

LaBerge, D., & Samuels, S. J. (1974). Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 292-323.

Rately, J. J. (2001). Perception. A users guide to the brain (pp. 48-109). New York: Vintage Books.

Readance, J. E., Bean, T. W., & Baldwin, R. S. (1998). Content area literacy: An integrated approach (6^th ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.

Shaywitz, S. E., Fletcher, M., Holahan, J. M., Shneider, A. E., Marchione, K. E, Stuebing, K. K., et al (1999). Persistence of dyslexia: The Connecticut Longitudinal Study at Adolescence. Pediatrics 104 (6),1351-1359.

Shefelbine, J., & Calhoun, J. (1991). Variability in approaches to identifying polysyllabic words: A descriptive study of sixth graders with highly, moderately, and poorly developed syllabication strategies. In J. Zutell & S. McCormick (Eds.), Learning factors/teacher factors: Issues in literacy instruction (pp. 169-177). Chicago: National Reading Conference.

Stanovich,, K.E. ((1980). Toward an interactive compensatory model of individual differences in the development of reading fluency. Reading Research Quarterly, 16, . 32-71.

Stanovich, K.E. (1993). Does reading make you smarter? Literacy and the development of verbal intelligence. In H. Reese (Ed), Advances in child development and behavior (Vol. 24, pp. 133-180). San Diego: Academic Press.

Suzuki, N.S. (1985). Imagery research with children: Implications for education. In A.A. Sheikh & K.S. Shekh (Eds.), Imagery in education (pp 179-198). Farmingdale, NY: Baywood.

Torgesen, J. K., Wagner, R. K., Rashotte, C. A., Burgess, S., & Hecht, S. (1997). Contributions o phonological awareness and rapid automatic name ability to the growth of word-reading skills in second- to fifth-grade children. Scientific Studies of Reading, 1 161-185.

Wolf, M. (1991). Naming speed and reading: The contribution of the cognitive neurosciences. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, 123-141.

Component 4, Word Study, Rapid Word Reading

The rapid word reading was a timed reading of the word study word list. Word study core words were organized by number of syllables and similarity of sound or rhyming pattern, easing the transition to longer words. The stressed syllable in each word was underlined. Emphasis was on reading the words rapidly while being timed. (see Figure 10).

Figure 10. Word study pages examples.

Rapid naming, or lexical retrieval, (the amount of time needed to name stimuli, numbers, letters, or words) is highly correlated to reading ability (Wolf, 1994).

The Core Reading Lessons, Part 2, Components 5 to 9

Part 2 of the lesson began with a spelling test.

Component 5, Spelling Test

The spelling test consisted of the same words as the practice spelling (Component 1) without the lines for letters and without word endings.

Component 6, Vocabulary Test

The vocabulary test included 10 vocabulary words, ten matching dictionary definitions, and a synonym quiz with 4 synonyms. Because discussion and group interaction were critical to vocabulary test results, a group vocabulary study review became a part of the component..

Component 7, Pre-Reading Paced Fluency Practice

The pre-reading fluency practice developed automatic word recognition, or automaticity, and served as a bridge to the reading fluency, repeated reading passage (Component 8). Automaticity allows mental resources to be devoted to understanding text. To enhance automaticity, practice and overlearning are often necessary (Clay, 1991, 1993). Skills in the pre-reading fluency practice were (a) beginning syllables of words, (b) vowel sounds, (c) syllables and sentences, and (d) the sounds of words or isolated word parts. Instruction in each skill was practiced as sentences were read at a challenging pace (see Figure 11).

Figure 11. Pre-Reading fluency practice page example.

Component 8, Reading Fluency Repeated Reading

Reading fluency is the ability to read with speed and accuracy. Fluent readers decode words quickly and accurately, thus retaining many resources that can be used for comprehension (LaBerge and Samuels, 1974). One fluency strategy that has an extensive research base is repeated reading, which consists of re-reading a short, meaningful passage until a satisfactory level of fluency is reached.

Each lesson in the Core Reading program had 2 timed readings of a passage, an oral 1-minute timed reading and a silent 1-minute timed reading. Two charts provided for recording and monitoring progress, an oral reading chart and a silent reading chart. The repeated reading passages were written about core textbook topics and spanned grade 4 to grade 12 levels. Many lesson study words and words from previous lessons were in the passages. Before the timed reading, the passage was practiced, read aloud, by the teacher. The oral timed reading was read with a partner. Each student kept his or her score (words per minute) on an individual chart. Most students averaged between 150 and 200 words per minute (an average for most middle and high school students) or higher for most lessons. Scores on higher level lesson readings (grade 10 to grade 12 levels) usually averaged 100 to 120; therefore, additional practice was given (see Figure12).

Figure 12. Repeated reading passages examples.

Component 9, Comprehension

After the reading fluency, repeated reading, passages (Component 8) were completed, the comprehension questions from the passages were answered. The first four comprehension questions were the same type. The first question was for the main idea, asking what the story was mostly about. Questions 2, 3, and 4, were fill-in recall questions that provided a review or scanning of the text. The remaining questions were literal and interpretive comprehension questions and a vocabulary question.

Reporting Assessment Results

At the end of each school year, all students were assessed for reading progress (see Tables 1-4 for results).

Table1. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.80	8.75	+2.95 years

Table 2. Brigance Oral Reading Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
6.88	8.78	+1.90 years

Table 3. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2002-2003 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.94	8.95	+3.05 years

Table 4. Brigance Oral Word Recognition scores organized by number of students and number of years growth, 2002-2003

6 Years	5 Years	4 Years	3 Years	2 Years	1 Year
4 Students	6 Students	15 Students	15 Students	18 Students	9 Students

Discussing the Assessment Results

The assessment results showed that with only a brief intervention, 5 hours a week for 1 school year (25 weeks of Core Reading lessons), older students (those in middle school and high school), could grow significantly more in reading, especially in word recognition and reading fluency, than younger students. In 2001-2002 the average word recognition growth was 2.95 years, and the average oral reading growth was 1.90 years. In 2002-2003 the average word recognition growth was 3.05 years, and 60% of the students made 3 or more years’ growth. The assessment scores could have been higher had they not been limited because the highest levels tested on the Brigance test were grade 10 for oral word recognition and grade 9 for oral reading. Additionally, around 90% of reading lab students successfully read the highest Core Reading lesson passages, rated at grades 11 and 12, with speed and accuracy. The assessment results were typical of results recorded each year for five years with 60 to 70 students each year. Most of the students (around 90%) were second language learners.

Discussing the Instructional Design

Five important components for reading intervention were included in the instructional design: spelling, vocabulary, word study, reading fluency and comprehension. Within each lesson, the sequence and interaction of all five components were important to improving reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension. Yet, organizing core words by identical suffixes and word endings made it possible to accelerate the decoding of multisyllable words and to short circuit the reading intervention process. All students worked on the same lesson daily, and for students needing extra support, two self instructional programs, one focusing on phonics and the other on reading fluency were used to assist students in keeping pace with the program. The self-instructional programs were audio-workbook programs in which students could work independently. Core lessons were followed by silent reading of student-chosen books.

Summarizing the Study

The critical issue at middle and high school is success in core classes. Although data were not recorded, a high percentage of students who attended the reading lab were successful in core classes. The high school counselor responsible for placement of Title I students was among those, including many core class teachers, who affirmed that students who completed the reading lab were successful in core classes. A colleague of the author’s who taught in the reading lab throughout the study commented that students consistently told her that the reading lab helped them to succeed in core classes. A student comment, one of many similar comments, summarizes the rationale for the study: After reading a passage from a science text, the student was asked to discuss the meaning of the passage. The student responded, “I can’t tell you what I read; I was busy trying to pronounce the words.” Many middle and high school students are not successful in core classes because of the gap between their reading skills and core textbooks. The new model for adolescent reading intervention offers a way to close the gap.

References

Ackerman, P. T. & Dykman, R. A. (1996). The speed factor and learning disabilities: The toll of slowness in adolescents. Dyslexia, 2, 1-21.

Cates, H. W., Fey, M. E., Zhang, X., & Tomblin, J. B. (1999). Language basis of reading and reading disabilities: Evidence from a longitudinal investigation. Scientific Studies of Reading, 3, 331-361.

Clay, M. (1991). Becoming literate. The construction of inner control. Auckland: Heinermann Education.

Clay, M. (1993). Reading Recovery. A guidebook for teachers in training. Auckland: Heinermann Education.

Cunningham, A. E. & Stanovich, K. E. (1997). Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later. Developmental Psychology, 33, 934-945.

Cunningham, P. M. (1998). The multisyllabic word dilemma: Helping students build meaning, spell, and read “big” words. Reading and Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 14, 189-218.

LaBerge, D., & Samuels, S. J. (1974). Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 292-323.

Rately, J. J. (2001). Perception. A users guide to the brain (pp. 48-109). New York: Vintage Books.

Readance, J. E., Bean, T. W., & Baldwin, R. S. (1998). Content area literacy: An integrated approach (6^th ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.

Shaywitz, S. E., Fletcher, M., Holahan, J. M., Shneider, A. E., Marchione, K. E, Stuebing, K. K., et al (1999). Persistence of dyslexia: The Connecticut Longitudinal Study at Adolescence. Pediatrics 104 (6),1351-1359.

Shefelbine, J., & Calhoun, J. (1991). Variability in approaches to identifying polysyllabic words: A descriptive study of sixth graders with highly, moderately, and poorly developed syllabication strategies. In J. Zutell & S. McCormick (Eds.), Learning factors/teacher factors: Issues in literacy instruction (pp. 169-177). Chicago: National Reading Conference.

Stanovich,, K.E. ((1980). Toward an interactive compensatory model of individual differences in the development of reading fluency. Reading Research Quarterly, 16, . 32-71.

Stanovich, K.E. (1993). Does reading make you smarter? Literacy and the development of verbal intelligence. In H. Reese (Ed), Advances in child development and behavior (Vol. 24, pp. 133-180). San Diego: Academic Press.

Suzuki, N.S. (1985). Imagery research with children: Implications for education. In A.A. Sheikh & K.S. Shekh (Eds.), Imagery in education (pp 179-198). Farmingdale, NY: Baywood.

Torgesen, J. K., Wagner, R. K., Rashotte, C. A., Burgess, S., & Hecht, S. (1997). Contributions o phonological awareness and rapid automatic name ability to the growth of word-reading skills in second- to fifth-grade children. Scientific Studies of Reading, 1 161-185.

Wolf, M. (1991). Naming speed and reading: The contribution of the cognitive neurosciences. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, 123-141.

Component 4, Word Study, Rapid Word Reading

The rapid word reading was a timed reading of the word study word list. Word study core words were organized by number of syllables and similarity of sound or rhyming pattern, easing the transition to longer words. The stressed syllable in each word was underlined. Emphasis was on reading the words rapidly while being timed. (see Figure 10).

Figure 10. Word study pages examples.

Rapid naming, or lexical retrieval, (the amount of time needed to name stimuli, numbers, letters, or words) is highly correlated to reading ability (Wolf, 1994).

The Core Reading Lessons, Part 2, Components 5 to 9

Part 2 of the lesson began with a spelling test.

Component 5, Spelling Test

The spelling test consisted of the same words as the practice spelling (Component 1) without the lines for letters and without word endings.

Component 6, Vocabulary Test

The vocabulary test included 10 vocabulary words, ten matching dictionary definitions, and a synonym quiz with 4 synonyms. Because discussion and group interaction were critical to vocabulary test results, a group vocabulary study review became a part of the component..

Component 7, Pre-Reading Paced Fluency Practice

The pre-reading fluency practice developed automatic word recognition, or automaticity, and served as a bridge to the reading fluency, repeated reading passage (Component 8). Automaticity allows mental resources to be devoted to understanding text. To enhance automaticity, practice and overlearning are often necessary (Clay, 1991, 1993). Skills in the pre-reading fluency practice were (a) beginning syllables of words, (b) vowel sounds, (c) syllables and sentences, and (d) the sounds of words or isolated word parts. Instruction in each skill was practiced as sentences were read at a challenging pace (see Figure 11).

Figure 11. Pre-Reading fluency practice page example.

Component 8, Reading Fluency Repeated Reading

Reading fluency is the ability to read with speed and accuracy. Fluent readers decode words quickly and accurately, thus retaining many resources that can be used for comprehension (LaBerge and Samuels, 1974). One fluency strategy that has an extensive research base is repeated reading, which consists of re-reading a short, meaningful passage until a satisfactory level of fluency is reached.

Each lesson in the Core Reading program had 2 timed readings of a passage, an oral 1-minute timed reading and a silent 1-minute timed reading. Two charts provided for recording and monitoring progress, an oral reading chart and a silent reading chart. The repeated reading passages were written about core textbook topics and spanned grade 4 to grade 12 levels. Many lesson study words and words from previous lessons were in the passages. Before the timed reading, the passage was practiced, read aloud, by the teacher. The oral timed reading was read with a partner. Each student kept his or her score (words per minute) on an individual chart. Most students averaged between 150 and 200 words per minute (an average for most middle and high school students) or higher for most lessons. Scores on higher level lesson readings (grade 10 to grade 12 levels) usually averaged 100 to 120; therefore, additional practice was given (see Figure12).

Figure 12. Repeated reading passages examples.

Component 9, Comprehension

After the reading fluency, repeated reading, passages (Component 8) were completed, the comprehension questions from the passages were answered. The first four comprehension questions were the same type. The first question was for the main idea, asking what the story was mostly about. Questions 2, 3, and 4, were fill-in recall questions that provided a review or scanning of the text. The remaining questions were literal and interpretive comprehension questions and a vocabulary question.

Reporting Assessment Results

At the end of each school year, all students were assessed for reading progress (see Tables 1-4 for results).

Table1. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.80	8.75	+2.95 years

Table 2. Brigance Oral Reading Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
6.88	8.78	+1.90 years

Table 3. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2002-2003 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.94	8.95	+3.05 years

Table 4. Brigance Oral Word Recognition scores organized by number of students and number of years growth, 2002-2003

6 Years	5 Years	4 Years	3 Years	2 Years	1 Year
4 Students	6 Students	15 Students	15 Students	18 Students	9 Students

Discussing the Assessment Results

The assessment results showed that with only a brief intervention, 5 hours a week for 1 school year (25 weeks of Core Reading lessons), older students (those in middle school and high school), could grow significantly more in reading, especially in word recognition and reading fluency, than younger students. In 2001-2002 the average word recognition growth was 2.95 years, and the average oral reading growth was 1.90 years. In 2002-2003 the average word recognition growth was 3.05 years, and 60% of the students made 3 or more years’ growth. The assessment scores could have been higher had they not been limited because the highest levels tested on the Brigance test were grade 10 for oral word recognition and grade 9 for oral reading. Additionally, around 90% of reading lab students successfully read the highest Core Reading lesson passages, rated at grades 11 and 12, with speed and accuracy. The assessment results were typical of results recorded each year for five years with 60 to 70 students each year. Most of the students (around 90%) were second language learners.

Discussing the Instructional Design

Five important components for reading intervention were included in the instructional design: spelling, vocabulary, word study, reading fluency and comprehension. Within each lesson, the sequence and interaction of all five components were important to improving reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension. Yet, organizing core words by identical suffixes and word endings made it possible to accelerate the decoding of multisyllable words and to short circuit the reading intervention process. All students worked on the same lesson daily, and for students needing extra support, two self instructional programs, one focusing on phonics and the other on reading fluency were used to assist students in keeping pace with the program. The self-instructional programs were audio-workbook programs in which students could work independently. Core lessons were followed by silent reading of student-chosen books.

Summarizing the Study

The critical issue at middle and high school is success in core classes. Although data were not recorded, a high percentage of students who attended the reading lab were successful in core classes. The high school counselor responsible for placement of Title I students was among those, including many core class teachers, who affirmed that students who completed the reading lab were successful in core classes. A colleague of the author’s who taught in the reading lab throughout the study commented that students consistently told her that the reading lab helped them to succeed in core classes. A student comment, one of many similar comments, summarizes the rationale for the study: After reading a passage from a science text, the student was asked to discuss the meaning of the passage. The student responded, “I can’t tell you what I read; I was busy trying to pronounce the words.” Many middle and high school students are not successful in core classes because of the gap between their reading skills and core textbooks. The new model for adolescent reading intervention offers a way to close the gap.

References

Ackerman, P. T. & Dykman, R. A. (1996). The speed factor and learning disabilities: The toll of slowness in adolescents. Dyslexia, 2, 1-21.

Cates, H. W., Fey, M. E., Zhang, X., & Tomblin, J. B. (1999). Language basis of reading and reading disabilities: Evidence from a longitudinal investigation. Scientific Studies of Reading, 3, 331-361.

Clay, M. (1991). Becoming literate. The construction of inner control. Auckland: Heinermann Education.

Clay, M. (1993). Reading Recovery. A guidebook for teachers in training. Auckland: Heinermann Education.

Cunningham, A. E. & Stanovich, K. E. (1997). Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later. Developmental Psychology, 33, 934-945.

Cunningham, P. M. (1998). The multisyllabic word dilemma: Helping students build meaning, spell, and read “big” words. Reading and Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 14, 189-218.

LaBerge, D., & Samuels, S. J. (1974). Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 292-323.

Rately, J. J. (2001). Perception. A users guide to the brain (pp. 48-109). New York: Vintage Books.

Readance, J. E., Bean, T. W., & Baldwin, R. S. (1998). Content area literacy: An integrated approach (6^th ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.

Shaywitz, S. E., Fletcher, M., Holahan, J. M., Shneider, A. E., Marchione, K. E, Stuebing, K. K., et al (1999). Persistence of dyslexia: The Connecticut Longitudinal Study at Adolescence. Pediatrics 104 (6),1351-1359.

Shefelbine, J., & Calhoun, J. (1991). Variability in approaches to identifying polysyllabic words: A descriptive study of sixth graders with highly, moderately, and poorly developed syllabication strategies. In J. Zutell & S. McCormick (Eds.), Learning factors/teacher factors: Issues in literacy instruction (pp. 169-177). Chicago: National Reading Conference.

Stanovich,, K.E. ((1980). Toward an interactive compensatory model of individual differences in the development of reading fluency. Reading Research Quarterly, 16, . 32-71.

Stanovich, K.E. (1993). Does reading make you smarter? Literacy and the development of verbal intelligence. In H. Reese (Ed), Advances in child development and behavior (Vol. 24, pp. 133-180). San Diego: Academic Press.

Suzuki, N.S. (1985). Imagery research with children: Implications for education. In A.A. Sheikh & K.S. Shekh (Eds.), Imagery in education (pp 179-198). Farmingdale, NY: Baywood.

Torgesen, J. K., Wagner, R. K., Rashotte, C. A., Burgess, S., & Hecht, S. (1997). Contributions o phonological awareness and rapid automatic name ability to the growth of word-reading skills in second- to fifth-grade children. Scientific Studies of Reading, 1 161-185.

Wolf, M. (1991). Naming speed and reading: The contribution of the cognitive neurosciences. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, 123-141.

Component 4, Word Study, Rapid Word Reading

The rapid word reading was a timed reading of the word study word list. Word study core words were organized by number of syllables and similarity of sound or rhyming pattern, easing the transition to longer words. The stressed syllable in each word was underlined. Emphasis was on reading the words rapidly while being timed. (see Figure 10).

Figure 10. Word study pages examples.

Rapid naming, or lexical retrieval, (the amount of time needed to name stimuli, numbers, letters, or words) is highly correlated to reading ability (Wolf, 1994).

The Core Reading Lessons, Part 2, Components 5 to 9

Part 2 of the lesson began with a spelling test.

Component 5, Spelling Test

The spelling test consisted of the same words as the practice spelling (Component 1) without the lines for letters and without word endings.

Component 6, Vocabulary Test

The vocabulary test included 10 vocabulary words, ten matching dictionary definitions, and a synonym quiz with 4 synonyms. Because discussion and group interaction were critical to vocabulary test results, a group vocabulary study review became a part of the component..

Component 7, Pre-Reading Paced Fluency Practice

The pre-reading fluency practice developed automatic word recognition, or automaticity, and served as a bridge to the reading fluency, repeated reading passage (Component 8). Automaticity allows mental resources to be devoted to understanding text. To enhance automaticity, practice and overlearning are often necessary (Clay, 1991, 1993). Skills in the pre-reading fluency practice were (a) beginning syllables of words, (b) vowel sounds, (c) syllables and sentences, and (d) the sounds of words or isolated word parts. Instruction in each skill was practiced as sentences were read at a challenging pace (see Figure 11).

Figure 11. Pre-Reading fluency practice page example.

Component 8, Reading Fluency Repeated Reading

Reading fluency is the ability to read with speed and accuracy. Fluent readers decode words quickly and accurately, thus retaining many resources that can be used for comprehension (LaBerge and Samuels, 1974). One fluency strategy that has an extensive research base is repeated reading, which consists of re-reading a short, meaningful passage until a satisfactory level of fluency is reached.

Each lesson in the Core Reading program had 2 timed readings of a passage, an oral 1-minute timed reading and a silent 1-minute timed reading. Two charts provided for recording and monitoring progress, an oral reading chart and a silent reading chart. The repeated reading passages were written about core textbook topics and spanned grade 4 to grade 12 levels. Many lesson study words and words from previous lessons were in the passages. Before the timed reading, the passage was practiced, read aloud, by the teacher. The oral timed reading was read with a partner. Each student kept his or her score (words per minute) on an individual chart. Most students averaged between 150 and 200 words per minute (an average for most middle and high school students) or higher for most lessons. Scores on higher level lesson readings (grade 10 to grade 12 levels) usually averaged 100 to 120; therefore, additional practice was given (see Figure12).

Figure 12. Repeated reading passages examples.

Component 9, Comprehension

After the reading fluency, repeated reading, passages (Component 8) were completed, the comprehension questions from the passages were answered. The first four comprehension questions were the same type. The first question was for the main idea, asking what the story was mostly about. Questions 2, 3, and 4, were fill-in recall questions that provided a review or scanning of the text. The remaining questions were literal and interpretive comprehension questions and a vocabulary question.

Reporting Assessment Results

At the end of each school year, all students were assessed for reading progress (see Tables 1-4 for results).

Table1. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.80	8.75	+2.95 years

Table 2. Brigance Oral Reading Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
6.88	8.78	+1.90 years

Table 3. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2002-2003 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.94	8.95	+3.05 years

Table 4. Brigance Oral Word Recognition scores organized by number of students and number of years growth, 2002-2003

6 Years	5 Years	4 Years	3 Years	2 Years	1 Year
4 Students	6 Students	15 Students	15 Students	18 Students	9 Students

Discussing the Assessment Results

The assessment results showed that with only a brief intervention, 5 hours a week for 1 school year (25 weeks of Core Reading lessons), older students (those in middle school and high school), could grow significantly more in reading, especially in word recognition and reading fluency, than younger students. In 2001-2002 the average word recognition growth was 2.95 years, and the average oral reading growth was 1.90 years. In 2002-2003 the average word recognition growth was 3.05 years, and 60% of the students made 3 or more years’ growth. The assessment scores could have been higher had they not been limited because the highest levels tested on the Brigance test were grade 10 for oral word recognition and grade 9 for oral reading. Additionally, around 90% of reading lab students successfully read the highest Core Reading lesson passages, rated at grades 11 and 12, with speed and accuracy. The assessment results were typical of results recorded each year for five years with 60 to 70 students each year. Most of the students (around 90%) were second language learners.

Discussing the Instructional Design

Five important components for reading intervention were included in the instructional design: spelling, vocabulary, word study, reading fluency and comprehension. Within each lesson, the sequence and interaction of all five components were important to improving reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension. Yet, organizing core words by identical suffixes and word endings made it possible to accelerate the decoding of multisyllable words and to short circuit the reading intervention process. All students worked on the same lesson daily, and for students needing extra support, two self instructional programs, one focusing on phonics and the other on reading fluency were used to assist students in keeping pace with the program. The self-instructional programs were audio-workbook programs in which students could work independently. Core lessons were followed by silent reading of student-chosen books.

Summarizing the Study

The critical issue at middle and high school is success in core classes. Although data were not recorded, a high percentage of students who attended the reading lab were successful in core classes. The high school counselor responsible for placement of Title I students was among those, including many core class teachers, who affirmed that students who completed the reading lab were successful in core classes. A colleague of the author’s who taught in the reading lab throughout the study commented that students consistently told her that the reading lab helped them to succeed in core classes. A student comment, one of many similar comments, summarizes the rationale for the study: After reading a passage from a science text, the student was asked to discuss the meaning of the passage. The student responded, “I can’t tell you what I read; I was busy trying to pronounce the words.” Many middle and high school students are not successful in core classes because of the gap between their reading skills and core textbooks. The new model for adolescent reading intervention offers a way to close the gap.

References

Ackerman, P. T. & Dykman, R. A. (1996). The speed factor and learning disabilities: The toll of slowness in adolescents. Dyslexia, 2, 1-21.

Cates, H. W., Fey, M. E., Zhang, X., & Tomblin, J. B. (1999). Language basis of reading and reading disabilities: Evidence from a longitudinal investigation. Scientific Studies of Reading, 3, 331-361.

Clay, M. (1991). Becoming literate. The construction of inner control. Auckland: Heinermann Education.

Clay, M. (1993). Reading Recovery. A guidebook for teachers in training. Auckland: Heinermann Education.

Cunningham, A. E. & Stanovich, K. E. (1997). Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later. Developmental Psychology, 33, 934-945.

Cunningham, P. M. (1998). The multisyllabic word dilemma: Helping students build meaning, spell, and read “big” words. Reading and Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 14, 189-218.

LaBerge, D., & Samuels, S. J. (1974). Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 292-323.

Rately, J. J. (2001). Perception. A users guide to the brain (pp. 48-109). New York: Vintage Books.

Readance, J. E., Bean, T. W., & Baldwin, R. S. (1998). Content area literacy: An integrated approach (6^th ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.

Shaywitz, S. E., Fletcher, M., Holahan, J. M., Shneider, A. E., Marchione, K. E, Stuebing, K. K., et al (1999). Persistence of dyslexia: The Connecticut Longitudinal Study at Adolescence. Pediatrics 104 (6),1351-1359.

Shefelbine, J., & Calhoun, J. (1991). Variability in approaches to identifying polysyllabic words: A descriptive study of sixth graders with highly, moderately, and poorly developed syllabication strategies. In J. Zutell & S. McCormick (Eds.), Learning factors/teacher factors: Issues in literacy instruction (pp. 169-177). Chicago: National Reading Conference.

Stanovich,, K.E. ((1980). Toward an interactive compensatory model of individual differences in the development of reading fluency. Reading Research Quarterly, 16, . 32-71.

Stanovich, K.E. (1993). Does reading make you smarter? Literacy and the development of verbal intelligence. In H. Reese (Ed), Advances in child development and behavior (Vol. 24, pp. 133-180). San Diego: Academic Press.

Suzuki, N.S. (1985). Imagery research with children: Implications for education. In A.A. Sheikh & K.S. Shekh (Eds.), Imagery in education (pp 179-198). Farmingdale, NY: Baywood.

Torgesen, J. K., Wagner, R. K., Rashotte, C. A., Burgess, S., & Hecht, S. (1997). Contributions o phonological awareness and rapid automatic name ability to the growth of word-reading skills in second- to fifth-grade children. Scientific Studies of Reading, 1 161-185.

Wolf, M. (1991). Naming speed and reading: The contribution of the cognitive neurosciences. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, 123-141.

Component 4, Word Study, Rapid Word Reading

The rapid word reading was a timed reading of the word study word list. Word study core words were organized by number of syllables and similarity of sound or rhyming pattern, easing the transition to longer words. The stressed syllable in each word was underlined. Emphasis was on reading the words rapidly while being timed. (see Figure 10).

Figure 10. Word study pages examples.

Rapid naming, or lexical retrieval, (the amount of time needed to name stimuli, numbers, letters, or words) is highly correlated to reading ability (Wolf, 1994).

The Core Reading Lessons, Part 2, Components 5 to 9

Part 2 of the lesson began with a spelling test.

Component 5, Spelling Test

The spelling test consisted of the same words as the practice spelling (Component 1) without the lines for letters and without word endings.

Component 6, Vocabulary Test

The vocabulary test included 10 vocabulary words, ten matching dictionary definitions, and a synonym quiz with 4 synonyms. Because discussion and group interaction were critical to vocabulary test results, a group vocabulary study review became a part of the component..

Component 7, Pre-Reading Paced Fluency Practice

The pre-reading fluency practice developed automatic word recognition, or automaticity, and served as a bridge to the reading fluency, repeated reading passage (Component 8). Automaticity allows mental resources to be devoted to understanding text. To enhance automaticity, practice and overlearning are often necessary (Clay, 1991, 1993). Skills in the pre-reading fluency practice were (a) beginning syllables of words, (b) vowel sounds, (c) syllables and sentences, and (d) the sounds of words or isolated word parts. Instruction in each skill was practiced as sentences were read at a challenging pace (see Figure 11).

Figure 11. Pre-Reading fluency practice page example.

Component 8, Reading Fluency Repeated Reading

Reading fluency is the ability to read with speed and accuracy. Fluent readers decode words quickly and accurately, thus retaining many resources that can be used for comprehension (LaBerge and Samuels, 1974). One fluency strategy that has an extensive research base is repeated reading, which consists of re-reading a short, meaningful passage until a satisfactory level of fluency is reached.

Each lesson in the Core Reading program had 2 timed readings of a passage, an oral 1-minute timed reading and a silent 1-minute timed reading. Two charts provided for recording and monitoring progress, an oral reading chart and a silent reading chart. The repeated reading passages were written about core textbook topics and spanned grade 4 to grade 12 levels. Many lesson study words and words from previous lessons were in the passages. Before the timed reading, the passage was practiced, read aloud, by the teacher. The oral timed reading was read with a partner. Each student kept his or her score (words per minute) on an individual chart. Most students averaged between 150 and 200 words per minute (an average for most middle and high school students) or higher for most lessons. Scores on higher level lesson readings (grade 10 to grade 12 levels) usually averaged 100 to 120; therefore, additional practice was given (see Figure12).

Figure 12. Repeated reading passages examples.

Component 9, Comprehension

After the reading fluency, repeated reading, passages (Component 8) were completed, the comprehension questions from the passages were answered. The first four comprehension questions were the same type. The first question was for the main idea, asking what the story was mostly about. Questions 2, 3, and 4, were fill-in recall questions that provided a review or scanning of the text. The remaining questions were literal and interpretive comprehension questions and a vocabulary question.

Reporting Assessment Results

At the end of each school year, all students were assessed for reading progress (see Tables 1-4 for results).

Table1. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.80	8.75	+2.95 years

Table 2. Brigance Oral Reading Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
6.88	8.78	+1.90 years

Table 3. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2002-2003 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.94	8.95	+3.05 years

Table 4. Brigance Oral Word Recognition scores organized by number of students and number of years growth, 2002-2003

6 Years	5 Years	4 Years	3 Years	2 Years	1 Year
4 Students	6 Students	15 Students	15 Students	18 Students	9 Students

Discussing the Assessment Results

The assessment results showed that with only a brief intervention, 5 hours a week for 1 school year (25 weeks of Core Reading lessons), older students (those in middle school and high school), could grow significantly more in reading, especially in word recognition and reading fluency, than younger students. In 2001-2002 the average word recognition growth was 2.95 years, and the average oral reading growth was 1.90 years. In 2002-2003 the average word recognition growth was 3.05 years, and 60% of the students made 3 or more years’ growth. The assessment scores could have been higher had they not been limited because the highest levels tested on the Brigance test were grade 10 for oral word recognition and grade 9 for oral reading. Additionally, around 90% of reading lab students successfully read the highest Core Reading lesson passages, rated at grades 11 and 12, with speed and accuracy. The assessment results were typical of results recorded each year for five years with 60 to 70 students each year. Most of the students (around 90%) were second language learners.

Discussing the Instructional Design

Five important components for reading intervention were included in the instructional design: spelling, vocabulary, word study, reading fluency and comprehension. Within each lesson, the sequence and interaction of all five components were important to improving reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension. Yet, organizing core words by identical suffixes and word endings made it possible to accelerate the decoding of multisyllable words and to short circuit the reading intervention process. All students worked on the same lesson daily, and for students needing extra support, two self instructional programs, one focusing on phonics and the other on reading fluency were used to assist students in keeping pace with the program. The self-instructional programs were audio-workbook programs in which students could work independently. Core lessons were followed by silent reading of student-chosen books.

Summarizing the Study

The critical issue at middle and high school is success in core classes. Although data were not recorded, a high percentage of students who attended the reading lab were successful in core classes. The high school counselor responsible for placement of Title I students was among those, including many core class teachers, who affirmed that students who completed the reading lab were successful in core classes. A colleague of the author’s who taught in the reading lab throughout the study commented that students consistently told her that the reading lab helped them to succeed in core classes. A student comment, one of many similar comments, summarizes the rationale for the study: After reading a passage from a science text, the student was asked to discuss the meaning of the passage. The student responded, “I can’t tell you what I read; I was busy trying to pronounce the words.” Many middle and high school students are not successful in core classes because of the gap between their reading skills and core textbooks. The new model for adolescent reading intervention offers a way to close the gap.

References

Ackerman, P. T. & Dykman, R. A. (1996). The speed factor and learning disabilities: The toll of slowness in adolescents. Dyslexia, 2, 1-21.

Cates, H. W., Fey, M. E., Zhang, X., & Tomblin, J. B. (1999). Language basis of reading and reading disabilities: Evidence from a longitudinal investigation. Scientific Studies of Reading, 3, 331-361.

Clay, M. (1991). Becoming literate. The construction of inner control. Auckland: Heinermann Education.

Clay, M. (1993). Reading Recovery. A guidebook for teachers in training. Auckland: Heinermann Education.

Cunningham, A. E. & Stanovich, K. E. (1997). Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later. Developmental Psychology, 33, 934-945.

Cunningham, P. M. (1998). The multisyllabic word dilemma: Helping students build meaning, spell, and read “big” words. Reading and Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 14, 189-218.

LaBerge, D., & Samuels, S. J. (1974). Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 292-323.

Rately, J. J. (2001). Perception. A users guide to the brain (pp. 48-109). New York: Vintage Books.

Readance, J. E., Bean, T. W., & Baldwin, R. S. (1998). Content area literacy: An integrated approach (6^th ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.

Shaywitz, S. E., Fletcher, M., Holahan, J. M., Shneider, A. E., Marchione, K. E, Stuebing, K. K., et al (1999). Persistence of dyslexia: The Connecticut Longitudinal Study at Adolescence. Pediatrics 104 (6),1351-1359.

Shefelbine, J., & Calhoun, J. (1991). Variability in approaches to identifying polysyllabic words: A descriptive study of sixth graders with highly, moderately, and poorly developed syllabication strategies. In J. Zutell & S. McCormick (Eds.), Learning factors/teacher factors: Issues in literacy instruction (pp. 169-177). Chicago: National Reading Conference.

Stanovich,, K.E. ((1980). Toward an interactive compensatory model of individual differences in the development of reading fluency. Reading Research Quarterly, 16, . 32-71.

Stanovich, K.E. (1993). Does reading make you smarter? Literacy and the development of verbal intelligence. In H. Reese (Ed), Advances in child development and behavior (Vol. 24, pp. 133-180). San Diego: Academic Press.

Suzuki, N.S. (1985). Imagery research with children: Implications for education. In A.A. Sheikh & K.S. Shekh (Eds.), Imagery in education (pp 179-198). Farmingdale, NY: Baywood.

Torgesen, J. K., Wagner, R. K., Rashotte, C. A., Burgess, S., & Hecht, S. (1997). Contributions o phonological awareness and rapid automatic name ability to the growth of word-reading skills in second- to fifth-grade children. Scientific Studies of Reading, 1 161-185.

Wolf, M. (1991). Naming speed and reading: The contribution of the cognitive neurosciences. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, 123-141.

Component 4, Word Study, Rapid Word Reading

The rapid word reading was a timed reading of the word study word list. Word study core words were organized by number of syllables and similarity of sound or rhyming pattern, easing the transition to longer words. The stressed syllable in each word was underlined. Emphasis was on reading the words rapidly while being timed. (see Figure 10).

Figure 10. Word study pages examples.

Rapid naming, or lexical retrieval, (the amount of time needed to name stimuli, numbers, letters, or words) is highly correlated to reading ability (Wolf, 1994).

The Core Reading Lessons, Part 2, Components 5 to 9

Part 2 of the lesson began with a spelling test.

Component 5, Spelling Test

The spelling test consisted of the same words as the practice spelling (Component 1) without the lines for letters and without word endings.

Component 6, Vocabulary Test

The vocabulary test included 10 vocabulary words, ten matching dictionary definitions, and a synonym quiz with 4 synonyms. Because discussion and group interaction were critical to vocabulary test results, a group vocabulary study review became a part of the component..

Component 7, Pre-Reading Paced Fluency Practice

The pre-reading fluency practice developed automatic word recognition, or automaticity, and served as a bridge to the reading fluency, repeated reading passage (Component 8). Automaticity allows mental resources to be devoted to understanding text. To enhance automaticity, practice and overlearning are often necessary (Clay, 1991, 1993). Skills in the pre-reading fluency practice were (a) beginning syllables of words, (b) vowel sounds, (c) syllables and sentences, and (d) the sounds of words or isolated word parts. Instruction in each skill was practiced as sentences were read at a challenging pace (see Figure 11).

Figure 11. Pre-Reading fluency practice page example.

Component 8, Reading Fluency Repeated Reading

Reading fluency is the ability to read with speed and accuracy. Fluent readers decode words quickly and accurately, thus retaining many resources that can be used for comprehension (LaBerge and Samuels, 1974). One fluency strategy that has an extensive research base is repeated reading, which consists of re-reading a short, meaningful passage until a satisfactory level of fluency is reached.

Each lesson in the Core Reading program had 2 timed readings of a passage, an oral 1-minute timed reading and a silent 1-minute timed reading. Two charts provided for recording and monitoring progress, an oral reading chart and a silent reading chart. The repeated reading passages were written about core textbook topics and spanned grade 4 to grade 12 levels. Many lesson study words and words from previous lessons were in the passages. Before the timed reading, the passage was practiced, read aloud, by the teacher. The oral timed reading was read with a partner. Each student kept his or her score (words per minute) on an individual chart. Most students averaged between 150 and 200 words per minute (an average for most middle and high school students) or higher for most lessons. Scores on higher level lesson readings (grade 10 to grade 12 levels) usually averaged 100 to 120; therefore, additional practice was given (see Figure12).

Figure 12. Repeated reading passages examples.

Component 9, Comprehension

After the reading fluency, repeated reading, passages (Component 8) were completed, the comprehension questions from the passages were answered. The first four comprehension questions were the same type. The first question was for the main idea, asking what the story was mostly about. Questions 2, 3, and 4, were fill-in recall questions that provided a review or scanning of the text. The remaining questions were literal and interpretive comprehension questions and a vocabulary question.

Reporting Assessment Results

At the end of each school year, all students were assessed for reading progress (see Tables 1-4 for results).

Table1. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.80	8.75	+2.95 years

Table 2. Brigance Oral Reading Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
6.88	8.78	+1.90 years

Table 3. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2002-2003 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.94	8.95	+3.05 years

Table 4. Brigance Oral Word Recognition scores organized by number of students and number of years growth, 2002-2003

6 Years	5 Years	4 Years	3 Years	2 Years	1 Year
4 Students	6 Students	15 Students	15 Students	18 Students	9 Students

Discussing the Assessment Results

The assessment results showed that with only a brief intervention, 5 hours a week for 1 school year (25 weeks of Core Reading lessons), older students (those in middle school and high school), could grow significantly more in reading, especially in word recognition and reading fluency, than younger students. In 2001-2002 the average word recognition growth was 2.95 years, and the average oral reading growth was 1.90 years. In 2002-2003 the average word recognition growth was 3.05 years, and 60% of the students made 3 or more years’ growth. The assessment scores could have been higher had they not been limited because the highest levels tested on the Brigance test were grade 10 for oral word recognition and grade 9 for oral reading. Additionally, around 90% of reading lab students successfully read the highest Core Reading lesson passages, rated at grades 11 and 12, with speed and accuracy. The assessment results were typical of results recorded each year for five years with 60 to 70 students each year. Most of the students (around 90%) were second language learners.

Discussing the Instructional Design

Five important components for reading intervention were included in the instructional design: spelling, vocabulary, word study, reading fluency and comprehension. Within each lesson, the sequence and interaction of all five components were important to improving reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension. Yet, organizing core words by identical suffixes and word endings made it possible to accelerate the decoding of multisyllable words and to short circuit the reading intervention process. All students worked on the same lesson daily, and for students needing extra support, two self instructional programs, one focusing on phonics and the other on reading fluency were used to assist students in keeping pace with the program. The self-instructional programs were audio-workbook programs in which students could work independently. Core lessons were followed by silent reading of student-chosen books.

Summarizing the Study

The critical issue at middle and high school is success in core classes. Although data were not recorded, a high percentage of students who attended the reading lab were successful in core classes. The high school counselor responsible for placement of Title I students was among those, including many core class teachers, who affirmed that students who completed the reading lab were successful in core classes. A colleague of the author’s who taught in the reading lab throughout the study commented that students consistently told her that the reading lab helped them to succeed in core classes. A student comment, one of many similar comments, summarizes the rationale for the study: After reading a passage from a science text, the student was asked to discuss the meaning of the passage. The student responded, “I can’t tell you what I read; I was busy trying to pronounce the words.” Many middle and high school students are not successful in core classes because of the gap between their reading skills and core textbooks. The new model for adolescent reading intervention offers a way to close the gap.

References

Ackerman, P. T. & Dykman, R. A. (1996). The speed factor and learning disabilities: The toll of slowness in adolescents. Dyslexia, 2, 1-21.

Cates, H. W., Fey, M. E., Zhang, X., & Tomblin, J. B. (1999). Language basis of reading and reading disabilities: Evidence from a longitudinal investigation. Scientific Studies of Reading, 3, 331-361.

Clay, M. (1991). Becoming literate. The construction of inner control. Auckland: Heinermann Education.

Clay, M. (1993). Reading Recovery. A guidebook for teachers in training. Auckland: Heinermann Education.

Cunningham, A. E. & Stanovich, K. E. (1997). Early reading acquisition and its relation to reading experience and ability 10 years later. Developmental Psychology, 33, 934-945.

Cunningham, P. M. (1998). The multisyllabic word dilemma: Helping students build meaning, spell, and read “big” words. Reading and Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 14, 189-218.

LaBerge, D., & Samuels, S. J. (1974). Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 292-323.

Rately, J. J. (2001). Perception. A users guide to the brain (pp. 48-109). New York: Vintage Books.

Readance, J. E., Bean, T. W., & Baldwin, R. S. (1998). Content area literacy: An integrated approach (6^th ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.

Shaywitz, S. E., Fletcher, M., Holahan, J. M., Shneider, A. E., Marchione, K. E, Stuebing, K. K., et al (1999). Persistence of dyslexia: The Connecticut Longitudinal Study at Adolescence. Pediatrics 104 (6),1351-1359.

Shefelbine, J., & Calhoun, J. (1991). Variability in approaches to identifying polysyllabic words: A descriptive study of sixth graders with highly, moderately, and poorly developed syllabication strategies. In J. Zutell & S. McCormick (Eds.), Learning factors/teacher factors: Issues in literacy instruction (pp. 169-177). Chicago: National Reading Conference.

Stanovich,, K.E. ((1980). Toward an interactive compensatory model of individual differences in the development of reading fluency. Reading Research Quarterly, 16, . 32-71.

Stanovich, K.E. (1993). Does reading make you smarter? Literacy and the development of verbal intelligence. In H. Reese (Ed), Advances in child development and behavior (Vol. 24, pp. 133-180). San Diego: Academic Press.

Suzuki, N.S. (1985). Imagery research with children: Implications for education. In A.A. Sheikh & K.S. Shekh (Eds.), Imagery in education (pp 179-198). Farmingdale, NY: Baywood.

Torgesen, J. K., Wagner, R. K., Rashotte, C. A., Burgess, S., & Hecht, S. (1997). Contributions o phonological awareness and rapid automatic name ability to the growth of word-reading skills in second- to fifth-grade children. Scientific Studies of Reading, 1 161-185.

Wolf, M. (1991). Naming speed and reading: The contribution of the cognitive neurosciences. Reading Research Quarterly, 24, 123-141.

Component 4, Word Study, Rapid Word Reading

The rapid word reading was a timed reading of the word study word list. Word study core words were organized by number of syllables and similarity of sound or rhyming pattern, easing the transition to longer words. The stressed syllable in each word was underlined. Emphasis was on reading the words rapidly while being timed. (see Figure 10).

Figure 10. Word study pages examples.

Rapid naming, or lexical retrieval, (the amount of time needed to name stimuli, numbers, letters, or words) is highly correlated to reading ability (Wolf, 1994).

The Core Reading Lessons, Part 2, Components 5 to 9

Part 2 of the lesson began with a spelling test.

Component 5, Spelling Test

The spelling test consisted of the same words as the practice spelling (Component 1) without the lines for letters and without word endings.

Component 6, Vocabulary Test

The vocabulary test included 10 vocabulary words, ten matching dictionary definitions, and a synonym quiz with 4 synonyms. Because discussion and group interaction were critical to vocabulary test results, a group vocabulary study review became a part of the component..

Component 7, Pre-Reading Paced Fluency Practice

The pre-reading fluency practice developed automatic word recognition, or automaticity, and served as a bridge to the reading fluency, repeated reading passage (Component 8). Automaticity allows mental resources to be devoted to understanding text. To enhance automaticity, practice and overlearning are often necessary (Clay, 1991, 1993). Skills in the pre-reading fluency practice were (a) beginning syllables of words, (b) vowel sounds, (c) syllables and sentences, and (d) the sounds of words or isolated word parts. Instruction in each skill was practiced as sentences were read at a challenging pace (see Figure 11).

Figure 11. Pre-Reading fluency practice page example.

Component 8, Reading Fluency Repeated Reading

Reading fluency is the ability to read with speed and accuracy. Fluent readers decode words quickly and accurately, thus retaining many resources that can be used for comprehension (LaBerge and Samuels, 1974). One fluency strategy that has an extensive research base is repeated reading, which consists of re-reading a short, meaningful passage until a satisfactory level of fluency is reached.

Each lesson in the Core Reading program had 2 timed readings of a passage, an oral 1-minute timed reading and a silent 1-minute timed reading. Two charts provided for recording and monitoring progress, an oral reading chart and a silent reading chart. The repeated reading passages were written about core textbook topics and spanned grade 4 to grade 12 levels. Many lesson study words and words from previous lessons were in the passages. Before the timed reading, the passage was practiced, read aloud, by the teacher. The oral timed reading was read with a partner. Each student kept his or her score (words per minute) on an individual chart. Most students averaged between 150 and 200 words per minute (an average for most middle and high school students) or higher for most lessons. Scores on higher level lesson readings (grade 10 to grade 12 levels) usually averaged 100 to 120; therefore, additional practice was given (see Figure12).

Figure 12. Repeated reading passages examples.

Component 9, Comprehension

After the reading fluency, repeated reading, passages (Component 8) were completed, the comprehension questions from the passages were answered. The first four comprehension questions were the same type. The first question was for the main idea, asking what the story was mostly about. Questions 2, 3, and 4, were fill-in recall questions that provided a review or scanning of the text. The remaining questions were literal and interpretive comprehension questions and a vocabulary question.

Reporting Assessment Results

At the end of each school year, all students were assessed for reading progress (see Tables 1-4 for results).

Table1. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.80	8.75	+2.95 years

Table 2. Brigance Oral Reading Test, 2001-2002 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
6.88	8.78	+1.90 years

Table 3. Brigance Oral Word Recognition Test, 2002-2003 school year.

Grade Level at Pretest	Grade Level at Posttest	Average Growth
5.94	8.95	+3.05 years

Table 4. Brigance Oral Word Recognition scores organized by number of students and number of years growth, 2002-2003

6 Years	5 Years	4 Years	3 Years	2 Years	1 Year
4 Students	6 Students	15 Students	15 Students	18 Students	9 Students

Discussing the Assessment Results

The assessment results showed that with only a brief intervention, 5 hours a week for 1 school year (25 weeks of Core Reading lessons), older students (those in middle school and high school), could grow significantly more in reading, especially in word recognition and reading fluency, than younger students. In 2001-2002 the average word recognition growth was 2.95 years, and the average oral reading growth was 1.90 years. In 2002-2003 the average word recognition growth was 3.05 years, and 60% of the students made 3 or more years’ growth. The assessment scores could have been higher had they not been limited because the highest levels tested on the Brigance test were grade 10 for oral word recognition and grade 9 for oral reading. Additionally, around 90% of reading lab students successfully read the highest Core Reading lesson passages, rated at grades 11 and 12, with speed and accuracy. The assessment results were typical of results recorded each year for five years with 60 to 70 students each year. Most of the students (around 90%) were second language learners.

Discussing the Instructional Design

Five important components for reading intervention were included in the instructional design: spelling, vocabulary, word study, reading fluency and comprehension. Within each lesson, the sequence and interaction of all five components were important to improving reading speed, accuracy, and comprehension. Yet, organizing core words by identical suffixes and word endings made it possible to accelerate the decoding of multisyllable words and to short circuit the reading intervention process. All students worked on the same lesson daily, and for students needing extra support, two self instructional programs, one focusing on phonics and the other on reading fluency were used to assist students in keeping pace with the program. The self-instructional programs were audio-workbook programs in which students could work independently. Core lessons were followed by silent reading of student-chosen books.

Summarizing the Study

The critical issue at middle and high school is success in core classes. Although data were not recorded, a high percentage of students who attended the reading lab were successful in core classes. The high school counselor responsible for placement of Title I students was among those, including many core class teachers, who affirmed that students who completed the reading lab were successful in core classes. A colleague of the author’s who taught in the reading lab throughout the study commented that students consistently told her that the reading lab helped them to succeed in core classes. A student comment, one of many similar comments, summarizes the rationale for the study: After reading a passage from a science text, the student was asked to discuss the meaning of the passage. The student responded, “I can’t tell you what I read; I was busy trying to pronounce the words.” Many middle and high school students are not successful in core classes because of the gap between their reading skills and core textbooks. The new model for adolescent reading intervention offers a way to close the gap.

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