Supplemental Instruction in Decoding Skills for Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Students in Early Elementary School

Abstract

This article describes a follow-up study that experimentally evaluated the effects of supplemental reading instruction for children in kindergarten through Grade 3. Students from 10 elementary schools in three school districts were screened using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. Two hundred fifty-six K—2 students were identified for participation, then randomly assigned to receive or not receive 2 years of supplemental reading instruction that taught basic decoding and comprehension skills. Reading ability was measured in the fall prior to the first year of the intervention and again in the spring of Years 1, 2, and 3. At the end of the 2-year intervention, children who received the supplemental instruction performed better on measures of word attack, word identification, oral reading fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. One year after the intervention, children in the supplemental instruction group still showed greater improvement in word attack and oral reading fluency than the comparison students.