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Important strides have been made in the science of learning to read. Yet, many students still struggle to attain reading proficiency. This calls for sustained efforts to bridge theoretical insights with applied considerations about ideal pedagogy. The current study was designed to contribute to this conversation, namely by looking at the efficacy of an online reading program. The chosen reading program, referred to as MindPlay Virtual Reading Coach (MVRC), emphasizes the mastery of basic reading skills to support the development of reading fluency. Its focus on basic skills diverges from the goal of increasing reading motivation. And its focus on reading fluency, vs. broad literacy achievement, offers an alternative to already existing reading enrichment. In order to test the efficacy of MVRC, we recruited three school districts. One district provided data from elementary schools that used the MVRC program in Grades 2 to 6 (N = 2,531 total). The other two districts participated in a quasi-experimental design: Six 2nd-grade classrooms and nine 4th-grade classrooms were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) instruction as usual, (2) instruction with an alternative online reading program, and (3) instruction with MVRC. Complete data sets were available from 142 2nd-graders and 172 4th-graders. Three assessments from the MVRC screener were used: They assessed reading fluency, phonic skills, and listening vocabulary at two time points: before and after the intervention. Results show a clear advantage of MVRC on reading fluency, more so than on phonics or listening vocabulary. At the same time, teachers reported concerns with MVRC, highlighting the challenge with reading programs that emphasize basic-skills mastery over programs that seek to encourage reading.

Given the high prevalence of Tier 2 behavioral intervention use and calls to examine mediation and moderation effects on treatment for children, this study tested the mediation effect of the daily progress report and moderation effects of coach-student, teacher-student, and student-teacher relationships and their interactions for 95 elementary school students who received the Check, Connect, and Expect intervention. The only significant finding was the moderating effect of the student-teacher and teacher-student relationships. A significant interaction between the moderating effects showed that a positive student-teacher relationship showed overall reductions in total problem behavior across an academic year. This result is interpreted as students' perception of a positive relationship with their teacher as critical to the therapeutic mechanism of Tier 2 behavioral interventions.

Students' oral reading fluency growth from first through fourth grade was used to predict their achievement on the Stanford Achievement Test (9th ed.; SAT-9 Reading) using a latent growth model. Two conditional variables related to student status were used to determine the effects on reading performance--English language learners (ELLs) with low socioeconomic status and low socioeconomic (SES) status alone. Results revealed that both types of student status variables reliably predicted low performance on initial first grade oral reading fluency, which later predicted fourth grade performance on the SAT-9. However, the reading fluency trajectories of the ELLs and monolingual English students were not significantly different. In addition, when both student status variables and letter naming fluency were used to predict initial oral reading fluency, letter naming fluency dominated the prediction equation, suggesting that an initial pre-reading skill, letter naming fluency, better explained fourth grade performance on the SAT-9 than either ELL with low SES or low SES alone. The discussion focuses on how to better enable these readers and how oral reading fluency progress monitoring can be used to assist school personnel in determining which students need additional instructional assistance.

Multinomial stepwise logistic regression analyses were used to establish the most robust set of risk factors that would best predict low basic reading skills (i.e., a standard score less than 85 on the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised Basic Reading Skills cluster) of kindergarten and first-grade children at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. Results showed that among the 11 risk factor domains considered, four were most predictive of low reading skills: demographic characteristics, childhood maladjustment, family functioning, and maternal depression. Within these four domains, the most robust set of individual risk factors were gender, history of psychiatric hospitalization, abusive to animals, and maternal depression. Results, limitations, and implications are discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

The primary purpose of this study was to assess the effects of contextually-based multiple meaning (i.e., words with multiple meanings) vocabulary instruction on the vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension of students. Third and 5th grade students received either contextually-based multiple meaning vocabulary instruction embedded in the standard language arts instruction offered to all students over a three-month period or the standard language arts instruction alone (i.e., non-specific treatment). Students who received the contextually-based multiple meaning instruction generally showed statistically and educationally significant gains in their vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension relative to students who did not. These gains were most evident in reading comprehension. Additionally, students with low initial vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension achievement tended to show greater gains than those with average to high achievement. These effects were more pronounced in the case of 3rd grade students. The results and limitations are discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

This study analyzed the social information processing of 26 secondary students with behavioral disorders following assignment to in-school suspension. Analysis of student responses indicated that the interaction between students' perceived hostile intent of teachers and reactive aggression predicted the number of assignments to in-school suspension. (Contains references.) (Author/DB)

A study of 36 students (ages 12-17) with behavior/emotional disorders in a residential school examined the effects of three types of in-school suspension programs on disruptive classroom behavior and the impact of classroom management. Results found no apparent effects of the in-school suspension interventions on classroom disruptive behavior. (Author/CR)