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Evidence suggests that children living in areas designated as socially disadvantaged may be at risk for literacy difficulties. The Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986; Hoover &Gough, 1986) is a theoretical model that sets out to describe the processes that children need to develop to become proficient readers, that is word recognition or decoding processes and language comprehension processes. The overall aim of this study was to investigate the utility of the Simple View of Reading in a cohort of Irish children attending schools designated as socially disadvantaged. The objectives were twofold. The first objective was to investigate predictors of reading accuracy, spelling and reading comprehension skills in this sample. The second objective was to investigate whether or not these predictors varied with age. The sample comprised fifty-nine children attending two schools. Inclusion criteria were: children between the ages of 5-8 years; a sample of children within three ranges of reading abilities as rated by their teachers (teachers were asked to rate the children's reading ability as above average, average or below average); and a minimum score of 80 on the British Picture Vocabulary Scales (BPVS) (Dunn et al., 1997) to be included. Reading accuracy (single word reading and passage reading), reading comprehension, and spelling were measured using three standardised tests i.e., Weschler Individual Attainment Test 11[superscriptUK], Teachers Version (WIAT, 11[superscriptUK]-T) (Weschler, 2006), the York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension (YARC) (Snowling et al., 2009), and the Single Word Spelling Test (SWST), (Sacre & Masterson, 2000). Potential predictors of literacy skills, such as phonemic awareness and phonic knowledge skills, were measured using criterion-referenced tests. Vocabulary was also a potential predictor and was measured using the BPVS. There was mixed evidence for the Simple View of Reading. While phonic knowledge, phonemic knowledge and non-word reading were predictors of reading, other factors such as vocabulary were also predictors. Although vocabulary was a predictor of reading comprehension for the total sample, the picture was less clear when the effect of age was explored. To conclude, there was mixed evidence to support the Simple View of Reading. Nonetheless, the findings were encouraging in that children were acquiring literacy skills.

There is significant controversy over what counts as evidence in the evaluation of social interventions. It is increasingly common to use methodological criteria to rank evidence types in a hierarchy, with Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) at or near the highest level. Because of numerous challenges to a hierarchical approach, this article offers a Matrix (or typology) of evaluation evidence, which is justified by the following two lines of argument. First, a pluralist approach to evidence is defended. Starting from the principle of methodological aptness, it is argued that different types of research question are best answered by different types of study. This article will address some of the key issues in the debate on RCTs (the ethical principles of duty of care and social utility, the role of random allocation, and threats to internal validity) in respect of which two opposing paradigms provide irreconcilable arguments, namely the position that RCTs are the "gold standard" and the opposing position that RCTs are often if not always inappropriate in social settings. The second line of argument is that evaluations often require both experimental and non-experimental research in tandem. In a pluralist approach, non-causal evidence is seen as a vital component in order to evaluate interventions in mixed methods studies (as part of evidence-based practice [EBP]) and also is important for good practice itself (as part of practice-based evidence [PBE]). The article concludes by providing a detailed description of what an Evaluation Evidence Matrix can and cannot do.

This study explored the association between reading self-belief and reading achievement among a representative sample of nine year old children in the Republic of Ireland. Results from analysis of variance and simple effects analysis showed a positive linear association between reading achievement and "attitude to reading." The association was observed in the full sample, was strongest among girls and among children in third grade, and did not differ significantly between social classes or between children who had attained different levels of reading achievement. However, there was evidence of inflated "attitude to reading" among children in the below average reading sub-sample.

The current article examines what factors explained the success of a reading program delivered by older adult volunteers to at-risk early readers. The article also examines the direction of the relationship over time (both direct and mediated) between reading achievement, frequency of reading at home, and academic self-beliefs. Two hundred and twenty nine socially disadvantaged children recruited at the start of first and second grade at risk of reading failure participated in the randomized controlled trial study over an 18-month period. The results from structural equation modeling show the combined instructional and emotional support was a proximal outcome, whose distal outcomes included gains in reading achievement. There was no evidence that either academic self-beliefs or frequency of reading at home mediated program impact on reading achievement. In addition, academic self-beliefs became more accurate and stable as children advanced through school. Reading achievement mediated the impact of earlier reading achievement on both academic self-beliefs and frequency of reading at home for children entering second and third grade. In contrast, for the youngest children (at the start of first grade), academic self-beliefs were negatively associated with subsequent academic self-beliefs and frequency of reading at home.

In a randomized controlled trial (RCT), treatments are assigned randomly and treatments are withheld from participants. Is it ethically permissible to conduct an RCT in a social setting? This paper addresses two conditions for justifying RCTs: that there should be a state of equipoise and that the trial should be scientifically promising. Illustrated with a discussion of the RCT evaluation of the Wizards of Words reading programme, this paper argues that, first, the two conditions can give rise to genuine moral conflicts, and second, efforts can be made to ensure RCTs in social settings are scientifically promising. The argument of this paper therefore is a departure from the current debate on RCTs, where it is assumed these two justifying conditions should not come into conflict, either because research ethics is derived from the professional's duty of care, or because there is a strong distinction between the ethics of research and the duty of care. This paper also addresses critics who argue that in social settings RCTs cannot be scientifically promising and for that reason they are ethically impermissible.

This paper investigates whether children's academic self-beliefs are associated with reading achievement and whether the relationship is modified by gender and/or age. Data were collected from children at risk of reading failure, that is, emergent readers (6- to 8-year-olds) in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas reading at a level below the population mean. The authors' own measure of attitude to reading and perceived competence was used. The study found a significant positive association between attitude to reading in class and vocabulary and phonemic awareness and a significant negative association between perceived competence at reading in class and single-word reading and spelling. Girls' attitude to reading and perceived competence were more positively associated with reading achievement, and this was most evident in the first grade. Perceived competence was inflated among those with the poorest reading and also among boys, in association with reading-related skills found most challenging by children in this sample.

This paper is based on a randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluation of a reading programme delivered by older adult volunteers for at-risk early readers. Wizards of Words (WoW) was targeted at socially disadvantaged children in first and second grade experiencing delays in reading but who were not eligible for formal literacy supports. The programme was effective for phonemic awareness, word recognition, phonic knowledge and children's self-beliefs, but was not effective for reading comprehension, vocabulary, spelling or reading accuracy. The programme was most effective for those children starting with "below average" reading levels and for boys. Programme intensity, school attendance and the child's experience of the programme all predicted response to intervention. Gains in phonemic awareness and phonic knowledge may be explained by the priority given in volunteer training and in programme delivery to the phonics component, and gains in word recognition may be explained by its close association with phonemic awareness and phonic knowledge, as hypothesized by the Simple View of Reading. The findings show that a reading programme delivered by older adult volunteers can have a significant impact on reading skills and self-beliefs of at-risk readers who are not eligible for other formal literacy supports.