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This study examines the effectiveness of minimally trained tutors providing a highly structured tutoring intervention for struggling readers. We screened students in Grades K-6 for participation in an after-school tutoring program. We randomly assigned those students not meeting the benchmark on a reading screening measure to either a tutoring group or a control group. Students in the tutoring group met twice per week across one school year to receive tutoring from non--education major college students participating in a service-learning course. The goal of this study was to determine whether tutors without prior teaching experience or instruction could improve student reading outcomes with minimal training, a structured reading curriculum, and access to ongoing coaching. Tutored students displayed significantly more growth than control students in letter-word identification, decoding, and passage comprehension, with robust effect sizes of 0.99, 1.02, and 0.78, respectively. We discuss the implications and limitations of these findings. [This article was published in "Reading & Writing Quarterly" (EJ1171007).]

Dual-language books (DLBs) are often seen as positive resources for biliteracy development, but most contain implicit messages about the status of the languages used. Through a large content analysis of 100 dual-language children's books (DLCBs), across 10 publishing companies, the authors developed a linguistic typology of DLBs in order to expose messages of linguistic hierarchy. In this article, educators are provided a lens for understanding the hegemony of English in DLBs, provided with exemplars of community-based biliteracy development via holistic language use and translanguaging in DLCBs, and invited into a discussion on the vulnerability and compassion that would be required for creating more equity and effectiveness in biliteracy development.

Students with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are being educated in general education content classrooms that use lessons directed to whole groups of students which limit use of visually presented material. For some students with ASD, having limited visual support hinders their abilities to process and comprehend material. Research shows promising results associated with the use of a graphic organizer to increase comprehension accuracy. The purpose of this study was to document the relationship between using a graphic organizer and increasing reading comprehension for students with ASD. The study used a single-subject, multiple-baseline design across participants to evaluate whether the use of a graphic organizer impacted the accuracy of answering "wh"-questions for grade-level social studies content. Participants included four eighth-grade students with ASD in an urban public school. Results supported current research by showing an increase in comprehension skills with the use of a graphic organizer.

This study examines the effectiveness of minimally trained tutors providing a highly structured tutoring intervention for struggling readers. We screened students in Grades K-6 for participation in an after-school tutoring program. We randomly assigned those students not meeting the benchmark on a reading screening measure to either a tutoring group or a control group. Students in the tutoring group met twice per week across one school year to receive tutoring from non-education major college students participating in a service-learning course. The goal of this study was to determine whether tutors without prior teaching experience or instruction could improve student reading outcomes with minimal training, a structured reading curriculum, and access to ongoing coaching. Tutored students displayed significantly more growth than control students in letter-word identification, decoding, and passage comprehension, with robust effect sizes of 0.99, 1.02, and 0.78, respectively. We discuss the implications and limitations of these findings.

This article provides an overview of the editorial goals and perspectives of the journal Exceptional Children, which focuses on critical issues in special education. The editors emphasize the importance of viewing special education as a civil rights issue and promoting diversity and inclusiveness in the publication process. They identify four key issues impacting special education and invite scholarly works that address these issues and offer solutions. The article also discusses the importance of implementation science, technical assistance, and diverse methodologies in special education research. It includes summaries of five articles that cover various topics in special education. The authors express their commitment to learning from the past and advancing special education research. [Extracted from the article]

Despite the almost universal adoption of Response to Intervention (RTI) in school districts across the United States, recent research report feelings of inadequacy on the part of general education (GE) teachers. In this study, the authors conducted a systematic review of the literature to examine research focusing on the teaching, learning, implementation, and evaluation of RTI in GE teacher preparation during the last decade (2003-2013). A total of 10 publications were identified through electronic and hand searches. Results reveal a longstanding gap in the literature on how GE preservice teachers can understand and apply RTI in their classrooms. More studies and recommendations are needed to help GE preservice and in-service teachers use RTI effectively with struggling students.

A meta-analysis of vocabulary interventions in grades pre-K to 12 was conducted with 37 studies to better understand the impact of vocabulary on comprehension. Vocabulary instruction was found to be effective at increasing students' ability to comprehend text with custom measures (d = 0.50), but was less effective for standardized measures (d = 0.10). When considering only custom measures, and controlling for method variables, students with reading difficulties (d = 1.23) benefited more than three times as much as students without reading problems (d = 0.39) on comprehension measures. Gains on vocabulary measures, however, were comparable across reading ability. In addition, the correlation of vocabulary and comprehension effects from studies reporting both outcomes was modest (r = 0.43). (Contains 12 tables and 4 figures.)

This study examined what proportion of reading intervention experiments published in a sample of prominent, peer-reviewed education research journals evaluated the impact of the reading intervention on African American students. The last 10 years of articles from the "Reading Research Quarterly" and the "Journal of Educational Psychology" and all volumes of the journal "Scientific Study of Reading" (totaling 8 years) were hand searched. This search yielded 971 research articles, of which 8.14% (n = 79) reported reading interventions; none of these reading interventions reported outcomes by race, and only 2, 0.21% of the research articles, included 85% or more African American participants.

Significant growth in the number of Emergent Bilinguals (EBs) in U.S. schools is anticipated to continue (U.S. Department of Education, 2016), demanding that educators and evaluators have the skills necessary to distinguishing language difference from disability and provide appropriate services to these students. The purpose of this literature review is to examine the knowledge base regarding preparing culturally competent evaluators and the implementation of culturally responsive evaluation practices. A review of 25 articles was conducted addressing best practices for evaluating culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners, evaluator cultural competence and self-efficacy, and recommendations for conducting culturally competent assessments and evaluations. The results of this literature review serve to inform the field in regards to recommended practice and next steps in preparing evaluators to appropriately serve our diverse student body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effectiveness of minimally trained tutors providing a highly structured tutoring intervention for struggling readers. We screened students in Grades K–6 for participation in an after-school tutoring program. We randomly assigned those students not meeting the benchmark on a reading screening measure to either a tutoring group or a control group. Students in the tutoring group met twice per week across one school year to receive tutoring from non–education major college students participating in a service-learning course. The goal of this study was to determine whether tutors without prior teaching experience or instruction could improve student reading outcomes with minimal training, a structured reading curriculum, and access to ongoing coaching. Tutored students displayed significantly more growth than control students in letter-word identification, decoding, and passage comprehension, with robust effect sizes of 0.99, 1.02, and 0.78, respectively. We discuss the implications and limitations of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown the importance of family-school collaboration in promoting positive student outcomes, but also the lack of satisfaction and trust on the part of both teachers and family members, especially with cross-cultural interactions. A key barrier is the lack of teacher professional development regarding research-based practices and systemic support (e.g., resources, time). This paper presents a research-based conference strategy designed to cultivate a trusting relationship between families and educators, referred to as Building Equitable Trusting Relationships (BETR). Critical to this trust-building process is understanding how one's own (and the organization’s) culture and norms shape the expectations and actions in support or detriment of establishing trust. The three-step process for engaging in the ongoing and iterative work of becoming more culturally competent: 1) Cultural Self-Study, 2) Acquiring Cultural Knowledge, and 3) Putting Knowledge to Practice (CAP) is demonstrated in the context of the BETR meeting model. Evidence, illustrations, and possible adaptations for implementing this strategy with diverse families across contexts are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]