Combining College and Career Readiness and Reading in a Blended Learning Context for Adolescents with and without Disabilities

Secondary students must be exposed to technology in blended learning environments across general and special education settings to ensure they learn technology skills as well as continue to learn fundamental reading skills in order to be prepared for college and careers. Reading skills affect later life outcomes, such as employment status (Kutner et al., 2007) and dropping out of school (McGee, Prior, Williams, Smart, & Sanson 2002). Digital or blended learning is increasingly emphasized, as evidenced by the recent prioritization in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015, which states digital learning is "any instructional practice that effectively uses technology to strengthen a student's learning experience", and blended learning is "a formal education program that leverages both technology and face-to-face instructional approaches". As such, the integration of reading instruction into college and career readiness content, and delivery over digital or blended learning contexts is critical. One example of an emerging evidence-based online curriculum is EnvisionIT developed by the Ohio State University Nisonger Center (2012-2017). The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of EnvisionIT on secondary student reading skills as measured by the "AIMS Web Maze Test for 8th Grade" (Shinn & Shinn, 2002). Three research questions guided this study: (1) What is the effect of EnvisionIT on AIMSweb8 scores? (2) Does this effect differ by grade? and (3) Does this effect differ by length of class (semester or year)? Despite the study limitations, EnvisionIT shows promise as a viable intervention that emphasizes college and career readiness and literacy skills delivered in a blended learning environment. Future research studies should prioritize these areas in order to more rigorously test the efficacy of the curriculum. [SREE documents are structured abstracts of SREE conference symposium, panel, and paper or poster submissions.]