Reading skills are fundamental for success in school and society. Research has shown that struggling readers need intensive interventions to improve their reading skills. The purpose of this study...Show moreReading skills are fundamental for success in school and society. Research has shown that struggling readers need intensive interventions to improve their reading skills. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of two individualized online reading tutoring interventions – UIL (Universal Instruction for Literacy) and RA (Read-Along) – on the word reading, reading fluency, and reading comprehension skills of struggling readers in grades 4 and 5 (N=52). The UIL intervention involved direct, explicit reading instruction, whereas the RA intervention focused on increasing the amount of reading that students did. Both interventions were compared to a wait-list, business-as-usual (BAU) control group. Reading skills were measured via CBM word reading, CBM reading aloud, and CBM maze-selection tasks. Results revealed that students in the intervention conditions (UIL and RA) made significantly greater pre-posttest gains in word reading skills than did students in BAU control condition. Additionally, students in the UIL and RA made significantly greater pre-posttest gains in reading fluency and in restoring meaning to the text than did students in the BAU condition; however, these results were seen only for instructional texts, not for transfer texts. The results of the study suggest that providing extra, intensive 1:1 reading intervention to struggling readers in grades 4 and 5 may increase their reading skills; however, the extent to which such skill improvements transfer to material not practiced during instruction is in question.Show less
