Exploring Individual Differences in Response to Reading Intervention: Data from Project KIDS (Kids and Individual Differences in Schools).

This manuscript provides information on datasets pertaining to Project KIDS. Datasets include behavioral and achievement data for over 4,000 elementary-age students participating in nine randomized control trials of reading instruction and intervention between 2005-2011, and information on home environments of a subset of 442 collected via parent survey in 2013. All data is currently stored on an online data repository and freely available. Data might be of interest to researchers interested in individual differences in reading development and response to instruction and intervention, as well as to instructors of data analytic methods such as hierarchical linear modeling and psychometrics.

Do Student Behavior Ratings Predict Response to Comprehensive Reading Approaches?

Background: For most instruction, there are individual differences in responsiveness, resulting in some children benefitting less than others. These child by instruction interactions have been shown to exist in reading instruction and interventions through cognitive factors. Student behavior, however, may be of influence in response to instruction and intervention, since it impedes with students’ ability to focus and attend to instruction.Methods: The potential moderation of students’ behavior ratings on reading instruction effectiveness was estimated on a data set including 3,024 students in K-3. Data came from eight independent studies evaluating multi-component reading approaches and were pooled using integrative data analysis. We estimated the interaction of student behavior ratings on treatment effectiveness both at the within and between classroom level.Results: Multicomponent reading approaches were effective in improving reading scores (b=0.48, p=.017, d=0.08). However, students with behavior ratings outside the average did not benefit from the approaches, while students with average ratings did benefit (range of behavior ratings: -1.61 – 0.68). At the classroom level, students in classrooms with a lower average of problem behaviors did not benefit from these approaches (average classroom behavior rating > -0.14).Conclusions: Our findings suggest behavioral characteristics of students are of influence on the effectiveness of multi-component reading approaches. In particular, students with problem behaviors do not benefit from reading instruction and intervention and may need additional supports.

Socioeconomic status and response to a reading intervention: A quantile regression approach

In response to inadequate response to instruction in reading, interventions are often implemented to address deficiencies in component skills associated with reading performance. However, there are factors that influence how children respond to these interventions. Specifically, socioeconomic status (SES) is a well-known correlate of academic achievement, and we hypothesized that family-SES would be associated with response to reading intervention. We explored the estimated associations between SES (free and reduced lunch status) and the distribution of response to intervention (residualized gain scores on the decoding and expressive vocabulary subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement) using the quantile regression approach in a diverse sample of elementary students (N = 1,651). Results indicated that higher family-SES was more strongly associated with greater responsiveness to intervention for both the decoding and expressive vocabulary skills measured. We conclude with a call to more thoroughly consider predictors of individual differences in response to intervention.

Exploring How Initial Response to Instruction Predicts Morphology Outcomes Among Students With Decoding Difficulties

Children with weak decoding skills often struggle to learn multisyllabic words during reading instruction. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which initial response to morphological awareness instruction, along with specific language and cognitive variables (i.e., phonological awareness, rapid naming, orthographic knowledge/awareness, verbal comprehension, working memory), predicts responsiveness to morphological awareness instruction for third-grade students who were at risk for reading disabilities. Thirty-nine third-grade students with decoding deficits were assessed on five independent variables identified as critical predictors of future performance on morphological tasks. A series of regression analyses showed that initial response to instruction, compared to other cognitive and language variables, predicted the most variance in students' morphological skills with prefixes. Furthermore, two cognitive variables, verbal working memory and comprehension, were predictive of performance on morphological tasks after accounting for initial response to instruction. Findings from this study suggest that students with decoding deficits may benefit from morphological instruction and those who demonstrate low response to initial morphological instruction or have weak verbal comprehension and verbal working memory abilities could be risk for failing to acquire morphological instruction as expected.

Cerebellar and Prefrontal-Cortical Engagement During Higher-Order Rule Learning in Older Adulthood

ABSTRACTTo date most aging research has focused on cortical systems and networks, ignoring the cerebellum which has been implicated in both cognitive and motor function. Critically, older adults (OA) show marked differences in cerebellar volume and functional networks, suggesting it may play a key role in the behavioral differences observed in advanced age. OA may be less able to recruit cerebellar resources due to network and structural differences. Here, 26 young adults (YA) and 25 OA performed a second-order learning task, known to activate the cerebellum in the fMRI environment. Behavioral results indicated that YA performed significantly better and learned more quickly compared to OA. Functional imaging detailed robust parietal and cerebellar activity during learning (compared to control) blocks within each group. OA showed increased activity (relative to YA) in the left inferior parietal lobe in response to instruction cues during learning (compared to control); whereas, YA showed increased activity (relative to OA) in the left anterior cingulate to feedback cues during learning, potentially explaining age-related performance differences. Visual interpretation of effect size maps showed more bilateral posterior cerebellar activation in OA compared to YA during learning blocks, but early learning showed widespread cerebellar activation in YA compared to OA. There were qualitatively large age-related differences in cerebellar recruitment in terms of effect sizes, yet no statistical difference. These findings serve to further elucidate age-related differences and similarities in cerebellar and cortical brain function and implicate the cerebellum and its networks as regions of interest in aging research.

How Initial Word Reading and Language Skills Affect Reading Comprehension Outcomes for Students With Reading Difficulties

This study examined how differences in listening comprehension and word reading at the beginning of the school year influence changes in reading comprehension for English learners (ELs) with significant reading difficulties compared to non-ELs with significant reading difficulties. The study investigated heterogeneity in response to instruction among 400 struggling readers in fourth grade ( n = 183 for non-EL; n = 217 for EL) who received an intensive reading intervention. At pretest, word reading, listening comprehension, and reading comprehension were measured, and at posttest, reading comprehension was measured again. Results from moderated multiple regression analyses showed a significant three-way interaction such that reading comprehension at posttest was higher for ELs than non-ELs with similar levels of low word reading but relatively higher levels of listening comprehension. However, non-ELs outperformed ELs with similar levels of relatively high word reading and average to high listening comprehension. The findings suggest that pre-intervention skill profiles may need to be interpreted differently for ELs and non-ELs with significant reading difficulties in relation to language and literacy outcomes.

Instructional Feedback: An Effective, Efficient, Low-Intensity Strategy to Support Student Success

Instructional feedback is a practical strategy for monitoring student learning in response to instruction and providing prompts to students to confirm, refine, or clarify their misunderstandings. In this article, we describe a step-by-step process for using instructional feedback, with teaching tips to assist successful implementation with all students, including those with emotional and behavioral disorders. Throughout the article, we offer lessons from practitioners who have successfully used instructional feedback in their classrooms.