Reading Plus, the online reading intervention that changes how, what, and why students read, is pleased to congratulate administrators, teachers, and students of West Port High School in Ocala, Florida. West Port principal Jayne Ellspermann has been named 2015 NASSP National Principal of the Year. In addition, 10th grade intensive reading teacher Natasha Murphy was named 2014 Florida Reading Association
Secondary Research Findings
Title: The Relationship Between a Silent Reading Fluency Instructional Protocol on Students’ Reading Comprehension and Achievement in an Urban School Setting Authors: Timothy Rasinski, S. Jay Samuels, Elfrieda Hiebert, and Yaacov Petscher Publication: Reading Psychology, Vol. 32, No. 1, January 2011, pp. 75-97 Summary: The study examined a large-scale implementation of Reading Plus to validate the effects as well as the feasibility of deployment of Reading Plus within a wide range of school settings. A total of 16,143 students from grades 4 through 10 in 23 schools in Regions II and III in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools participated in the study. Findings: Results indicated that students participating in Reading Plus for a minimum of 40 or more lessons over approximately six months made significantly greater gains on both the criterion-referenced and norm-referenced reading tests that are part of the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT) than students who did not participate in the program. Positive results also were demonstrated for various subpopulations often considered at risk for reading difficulties. African-American, Latino-American, special education, and learning disabled students who participated in the Reading Plus intervention demonstrated significantly and substantially greater gains in measures of reading achievement on both the CRT and NRT portions of the FCAT than students not participating in the intervention.
Title: Silent Word Reading Fluency and Temporal Vision Processing; Differences Between Good and Poor Readers Authors: Harold A. Solan, John Shelley-Tremblay, Steven M. Larson, and Jana Mounts Publication: Journal of Behavioral Optometry, December 2006 Summary: The study explored the relationship between students’ reading abilities, measures of temporal vision processing, and silent word reading fluency. Thirty-seven 7th grade students were classified as “good” or “poor” readers via the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Comprehension tests. Findings: Results lend further support to the premise that eye-movement recordings are important for assessment of reading disabled (RD) students. Dr. Shelley-Tremblay is quoted as saying, “This study demonstrated that the Visagraph was effective in quickly and easily measuring the degree of fluency in silent reading in terms of the number of fixations, regressions, and the reading rates of both good and poor readers. The rate of reading was significantly related to attentional ability and comprehension. For poor readers, in particular, a large number of regressions is a good indicator of a broader array of reading problems.”
Title: The Effect of the Reading Plus Program on Reading Skills in Secondary Students Author: North East Florida Educational Consortium’s Foundation for Rural Excellence (NEFEC) and Educational Learning Systems, Inc. Unpublished study conducted by North East Florida Educational Consortium’s Foundation for Rural Excellence (NEFEC) and Educational Learning Systems, Inc. Findings: While the control group showed no significant gains on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, the treatment group made statistically significant gains (from pre-test scores of 33.7 to post-test scores of 42.3). The treatment group also made higher gains on the Visagraph GLE (3.6 to 6.8) than the control group (4.0 to 4.6), as well as the Visagraph Reading Rate with Comprehension (142.5 to 182.9 for the treatment group and 140.4 to 149.5 for the control group). On the FCAT, the treatment group showed the most gains with a score change of 220.18, while the control group showed lesser gains with a score change of 142.4.
TITLE:M-Cell Deficit and Reading Disability: A Preliminary Study of the Effects of Temporal Vision-Processing Therapy Authors:Harold A. Solan, John Shelley-Tremblay, Peter C. Hansen, Michael E. Silverman, Steven M. Larson and Anthony Ficarra PUBLICATION:Optometry, Vol. 75, No. 10, October 2004, pp. 640-650 SUMMARY:The study involved 16 seventh grade students from a New York City school who were defined as moderately disabled readers after being tested on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test. FINDINGS:Results showed significant improvement on all post-tests, with the Gates Test (p=0.001) average GE increase to 6.52, and the Coherent Motion Threshold Test (p=0.011) down to 4.98%. The students’ average w.p.m. increased to 160 on the Gray Oral Reading Test (p=0.002) and the students achieved a 11.19 mean scaled score increase on the Woodcock-Johnson Test (p=0.001). This study concludes that through temporal vision therapy, reading disabled students with M-Cell deficit can improve magnocellular processing and reading comprehension skills.
Title: Effect of Attention Therapy on Reading Comprehension Authors: Harold A. Solan, John Shelley-Tremblay, Anthony Ficarra, Michael Silverman, and Steven Larson Publication:Journal of Learning Disabilities, Vol. 36, November/December 2003, pp. 556-563 Summary: The study’s purpose was to determine if visual attention therapy had any influence on improvement in reading comprehension of sixth graders with moderate reading disabilities. Thirty students from New York City schools were divided equally into treatment and control groups. Findings: The treatment group made significant gains on both the comprehension (p<.05) (GE 4.1 to GE 5.2) and attention test (p<.01) (95 to113). The control group showed no significant improvement in either comprehension (GE 4.3 to GE 4.4) or attention (94 to 106). This study supported the findings that visual attention therapy can have a beneficial effect on reading comprehension of those with reading disabilities.
Title: Evaluation of the Reading Plus 2000 and Visagraph System as a Remedial Program for Academically ‘At Risk’ Sixth and Eighth Grade Students: A Pilot Study Authors: Darrel G. Schlange, H. Patel, and Brian Caden Publication: Optometry and Vision Science, Vol. 76, poster 11, 1999 Summary: The study was conducted at Shields Elementary School in Chicago. At-risk students were assigned to receive instruction with an earlier version of Reading Plus. Students received three sessions per week for a total of 40 sessions, in addition to their regular classroom instruction. Findings: Results showed that students in the sixth and eighth grades who received training with Reading Plus made significant improvements (p<.001) with a gain of 0.9 and 2.3 levels in their GLE as measured by the Visagraph, respectively. In addition, the sixth and eighth graders had a significant average ITBS gain of 1 year 5 months (p<.001) as compared to the school’s average student gain of 1 year 1 month. Beyond the reading gains, students also improved in visual skills, reducing instances in which the two eyes performed differently in terms of binocular coordination (p<.0005).
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