Reading Plus
Study: Reutzel et al. (2012)

Summary

Descriptive Information

The Reading Plus® System serves all students to increase vocabulary, comprehension, endurance, retention, silent reading fluency and provides the power to systematically master higher levels of text. Reading Plus® is a guided, silent reading supplementary intervention. Students participate in a series of online, estimator-based sessions that included a specific sequence of daily activities. Equally struggling students participate in Reading Plus®, the difficulty level of the reading material adjusts as a office of a student'southward progress based upon reading comprehension and reading rate analyses. Students begin the intervention past completing a reading assessment (Reading Placement Appraisal, RPA) to establish the initial placement level inside the program. This 20-minute placement test assesses independent reading level, rate, comprehension, and vocabulary to determine the most advisable exercise starting level. The RPA consisted of three parts. Function I presents students with several 100-word selections followed by a set of literal recall questions. Content difficulty is adapted according to a educatee'due south comprehension operation and reading rate mastery to define a student's tentative independent reading level. Part II with its 300-word selections and diverse comprehension questions serves to confirm the independent reading level. Office III assesses a pupil's vocabulary level. From the iii-part RPA cess, an instructional reading level is established for individual students and they are then placed at appropriate levels of reading claiming within each instructional component of Reading Plus®. Students go on to be assessed on like tasks throughout the intervention menstruation with appropriate adjustments fabricated to the level of reading selections every bit a result of their performances on these formative assessments. Every bit students participate in this supplementary silent reading fluency intervention, they are provided reading lessons and continuous feedback nearly their silent reading in an private computer-based, online environment Each lesson begins with a perceptual accuracy and visual efficiency (PAVE) warm-upward. This activity consists of two parts, Scan and Wink. In the Scan activity, students browse the estimator screen to count the number of times a target letter or number appears on the screen. The target and other letters or numbers are flashed in a left-to-right presentation. The presentation speed increases in accordance with the student's proficiency. In the second activity, Wink, a series of messages or numbers ranging in length from ii to 12 depending on the students' placement level are flashed (1/6 of a second per flash, which does not permit moving of the eyes and thus provides unmarried fixation training). The corporeality of numbers or letters increases in response to the students' ability to correctly recreate the sequence. This warm-upward activity aims to increase students' visual perception, attending, and automaticity in the discrimination and recognition of print. The next instructional component provides students with all-encompassing structured silent reading practice to build fluency within an authentic reading feel where students read for pregnant. During guided silent reading sessions, involving timed, guided, left-to-right reading exercise, students read selections from a diverse drove of narrative and expository texts at each student's independent instructional reading level. The work of O'Connor and colleagues (2002), as reported by Allington (2006), showed that providing daily intervention lessons using grade-level texts was not nearly every bit successful as providing daily lessons using texts matched to the instructional reading levels of struggling readers. O'Connor and colleagues argued that selecting texts of appropriate claiming should be a first step in the design of effective supplementary reading instruction and intervention. Lesson text selections are matched to struggling readers' contained reading levels using Spache, Dale-Chall, and Fry readability formulas. Reading Plus® is designed to continuously and dynamically monitor student functioning using both reading charge per unit measures and responses to comprehension questions, adjusting the reading content level to match each student's progress. In addition, Reading Plus® uses a mix of instructional formats and scaffolds to further match individualized needs and rates of progress. These include variation in the presentation of text, the length of reading segments, the location and number of comprehension questions, and the use of repeated readings. Thus, students are able to progress through levels of reading claiming based on several factors. Students must exist able to read passages at their current levels with grade-advisable rates and good comprehension earlier they advance to subsequent levels. The programme provides approximately 600 reading selections ranging from pre-primer to adult-level texts, including loftier involvement/low readability selections for older struggling students. Selections represent narrative, expository, and informational texts in a wide array of genres. Lesson texts are presented inside both a guided silent reading format (a moving window guides students' eyes across lines of print from left-to correct) and an independent reading format without whatsoever left-to-right guidance. Regardless of the nature of the lesson or activity, text is presented within a controlled format and rate parameter for each student. Dynamically controlled by individual student performance, comprehension questions are either interspersed between individual reading segments or followed at the decision of the story. All comprehension questions are electronically coded by the organisation to continuously rails student performance with 25 comprehension skills based on Blossom's Taxonomy, including literal understanding, interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and appreciation. The format (wide vs. repeated readings) and rate at which text is presented on screen is and then incrementally increased equally a function of students' performance on these comprehension questions and reading charge per unit performances during the reading events. As students progress through the levels, the texts read became progressively longer and more challenging. The intent of the guided silent reading lesson is to provide students with authentic reading experiences that build comprehension, fluency and stamina at a level of difficulty that will provide them the maximum acceleration of progress. Additionally, given that the difficulty of texts was established using the Spache (for master-level texts) and Dale-Chall (middle grade-level texts), both of which rely on high-frequency word lists, students have considerable opportunity to develop fluency with a core grouping of high frequency words reading these texts. This guided silent reading component is followed by a cloze-structured vocabulary component. This vocabulary component uses structured contextual assay activities to aid struggling students develop comprehension competency. These cloze-structured exercises are intended to encourage students to utilize context clues to consummate the meaning of sentences as well every bit longer passages. Students likewise exercise deriving the meaning of difficult or unfamiliar word meanings by analyzing the surrounding context presented in each activity, potentially enhancing wide reading vocabulary learning strategies and skills. Performance scores within each do module, the interconnectedness of the various practice modules, integrated formative assessments following each lesson, and a highly sophisticated operating organisation inform just-in-fourth dimension instructional decisions that are sensitive to educatee characteristics such as age, reading level, performance, progress, and instructional trajectory. The system not merely dynamically adjusts each educatee's differentiated lesson format within each practice module but likewise provides unique adjustments for daily practice sessions. The integration of these modules allows for the system to provide each pupil with a practice environment that uniquely addresses his or her private silent reading development needs at any moment in time during the intervention period.

Target Grades:
3, 4, 5, six, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Target Populations:
  • Students with learning disabilities
  • English language linguistic communication learners
  • Whatsoever educatee at run a risk for academic failure
Expanse(s) of Focus:
  • Comprehension
  • Fluency
  • Vocabulary

Conquering & Cost

Where to Obtain:
Taylor Associates
110 Due west Culvert Street, Suite 301 Winooski, VT 05454
i-800-732-3758
www.readingplus.com
Initial Toll:
$23.00 per student
Replacement Price:
Contact vendor for pricing details.

Reading Plus® Commitment Formats and Costs Reading Plus® costs are based on a Concurrent User (CU) model. CU seats take two component costs: license and web hosting. A Reading Plus® CU license is a permanent purchase and has a i-time fee. Spider web-hosting fees, which are paid annually, provide 24/vii access to CU seats from anywhere with Cyberspace access and include unlimited technical support. In addition, web-hosting fees include seamless delivery of all Reading Plus® updates and upgrades. Professional development, which includes initial and follow up training, as well as ongoing implementation back up, is calculated at $135 per CU. Cost per educatee based on CU seats The number of CU seats purchased determines the maximum number of students who can access the system simultaneously. By scheduling multiple students for each CU seat, a Reading Plus® site can significantly lower the per educatee cost of the installation. If a school uses a rotation model that allows five students to share each CU seat, the cost for the beginning iii years is approximately $23 per student (based on 25 CU seats). Total Cost of iii-Year Initial Buy CU Seats License Hosting 10 $7,500 $1,800 25 $13,000 $iv,000 50 $twenty,000 $seven,500 100 $32,500 $14,000

Training & Technical Support

Staff Qualified to Administer Include:
  • Special Education Instructor
  • General Education Instructor
  • Reading Specialist
  • Math Specialist
  • EL Specialist
  • Interventionist
  • Student Support Services Personnel (e.g., advisor, social worker, schoolhouse psychologist, etc.)
  • Paraprofessional
  • Other:
Training Requirements:
4-8 hours of training

Instructors receive two-function training that takes place via either face-to-face or live webinar. Instructors receive Initial Training before they go started with Reading Plus® and Follow-Up Training once students take completed at least eight sessions in the program. The Initial Preparation covers content in five areas: 1) Why Reading Plus®?: Instructors learn how and why Reading Plus® leverages technology to provide students with effective scaffolded silent reading practice (which incorporates the essential elements of scaffolding, structure, motivation, and accountability) also as development in foundational visual perceptual skills that are essential for efficient and effective silent reading. 2) Pupil Experience: Instructors acquire nigh the component programs of Reading Plus® and what their students volition experience from the first time they log in. During the face-to-face training, participants engage in a hands-on mock student session. iii) Getting Started: Instructors learn virtually their Reading Plus® instructor direction interface. They learn how to navigate through the interface, how to read the student data. Teachers are taught what they can do to assist students who are not achieving ongoing success with the program. During the face-to-face grooming, participants get easily-on experience with the instructor direction interface. 4) Motivation: Instructors learn well-nigh the motivation tools built into the Reading Plus® system and what they can practise to create a fun and engaging classroom environment for Reading Plus®. 5) Accessing Help: Instructors are told how to access live support via phone, email, or live webinar throughout their Reading Plus implementation. In addition, they receive a bout of the comprehensive Reading Plus® Assistance Site and all of the resources it provides. The Follow-Upwards Grooming enables participants to clarify detailed data and introduces them to the class-level and educatee-level reports that help them judge the growth students are making inside Reading Plus®. They learn about the best report(s) to access for varied purposes, including the best student reports to pull as they expect for specific information regarding a student'due south response to the intervention. Instructors also learn how to analyze the data to determine how they tin can adjust the program to best serve specific student needs.

Reading Plus® delivers training materials in print and online formats. The basic principles of production function and usage are captured in printed materials. In 2008, Reading Plus® revised its Research & Reports Binder training materials to align with the release of v3.6 of the product. The training materials included new and revised information for administrators, pb teachers, and individual instructors on the utilize and functionality of the product. Post-obit extensive in-house review of these training materials, a small-calibration live beta test of preparation materials binders was conducted in June 2008 past Computer Generation in Arizona schools. A second beta was conducted in June-August 2008 by Educational Learning Systems in schools in northern Florida. In August 2008, a full-scale alive test of training materials was conducted by Educational Endeavors in a wide range of Miami-Dade County Schools. In addition, Reading Plus® delivers extensive online training and support to instructors and students bachelor on need. Online materials include a library of resources, training movies, and webinars (alive and recorded) to provide education and assistance that ensure optimal results with the program. Online resource are monitored constantly and evolve to come across the continually changing needs of 21st century educators. Reading Plus® has learned what structure and sequence of training materials works best by listening to the feedback and suggestions of the tens of thousands of teachers who have tested these materials in classrooms and reading labs across the country. Both print and online materials are supported by a squad of implementation and preparation specialists who ensure that Reading Plus® resources are optimized for ease-of-use, vetted for accuracy and relevance, and modified, as needed, to arrange irresolute needs of professional development.

Access to Technical Support:
We provide ongoing support to Reading Plus® instructors. A Reading Plus® staff member is defended to each Reading Plus® site; this person serves to provide individualized support to the site for the duration of their implementation. Support includes checking in via email or phone between ane to four times per month to provide relevant and timely tips and to remind users that Reading Plus® staff are bachelor to answer questions, appoint in data chats, or provide additional training.

Administration

Recommended Administration Formats Include:
  • Individual students
Minimum Number of Minutes Per Session:
45
Minimum Number of Sessions Per Calendar week:
4
Minimum Number of Weeks:
sixteen
Detailed Implementation Transmission or Instructions Bachelor:
Yes