Reading Intervention, Academic and Behavioral Outcomes for Adolescents: A Community Agency and University Partnership Project

• NCJ Number: 254457
• Date Published: September 2019
• Author(s): Janay B. Sander, Ruth E. Jones
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Grant Report
• Award: Reading Intervention, Academic and Behavioral Outcomes for Adolescents: A Community Agency and University Partnership Project

Annotation

This report summarizes findings of a randomized control trial study of evidence-based reading interventions for adolescents placed by a court in a residential treatment facility due to mental health needs.

Abstract

A total of 28 individuals were enrolled in the program, and 25 individuals agreed to be a control group who were invited but chose not to participate in the program. The intervention group participated in “Peer Assisted Learning Strategies” (PALS; Fuchs & Fuchs, 1998, combined with “SRA Corrective Reading” (Engelmann et al., 1999) 3 days a week in 1-hour sessions. The interventions were implemented by undergraduate students enrolled in the service-learning course through the investigators’ university. The evaluation determined that the intervention was effective in improving reading skills measured 4 months after individuals completed the reading program. There were no changes in social-emotional measures at the 4-month follow-up. High attrition of participants during the follow-up period limited conclusions about long-term benefits of the reading intervention. Given the low risk of harm from a reading intervention, facilities are encouraged to adopt these long-standing evidence-based interventions and seek partnerships with researchers in conducting academic interventions to facilitate additional evidence-based interventions. 3 figures and 8 references