12/18/2024
LETRS Training for General and Special Education Teachers in Michigan’s Reading First Schools
PURPOSE: With the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2002, it was stipulated that students with disabilities will make progress in reading. One of the assumptions consistent with the NCLB Act was that progress made by students with disabilities should be comparable to their non-disabled peers. This study aimed to assess this assumption in the context of Michigan’s Reading First (RF) initiative.
METHOD: In this two-year longitudinal study, researchers compared progress in reading for children with and without learning disabilities (LD) and/or speech-language disabilities (SLD) through Michigan’s RF initiative. Literacy instruction consisted of Lexia® LETRS® training for general and special education teachers, flexible groupings of students, and structured/explicit instruction in early reading skills. Students’ progress in reading was measured with DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency subtest and three subtests from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills—Word Analysis, Listening Comprehension, and Reading Comprehension.
KEY FINDINGS
- LETRS training through Michigan’s Reading First initiative contributed to progress in reading comprehension for students with disabilities at the same rate as for students without disabilities.
- In the areas of word analysis, oral reading fluency, and listening comprehension, however, students with disabilities did not progress as quickly as students without disabilities.
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