1/21/2021

Bolstering Middle School Students' Component Reading Skills: An Evaluation of Lexia® PowerUp Literacy® Blended Learning Program

PURPOSE: Many middle school students who struggle in reading have difficulty mastering basic reading/language skills such as word identification and syntactic processing. The students need to engage in learning activities designed to strengthen these skills. This study examined the impact of using Lexia® PowerUp Literacy® to build these reading skills.

METHOD: In this experimental study, classes of middle school students were randomly assigned to use PowerUp or serve as control classes in which an alternative reading program was used. Tests of reading fluency were administered to assess the effects of using PowerUp on students’ reading skills.

KEY FINDINGS

• Students who used PowerUp significantly outgained control students on a reading fluency test, which assessed word identification, syntactic processing, and basic reading comprehension skills.
• The difference in gains scores between PowerUp and control students on the reading fluency test was associated with a large effect size of 0.69.
• English Learners and non-English Learners who used PowerUp showed comparable gains on the reading fluency test, indicating the program was effective for both groups of students.