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"Digging Reading" is a comprehensive program for teaching reading comprehension strategies to third-fifth grade students. It was developed in part with a $600,000 grant from the Institute of Educational Sciences and is research based.The program includes both teacher materials and student materials and teaches nine crucial reading comprehension strategies using authentic texts. These strategies are taught in five three-week units throughout the school year. The instruction includes direct explanation by the teacher, collaborative small group work, individual work, and special emphasis on motivation and transfer.The research consisted of a year-long field test of the product in 17 diverse classroom settings with a total of 438 students. An additional 17 classrooms and 427 students were included in the study as controls. Pre and post tests, tests at the end of each module, classroom observations, interviews and standardized test scores were used to determine the efficacy of the intervention.
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“Digging Reading”Research on Teaching Reading
Comprehension StrategiesBy
Gregory C. Sales, Ph.D.
President and CEO
SBIR Funded: The Digging Reading project is supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S.
Department of Education, through Grant #R305S050072. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily
represent the views of the U.S. Department of Education or the Institute of Education Sciences.
The Small Business Innovation
Research program funds research
and development projects that
propose a sound approach to the
investigation of important education or
assistive technology, science, or
engineering questions.
SBIR
Project Activities
• Proposal writing
• Getting buy-in
– Research participants
– Commercialization
• Materials development
• Implementation
• Research analysis and reporting
Phase I
• 6 months
• 12 lessons
• Teacher training via CD
• Implementation: 4 weeks
• Research:
– 2 treatment and 2 control
classes in 1 school
Phase 2
• 24 months
• 53 lessons
• Teacher training via DVD
• Implementation: 8 months
• Research:
– 17 treatment and 17 control
classes in 9 schools
SBIR Phases
Project Team
• Principal investigator
• Subject matter expert
• Evaluation expert
• Development team– Project manager
– Instructional designers
– Graphic artist
– Editor
– Print production
– Programmer
– Videographer
– Research Assistant
• Advisory board
Components
Digging Reading - a 13-week curriculum
supplement. It teaches nine crucial reading
comprehension strategies to 4th and 5th
graders. The program uses a unique and
effective approach that helps students
understand, learn and remember what they
read.
Digging Reading
Implementation
Treatment N= 38 N = 347 Control N=334
Percent Post-test Score (SD) Percent Post-test Score (SD)
SexMale 50.6 25.20 (5.09) 50 16.86 (4.16)Female 49.4 25.99 (5.06) 50 17.85 (4.04)
RaceAfrican American 14.3 23.34 (5.63) 17.4 15.75 (4.63)American Indian 0.6 19.75 (8.13) 1.8 18.66 (2.66)Asian 15.3 25.76 (5.02) 11.1 14.70 (3.92)Hispanic 8.2 22.09 (5.42) 6.9 17.56 (3.84)White 59.6 26.57 (4.55) 59.9 18.46 (3.56)Other 1.7 27.37 (0.85) 3 13.10 (4.41)
English LanguageLearning English 26.1 24.57 (5.41) 18 15.31 (4.20)Native Speakers 73.9 25.96 (4.93) 82 17.80 (3.99)
Percent and Post-Test Scores by Demographic Groups for Treatment and Control
Demographic Data
Instruments
Students• State Level Standardized Test,
April 2006
• Digging Reading Pre-test
• Weekly Quizzes
• Unit Tests
• Post Test – Part 1, Multiple Choice
• Post Test – Part 2, Free Response
• Student Survey
• State Level Standardized Test,
April 2007
Teachers • Teacher Pre-Survey
• Teacher Training and
Resource DVD Pre-Test
• Teacher Training and
Resource DVD Post-Test
• Control Teacher Post-Survey
• Digging Reading (Treatment)
Teacher Post-Survey
• Teacher Knowledge Test on
Reading Comprehension
Data Analysis
• All Seward designed assessments were hand scored and entered into a
database.
• Item analysis was performed on all assessments to improve them for future
use.
• Internal reliabilities were calculated for assessments.
• Mean scores on pre- and post assessments were compared between
treatment and control group.
• Data was also analyzed by each of the 9 reading comprehension strategies.
• Scores from state assessments were also entered in the database and
correlated with Seward designed assessments.
• Survey data from students and teachers was entered into a data base.
Descriptive statistics were calculated for each item.
• Hierarchical Linear Modeling was performed to group data within classrooms.
HLM (Part 1)
HLM (Part 2)
Research Findings Students• There was no significant different
between treatment and control groups on
the pre-test.
• Students who completed the Digging
Reading Curriculum did significantly
better on both post-tests.
• Treatment students also had higher gain
scores than control students.
• When data was analyzed by strategy,
treatment students did significantly better
on every strategy.
• Students indicated they had learned the
reading comprehension strategies on the
survey.
• Student surveys showed students
enjoyed the curriculum and what areas
could be improved.
Teachers• Teacher in the treatment group did
significantly better than their peers in
the control group on the teacher
knowledge test.
• Surveys provided valuable evaluation
data for improving the curriculum.
• There was no significant change in
teacher attitudes about reading
comprehension from pre- to post
survey in either group. Most teachers
had positive attitudes to begin with and
they stayed positive.
Digging Reading is a reading comprehension
supplement. It includes a DVD for increasing
teacher preparedness and support. It also
provides all of materials needed for classroom
use.
Digging Reading is an effective classroom tool for
increasing students’ reading comprehension
through systematic instruction on and use of
critical reading strategies.
Summary
