ERIC Number: ED539954
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Jul
Pages: 76
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
"PCI Reading Program": The Final Report of a Three Year Experimental Study in Brevard Public Schools and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Research Report
Toby, Megan; Jaciw, Andrew; Ma, Boya; Lipton, Akiko
Empirical Education Inc.
PCI Education conducted a three-year longitudinal study to determine the comparative effectiveness of the "PCI Reading Program" ("PCI") for students with severe disabilities as implemented in Florida's Brevard Public Schools and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The primary question addressed by the study is whether students whose teachers have received the "PCI Reading Program" improve their reading skills as indicated by higher Sight word and Phonological assessment scores than students whose teachers have not had exposure to the program. The study began in Phase 1 (2007-2008 school year) as a randomized control trial. In Phase 2, students in experimental control classes joined the "PCI" group, and a new set of comparisons students was recruited. In Phase 3, the small remaining sample size of students prevented researchers from being able to determine an impact on the Sight word or Phonological scores as was done in Phases 1 and 2 of the study. Instead, researchers investigated associations between student progress and years of participation in the program, while continuing to track the implementation of the program. This study provides evidence of the efficacy of the "PCI Reading Program." The significantly large impact found in the first two phases of the research study and high levels of teacher satisfaction with the program provides useful information for school districts looking for a reading program for severely disabled students. While student progress through the program is slower than initially expected by the publisher, students learn and retain the sight words explicitly taught by the program and benefit from continued years of exposure. Appended are six tables showing the two levels of: the steps completed during each lesson cycle, how the students are organized during each step, and to whom the step is usually taught by. (Contains 36 tables, 19 figures and 20 footnotes.) [Funding for this paper was provided by PCI Education.]
Descriptors: Reading Programs, Disabilities, Urban Schools, Public Schools, Longitudinal Studies, Program Evaluation, Program Effectiveness, Sight Vocabulary, Phonological Awareness, Reading Skills, Reading Tests, Scores, Reading Achievement, Achievement Gains, Sample Size, Research Design, Researchers, Participation, Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5, Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8
Empirical Education Inc. 425 Sherman Avenue Suite 210, Palo Alto, CA 94306. Tel: 650-328-1734; Fax: 650-328-1794; e-mail: contact@empiricaleducation.com; Web site: http://www.empiricaleducation.com
Publication Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education; Grade 3; Grade 4; Grade 5; Grade 6; Grade 7; Grade 8
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Empirical Education Inc.
Identifiers - Location: Florida
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A