Abstract
The purpose of this pilot study was to determine if students who participated in a modified, Orton-Gillingham-Stillman-influenced, reading intervention program would make greater gains in their reading abilities than students who participated in the existing reading intervention program in the subject school. The effects of both methods were compared in the context of intervention instruction that was delivered to the control and experimental groups during a period of time that did not conflict with regular reading instruction. Services were delivered to the selected population consisting of students who were in the lowest 25% of the first grade population in reading abilities based on their performance on the Standardized Test for the Assessment of Reading [STAR] Reading Enterprise™ and STAR Early Literacy Enterprise™ assessments. The sample included first-grade students who met study criteria and were enrolled in one Southwest Florida charter elementary school. The study was a matched-group design and the control and experimental groups were comprised of comparable groups of students from the participating school. A pilot study comprised of intervention instruction was provided to groups of approximately six students, in 30-minute increments, four days per week, for 18 weeks. Data from the control and experimental groups were compared. The data were collected from pre- and post-test results of the STAR Early Literacy Enterprise™, STAR Reading Enterprise™, and oral reading fluency assessments. Personal identifiers collected included name, gender, date of birth, and attendance. Once the pre- and post-test data were merged, the names and student ID’s were removed. The data collected were not labeled with any of the above personal identifiers or labeled with a code that the researcher was able link to individually-identifiable information.