What Recent Reviews Tell Us About the Efficacy of Reading Interventions for Struggling Readers in the Early Years of Schooling

Abstract

An analysis of large and influential published reviews of research pertaining to the reading acquisition of young struggling readers in the early years of schooling was undertaken. The reviews were selected on the basis that they either had been commissioned by federal governments or had been conducted by reputable research institutions and had been released in the past 10 years. A search of published literature pertaining to the topic found three federal reviews (from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia), a What Works Clearinghouse Report into beginning reading programmes, a review of reading interventions by Slavin et al. and a synthesis of meta-analyses by Hattie. Analysis of these reviews indicated that there are key commonalities in findings about how to teach reading to young students. Reviews of interventions revealed some flaws and therefore provide limited information useful to programme implementation and development for young struggling readers.