Year-Long Balanced Reading/Writing Tutorial: A Design Experiment Used for Dynamic Assessment

Abstract

Sixteen children referred for severe reading problems in first grade participated in a year-long individual tutorial. The tutorial, which was designed to bring children up to expected level based on ability and grade in reading and writing, lasted from the end of first grade to the end of second grade. Growth curve analyses for the group on measures of orthographic and phonological coding, word identification of real words, word attack of pseudowords, reading comprehension, letter automaticity, and spelling showed that gains were significantly greater than chance. Growth curves for the group were marginally significant for written composition. Individual subject analysis revealed that most children were treatment responders (i.e., growth significantly greater than chance) on most of the measures and all reached expected levels, based on ability or grade, on some of the measures. Results have implications for analysis of response to intervention in reading and writing as a form of dynamic assessment.