8/11/2020

Lexia® Core5® Reading Enhances Reading Growth in Students With Disabilities

PURPOSE: In 2019, about one of seven elementary school students in the U.S. received special education services. Only 12% of these students met reading proficiency criteria, and they were 3x less likely to graduate high school than their peers. Intervening and providing these students with high-quality reading instruction is of utmost importance. This study examined whether use of Lexia® Core® Reading can help advance the literacy skills of students with reading and language-based disabilities.

METHOD: In this experimental study, three elementary schools were randomly assigned to use Core5 during their supplemental reading instruction, and two schools served as a control group delivering supplemental reading instruction without Core5. A standardized reading test was given as a pretest and posttest to assess the benefits of using Core5 in the treatment schools.

KEY FINDINGS

• Students who used Core5 earned significantly higher scores than control students on a standardized reading test.
• Core5 students scored about 8 percentile points higher than control students on the reading test.
• Core5 students were twice as likely as control students to be proficient readers at the end of the year.
• The effect size in this study was 0.23, which is 64% higher than the average effect size found in studies of reading interventions for students with learning disabilities.