Providing Reading Interventions to Struggling Readers in Grades 1–3: What Does High Quality Intervention Research Tell Us? - A Policy Brief

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Damian

This policy brief synthesizes evidence on early reading interventions for students in Grades 1–3 using a meta-analytic approach across 33 rigorous studies. It evaluates effectiveness for students struggling with learning to read and compares impacts on foundational reading skills versus reading comprehension. It also examines moderating variables, including whether interventions are scripted, who delivers them, and whether services occur in small groups or individually. The brief concludes with specific recommendations for policy and practice, including early, explicit instruction and appropriate session and staffing structures.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Purpose and rationale

Why synthesis of rigorous studies is needed

Findings on the effectiveness of reading interventions

Recommendations for policy and practice

Method used for the meta-analysis

Comprehensive literature search

Screening and review

Meta-analysis approach

Providing Reading Interventions to Struggling Readers in Grades 1–3: What Does High Quality Intervention Research Tell Us? A Policy Brief 2018 Rebecca Newman-Gonchar Kelly Haymond Russell Gersten Joseph Dimino Madhavi Jayanthi Instructional Research Group Copyright © 2018 Instructional Research Group. Not for reproduction, distribution, or use without permission from Instructional Research Group. Preferred citation is: Newman-Gonchar, R., Haymond, K., Gersten, R., Dimino, J., & Jayanthi, M. (2018). Providing reading interventions to struggling readers in grades 1–3: What does high-quality intervention research tell us? A policy brief. Los Alamitos, CA: Instructional Research Group. To download a copy of this document, [visit](visit www.inresg.org)[ ](visit www.inresg.org)[www.inresg.org](visit www.inresg.org). Providing Reading Interventions to Struggling Readers in Grades 1–3: What Does High Quality Intervention Research Tell Us? A Policy Brief The purpose of this brief is to present an overall picture of how well early reading interventions are working for students in Grades 1–3. Using a meta-analytic approach, this paper combines findings from several studies to determine the effectiveness of early reading interventions for students who are struggling with learning to read. Why is a synthesis of rigorous studies on reading interventions needed? Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS), also known as Response to Intervention (RtI), are used routinely in American elementary schools. Federal legislation requires that schools use evidencebased practices to help students who are at risk for reading difficulties or disabilities.1 While No Child Left Behind Act of 20012 allowed for any intervention that used principles derived from the scientific research on reading, the Every Student Succeeds Act of 20153 explicitly calls for schools to use evidence-based interventions. Unfortunately, the negative results of a recent national evaluation of early reading interventions left schools with significant questions about whether the evidence-based practices they are using are actually working.4 School and district administrators who make decisions about which reading interventions to adopt are in a difficult position—on the one hand, they are required to adopt interventions that include practices that have been found to be effective, and yet, these very practices were recently studied and found to have little impact on students’ reading performance. Given the widespread adoption of MTSS in reading and the unsettling finding from the national evaluation, school and district administrators need help unpacking the body of research relevant to MTSS in reading. This brief summarizes the findings from several studies to help educational decision-makers make informed decisions. What does 15 years of contemporary research tell us about the effectiveness of reading interventions? The findings from this meta-analysis of 33 rigorous high-quality studies indicate that reading interventions in general are effective for students in Grades 1 to 3, and they benefit students more in foundational reading skills than in reading comprehension. Because so many interventions are similar, and virtually all are effective in word reading, there is a decent array to choose from. Common features are explicit instruction, modeling, feedback, and interactive small-group instruction. The findings also indicate that students ’ reading performance may be impacted by some variables such as whether the interventions are scripted or not, who provides the intervention, and whether the student receives the intervention in a small group or individually. These findings provide some direction to LEA’s and SEA’s on what to consider when providing reading intervention to their struggling students. Recommendations for Policy and Practice 1. Intervene early and provide explicit instruction in reading to students who are struggling wi

FAQs

What is the main purpose of this policy brief?

To present an overall picture of how well early reading interventions are working for students in Grades 1–3, using a meta-analytic synthesis of multiple studies.

What do the results indicate about which reading outcomes improve most?

Reading interventions are effective in general for Grades 1–3, with greater benefits in foundational reading skills than in reading comprehension.

How does the brief recommend designing interventions in Grades 1–3?

Intervene early with explicit instruction, provide at least three 20-minute sessions per week for at least 8 weeks, and choose interventions that include vocabulary, comprehension and listening/oral language supports, plus decoding and fluency activities.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Damian