Taylor Associates Communications Inc — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase I: NICHD

Description

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant The goal of this project is to increase reading motivation engagement and proficiency in struggling readers Literacy is essential to academic success responsible citizenship and optimal health through the lifespan Research has shown that the motivation to read in the early grades is a significant predictor of later literacy outcoms an effect largely mediated by the amount of reading a student actually does Structured silent reading practice using the web based Reading Plus r program has been shown to increase studentsandapos ability to comprehend more complex texts and is associated with significant gains on state and third party reading assessments Yet many students lack reading motivation and devote little effort to developing their reading proficiency To address this issue instructional strategies were examined that have been shown to improve reading motivation engagement and achievement in the classroom Here it is proposed to adapt and incorporate these proven instructional strategies into a andquot motivationally adaptiveandquot version of the Reading Plus program and to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach In Phase I of this project a prototype of the motivationally adaptive program will be developed that includes a a item on line motivation inventory measuring four affirming motivations b a performance based measure of behavioral and cognitive engagement time on task persistence and effort as shown by performance reliability and advancement and c adaptive program logic that will enable performance on these inventories to control the instructional environment e g difficulty trajectory pace contnt selections scaffolds explicit instruction on strategies and relevance feedback and achievement awards Measures of reading motivation and engagement will then be used to automatically differentiate and optimize instruction for individual students during a ten week randomized experiment involving students in grades six and seven Significant treatment effects standard versus adaptive program on program engagement motivation and or growth in reading achievement will confirm a positive effect of motivationally adaptive Reading Plus instruction Given favorable results the prototype will be expanded in Phase II to include a structured interview component for chronicling independent reading activity and an educator interface component that documents each studentandapos s motivational status engagement reading performance and independent reading behaviors The adaptive version of Reading Plus silent reading program will be made commercially available in Phase III PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE Reading skills are essential to school success responsible citizenship and optimal health through the lifespan Structured silent reading practice using the web based Reading Plus r program has been shown to increase studentsandapos reading proficiency but not all students are motivated to use the program enough to benefit In this project a new version of the program will be tested that is designed to increase reading motivation and engagement