The latest reports from the federal What Works Clearinghouse give favorable ratings to the evidence supporting two computer-based reading programs used to supplement classroom reading instruction.
The federal analysts based their review of Pearson’s SuccessMaker program on three studies involving 450 students between the ages of 9 and 16. They concluded that the program, which adapts instruction to students’ abilities, produces “potentially positive” effects on students’ comprehension and general literacy skills.
The clearinghouse’s review of Lexia Reading, which is marketed by Lexia Learning of Concord, Mass., draws on data from two studies involving 314 students in kindergarten and 1st grade. It rates the program’s effects as “potentially positive” for comprehension and alphabetics but finds that the program has “no discernible effects”on general reading achievement. The evidence also turns up no effects for either program on reading fluency.
