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Reaching the hard to reach: A comparison of two reading interventions with incarcerated youth.
USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications
  • Cynthia Calderone
  • Susan V. Bennett, University of South Florida St. Petersburg
  • Susan Homan
  • Robert F. Dedrick
  • Anne Chatfield
SelectedWorks Author Profiles:

Susan V. Bennett

Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2009
Disciplines
Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative study, funded by the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) through Just Read, Florida!, was to investigate the use of Tune in™ to Reading, an innovative reading intervention, with struggling adolescent readers in the juvenile justice system. One hundred and three students who exhibited issues ranging from behavioral problems to substance abuse and sexual offenses, from six residential sites, participated in this study. All participants were male with 52% African American, 31% Caucasian, and 13% Hispanic. Sixty percent of the students were in grades 8 and 9 and 44% of the students were identified as students with disabilities. At each site, students were randomized to the reading intervention, Tune in™ to Reading (TIR), or to a control condition (typically FCAT Explorer). A Cloze assessment was administered to students in both treatment and control groups before and after the nine week study period. Results across the six sites were mixed with TIR showing more positive effects, compared to the control in two schools, and similar effects compared to the control condition in four schools. Larger treatment effects (TIR) compared to the control condition, were observed for certain subgroups of students, including Hispanic, African American, and students with disabilities.

Comments

Citation only. Full-text article is available through licensed access provided by the publisher. Members of the USF System may access the full-text of the article through the authenticated link provided.

Publisher
Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0
Citation Information
Calderone, C., Bennett, S. V., Homan, S., Dedrick, R. F., & Chatfield, A. (2009). Reaching the hard to reach: A comparison of two reading interventions with incarcerated youth. Middle Grades Research Journal, 4(3), 61-80.