How Do Young Children Understand Reading Interventions Designed to Boost Foundational Skills?

Primary-age children who do not have an Individualized Education Program (IEP), but have been identified as not meeting grade-level reading benchmarks, are often pulled multiple times a week for supplemental, small-group, reading instruction. This support, whether executed in a pull-out or push-in fashion, is an approach schools regularly employ to address potential reading issues before children are referred for special education services. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Response to Intervention (RtI) framework recommend that schools provide targeted extra help (Tier 2 instruction) to students before and/or while determining if they qualify for special education services; often a main goal of Tier 2 reading intervention programs is to catch students up as to avoid placing them on an unnecessary IEP (Billen & Allington, 2013).

Although the Tier 2 intervention programs schools implement specifically for this purpose are typically evidence-based (i.e., there is empirical evidence to suggest they support the building of foundational reading skills), rarely is there evidence suggesting such programs adequately support children’s unique reading motivation. Very few studies (e.g., Bates, D'Agostino, Gambrell, & Xu, 2016) have examined how Tier 2 reading interventions influence young readers’ general motivation to read, and no studies could be found examining young children’s motivation for doing reading within their Tier 2 reading intervention program.

My dissertation and the pilot study (Erickson, 2019) that led up to it, aimed to better understand how children were perceiving Tier 2 reading interventions, as well as how their motivation for doing reading within these programs (and potentially beyond them) was being shaped by them. In a pilot study examining the motivation-related perceptions of three boys who had recently completed the second grade, I found that two of the three boys were especially frustrated with the books provided in their summer camp guided reading intervention. Both boys relayed experiencing boredom stemming from teacher-selected books, but for different reasons. The first child became bored reading about the camp’s theme (i.e., composting with worms), and the second boy reported experiencing boredom due to the repetitive nature of the text. Both boys were reluctant to commit to participating in the camp-based intervention the following year.

I expanded upon this pilot study in my dissertation, where I looked at 14 (K-2) students’ motivation-related perceptions of their pull-out, Tier 2, reading intervention program. The intervention took place at a predominantly white, middle-class, public school and occurred during classroom reading time. Five students maintained that if given the choice, they would prefer to remain in their classroom to do reading. The majority of students (64%) reported a preference for doing reading in the intervention setting. Nearly all students in the sample appreciated getting responsive help from the reading specialist. However, all five students who reported not wanting to attend the intervention also complained about a perceived lack of autonomy within it. These students desired more control over the selection of books and/or the flow of activities. Several students also expressed concern over the difficulty of certain intervention tasks (e.g., independent reading, letter keyword sound drills).

Together, these studies suggest the importance of checking-in with students about imposed reading intervention programs designed first and foremost to promote foundational skills and achievement. There is a clear link between motivation and achievement; as such, we would be wise to maximize students’ motivation for doing reading within Tier 2 intervention programs. Children’s own understandings about what works and does not work for them specific to these interventions may prove crucial to modifying programming in ways that better support their motivation and achievement.

Bates, C. C., D'Agostino, J. V., Gambrell, L., & Xu, M. (2016). Reading Recovery: Exploring the effects on first-graders' reading motivation and achievement. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 21(1), 47-59.

Billen, M. T., & Allington, R. L. (2013). An evidenced-based approach to Response to Intervention. In D. M. Barone & M. H. Mallette (Eds.), Best practices in early literacy instruction (pp. 305-32). New York, NY: Gilford.

Erickson, J. D. (2019). Emic views of a reading intervention: A qualitative case study of motivation and engagement (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH.

Erickson, J.D. (2019). Primary readers' perceptions of a camp guided reading intervention: A qualitative case study of motivation and engagement. Reading & Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties.