Thoni Houtveen

Improving reading achievements of struggling learners

In The Netherlands, the percentage of struggling readers in the 1st year of formal reading instruction is about 25%. This problem inspired us to develop the Reading Acceleration Programme. To evaluate the effectiveness of this programme, a quasi-experiment is carried out. The teachers in the experimental group have been trained to improve their core instruction, to broaden their instruction for struggling learners, and to implement special measures for pupils who do not respond sufficiently to these interventions. A significant difference was found on the post-tests for measuring reading of single words and reading whole sentences, after correcting for pre-test, age, intelligence, socioeconomic status, and ethnic minority. Furthermore, the programme turned out to reduce the percentage of struggling readers in the experimental group from over 28% to less than 6%. In the follow-up study, the overall effects remained to a moderate degree.

Reading Instruction for Struggling Learners

A survey conducted among approximately 1,400 students at 63 primary schools showed that learning gains for initial reading varied significantly for students in the last 6 months of Year 3. Learning gains turned out to be much higher in classes where students had received explicit or direct instruction, where instruction had been organized efficiently, and where appropriate remedial measures for poorly performing students had been arranged in a timely manner. Learning gains turned out to be lower in classes where teachers worked with homogeneous level groups or with individual learning plans for students.

Improving Underperforming Schools

In response to an evaluation conducted by the Netherlands Inspectorate of Education of the nations elementary schools, the Institute for Educational Development and Advice (Christelijk Pedagogisch Studiecentrum, CPS) undertook a 3-year intervention to revitalize 5 schools experiencing problems with student achievement, curriculum, teaching–learning processes, and/or school organization. The target for these 5 schools was to reach the same level of student achievement in Dutch and mathematics of schools with comparable student populations. The program emphasized professional development for both school management and teachers. Teachers participated in 30 training sessions with an emphasis on quality of teaching, classroom management, school curriculum, teaching materials, and effective strategies for accommodating differences between students and struggling learners. Interventions in the curriculum were made on the basis of interpretation of standardized test scores. In the 2nd year of the program, school management personnel were trained to take over the role of the CPS consultants. The 3rd year emphasized consolidation and incorporation of goals. At the end of the project, 2 schools had reached the projects target; 2 others had implemented most of the program and improved student achievement but had not reached the target. The last school had only partially implemented the program, and average student achievements were still far below the expected level.