The impact of evidence-based practices on the oral reading fluency of low-socioeconomic-status elementary students

A student's economic status can have a significant impact on reading achievement. Students classified as low-socioeconomic-status (low-SES) have been traditionally at risk for reading failure. With the passage of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) schools are required to use strategies and practices that have evidence supporting their effectiveness in promoting student achievement. NCLB has also created a focus on the implementation of the Response to Intervention (RtI) delivery model. The RtI delivery model is a three-tiered model that provides evidence-based interventions to students at varying levels of need.;The impact of evidence-based practices found within the RtI delivery model on the DIBELS oral reading fluency scores of low-SES students in first, second, and third grade was examined in this study. A repeated measures factorial ANOVA was used to determine if there was a significant difference between RtI and non-RtI schools.;The results of this study indicated a significant difference in the magnitude of effect in first grade and second grade for low-SES students in schools using the RtI delivery model compared to those not using the RtI delivery model but there was not a significant difference in the third grade oral reading fluency scores between the RtI schools and non-RtI schools. Given these findings schools should implement the critical evidence-based practices found within the RtI delivery model. These critical practices include a multi-tiered system to support students who display academic difficulties in reading, time built into the schedule to support struggling readers in addition to the time allocated for core reading instruction, and a formal mechanism to ensure that core reading instruction is being delivered in the way it was intended.;This study focused solely on the DIBELS oral reading fluency scores of low-SES students during the 2009-2010 school year. Future research should examine the long-term effectiveness of providing evidence-based practices in reading for low-SES students. Future research should also focus on the achievement gap that exists between low-SES students and their peers who are not low-SES to see if the gap is closing through the implementation of evidence-based practices found within the RtI delivery model.