Characteristics of Students with Persistent Intensive Needs in Reading Comprehension and the Impact of Response Criteria

Abstract

Data from a randomized control trial of a multi-component intensive reading intervention were analyzed to determine the proportion of students nonresponsive to intervention and to identify predictors of nonresponse. Participants included 216 first-grade students identified as at-risk for reading difficulties. Response to intervention was operationalized by two methods: normalized final status and reliable change index (RCI). Nonresponsive students were separated into two theoretically-guided subgroups: (a) those with difficulties in both decoding and comprehension and (b) those with difficulties in comprehension only. Domain-general cognitive and language and literacy constructs were investigated as predictors of nonresponse. Results showed that the two response criteria identified largely different students as nonresponsive. Further, the predictors of nonresponse varied by response criteria. Implications for use of final status and growth response criteria are discussed as well as the relations of various domain-general cognitive and language/literacy constructs to intervention nonresponse.