EFFECT OF LANGUAGE! LIVE CURRICULUM ON U.S. MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS’ LEXILE SCORES BASED ON GRADE LEVEL AND DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION

The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the effect of the Language Live! reading intervention on reading comprehension (Lexile level) in a sample of middle school students from the United States (N = 133) who were deemed ineffective readers. Students were either in the Strategic Group (i.e., reading comprehension below one grade level, n = 71) or the Intensive Group (i.e., reading comprehension below two grade levels, n = 62). Due to the severity of their reading difficulties, students in each group received a different reading curriculum. The grade x treatment type interaction was not significant. Nevertheless, the treatment type main effect suggested that students in the Strategic Group outperformed students in the Intensive Group regarding Lexile level proficiency, and the grade level main effect showed that the lowest Lexile level was evident in 6th grade while the highest was among 8th grade. Findings indicated the utility of the Language Live! educational intervention for struggling readers.