Child's Reading Success Based on Individual Instruction Early On

A little instruction never hurt anyone, and that's certainly true when it comes to the reading success of your child.

According to the Association for Psychological Science, students who consistently receive individualized reading instruction from first through third grade become better readers than those who receive little or no instruction during that time.

These findings are based on a three-year study that followed several hundred Floridian students who received varying amounts of individualized instruction from first to third grade.

 "Our results show that children need sustained, effective instruction from first through third grade if they are going to become proficient readers," said psychological scientist Carol McDonald Connor of Arizona State University, via a press release, who led the research team.

Teachers involved in the study used Assessment-to-instruction ( (A2i) software to make informed decisions involving how to specifically tailor reading instructions to meet the needs of every student. Algorithms recommended specific amounts and types of reading to follow and meet the needs of each student, along with data from the study that showed who received individualized student instruction in all three grades. Students who had been receiving instruction throughout all three years showed highest achievement by third grade.

 "Another way to think about this is that 94 percent of the students in ISI classrooms from first through third grade were reading proficiently, compared to only 78 percent of the children who didn't participate all three years," Connor said, according to a press release.

In fact, students who were in ISI classrooms for all three years often achieved reading skills that were well above grade level expectations by the end of third grade, when measured by nationally-normed reading achievement tests.

Researchers also believe this data could be particularly promising for the improvement of reading scores for children in economically and ethnically diverse school districts.

The findings for the study can be found in the journal Psychological Science.