Learning and education · 1 min read
No advantage for three reading programs was seen in second grade
Reading was reassessed for 2,700 children from early-childhood centers randomly assigned to three programs or none. No difference was seen in second grade.
The study, in plain language
SPELL tested language and reading programs in early-childhood centers: 144 centers, with 7,076 children and 561 teachers, were randomly assigned to three programs or a comparison group. Later, when children who were four or five at the start reached second grade, the team measured their reading again to see whether differences persisted.
In the main comparison, second-grade reading tests showed no detectable difference between the programs and the comparison group. Some subgroup and secondary-outcome differences did not change that conclusion. And not seeing a difference later does not prove there were no earlier results.
The key idea
Second-grade reading tests showed no difference between the programs and the comparison group, which does not rule out initial effects.
Something to think about
Not seeing something later does not prove it did not help earlier. What would you expect to see at school from what a child practiced at an early-childhood center?
The original study
Sustained effects of an early childhood language and literacy intervention through second grade: Longitudinal findings of the SPELL trial in Denmark
Source under CC BY 4.0. English adaptation and explanation by PaperFlow, with AI assistance. The text has been reorganized for a general audience; it is not the complete paper and does not imply endorsement by its authors.
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