Subjects
Seventy-five children were randomly assigned to three second grade
classes. Twenty-four of those children had been in a first-grade class
where STS/VP was used as an adjunct to literacy instruction. The other
children were not exposed to STS/VP use. All three classes used the same
literacy curriculum in first grade. The second-grade literacy program
was standardized across the three classes. Two students had moved away
from the attendance area. All students were identified by a number,
which is randomly assigned to children in the school district. This
number is used as long as the child is within the district.
Approval for this project was secured from the St. Ambrose University
IRB. This was transmitted in an email from Carol DeVolder, IRB Chair, on
August 23, 2014. Information letters were sent to the parents of all the
children assigned to the three second grades. This explained the project
and asked for their assent to access their student’s district-wide
assessment results. Access would follow the three- times-per year
assessments administered to all students. Parents were assured that no
child would be identified by name, and all data would be grouped. They
were also assured that nonparticipation would have no bearing on their
child’s literacy program.
Fifty-one parents returned signed assent forms allowing access to their
child’s assessment data. Seventeen of the children had been in the
first-grade class which used STS/VP. These would be designated the
experimental group. The other thirty-three had been in other first grade
classes and would be the control group. These numbers were in keeping
with the 1:2 ratio of children exposed to STS/VP in first grade and
those who were not.