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.