Purpose

How can teachers optimize reading instruction in Swedish schools? This poster presents findings from two studies investigating A) grade 1-3 teachers’ use of a forward-looking assessment and teaching system (LegiLexi) and B), its effect on student reading gains in Grade 1. The purpose of study A was to support teachers with an assessment system which included teaching recommendations for individual students and to study how that support enabled teachers to individualize instruction. The purpose of study B was to gather evidence that such support is superior in relation to “teaching as usual”.

Method

In study A, focus group meetings of eight active LegiLexi teachers were used as to answer the question of the extent teachers managed to individualize instruction in their everyday practice. In study B, we randomly assigned schools to three conditions; full access to LegiLexi (8 schools/217 students), access only to part of LegiLexi (4 schools/86 students) and control (9 schools/208 students), following estimated effects of LegiLexi across three test occasions containing reading measures.   

Results/conclusions

In study A, results revealed that teachers were supported by LegiLexi, and were able to individualize instruction primarily by creating dynamic reading groups of students. However, individualizing further proved challenging. In study B, findings revealed that the group with full access to LegiLexi improved their word decoding (d=1.79 vs 1.33 and 1.20) and reading comprehension the most (d=1.75 vs 1.45 and 1.16). Thus, the findings show promising results for Swedish schools of how to improve reading instruction by focusing on students’ individual needs.