A meta-analysis conducted by our Best Evidence in Brief (BEiB) colleagues José Luis Arco-Tirado, Amanda Neitzel, and the late Bob Slavin, examined the effects of Spanish reading interventions for students in grades K–6. The review, published in Review of Educational Research, included studies focused on class- or school-based interventions aimed at improving reading skills among students whose first language was Spanish. The analysis included only high-quality studies that met rigorous criteria, such as the use of experimental or quasi-experimental designs and quantitative standardized measures of reading achievement.
The final best-evidence synthesis and meta-analysis was based on 11 studies with 51 effect sizes. Overall, Spanish reading interventions showed a significant average effect size of +0.49 on reading performance. While results varied considerably, the researchers explored grade level and outcome type as potential moderators of the effect. However, due to the small number of studies, no significant differences were found between grades K–2 and 3–6 or across the five categories of outcome type.
The authors concluded, on one hand, that some effective interventions for improving Spanish reading comprehension are available to help readers in K–6 education. On the other hand, more rigorous evaluation studies have to be implemented to expand the pool of proven reading practices available for teachers and educators in Spanish-speaking countries.
Source (Open Access): Arco-Tirado, J. L., Fernández-Martín, F. D., Hervás-Torres, M., Jiménez-Fernández, G., Calet, N., Defior, S., Neitzel, A. J., & Slavin, R. E. (2024). A Best-Evidence Synthesis and Meta-analysis on Effective Reading Programs in Spanish. Review of Educational Research, 00346543241297668. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543241297668