Fort Smith Public Schools – Comprehension Summary

Arkansas, Comprehension, Elementary School Results, Reading, RtI, State Dyslexia Mandate, Tier 3, Visualizing and Verbalizing

Fort Smith Public Schools in Fort Smith, Arkansas, serves a large percentage of students at risk of reading failure. During the 2017-18 school year, Fort Smith Public Schools implemented Lindamood-Bell® instruction to address this student population’s specific needs. To develop concept imagery for comprehension and higher-order thinking, 16 students received an average of 50 hours of Visualizing & Verbalizing® small-group, intensive instruction. The instruction was delivered by Fort Smith Public Schools teachers who received professional development in the program authored by Lindamood-Bell’s founders. A battery of nationally normed reading assessments measured student gains.

RESULTS

Visualizing & Verbalizing® students achieved statistically significant and large standard score improvements in Oral Directions and Reading Comprehension. The results of this study illustrate that Lindamood-Bell® instruction in the Visualizing & Verbalizing® program leads to improved comprehension, which is essential to achieving success with school curricula.

PROFILE: Language Comprehension

Number of Students: 16
Average Age: 9.8
Average Hours of Instruction: 50.4
Programs Implemented: Visualizing and Verbalizing

Outcome Measures:
• Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-4th
• Detroit Tests of Learning Aptitude-2nd (oral directions)
• Gray Oral Reading Tests-4th (comprehension)