Fort Smith Public Schools – Secondary Schools – General Education – Comprehension

Arkansas, Comprehension, Response to Intervention, RtI, Secondary, Tier 3, Visualizing and Verbalizing

Fort Smith Public Schools in Fort Smith, Arkansas serves a large percentage of students who are at-risk of reading failure. During the 2020-21 school year, Fort Smith junior high schools implemented Lindamood-Bell® instruction to address the specific needs of this student population. Twenty-nine students received an average of 66.7 hours of Visualizing and Verbalizing instruction to develop concept imagery for comprehension. Instruction was delivered by Fort Smith teachers who received professional development in the programs developed by Lindamood-Bell’s founders. Student gains were measured with the Gray Oral Reading Test-4th Edition.

RESULTS:
On average, Visualizing and Verbalizing students achieved significant improvements in comprehension. They made large or medium standard score changes on all measures. Additionally, the 15-point percentile increase in comprehension put these students within the normal range (25th-75th percentile). Their pre- to posttest results were statistically significant on all measures. The results of this study illustrate that Lindamood-Bell instruction in the Visualizing and Verbalizing program leads to improved comprehension, which is essential to achieving success with school curricula.

PROFILE: Secondary Schools – General Education
Number of Students: 29 Average Age: 14.6
Average Hours of Instruction: 66.7
Lindamood-Bell Programs Implemented: Visualizing and Verbalizing®
Outcome Measures:
• Gray Oral Reading Test-4th (comprehension, accuracy, fluency)