California Students Receiving Visualizing and Verbalizing Instruction Outperform Comparison Students in Comprehension

California, Comprehension, Elementary School Results, Visualizing and Verbalizing

Long Beach School District in Long Beach, California, serves a large percentage of students who are at-risk of reading failure. During the 1993-94 school year, Long Beach implemented Lindamood-Bell® instruction to address the specific needs of this student population at one their elementary schools. Thirty-four students from one classroom received Visualizing and Verbalizing instruction to develop concept imagery for comprehension. Instruction was delivered by Long Beach teachers who received professional development in the Lindamood-Bell programs. Student gains were measured with a comprehension assessment and were compared to gains made by similar students from another classroom in the same school who did not receive Visualizing and Verbalizing instruction. All students had adequate decoding skills at pretest.

Results
On average, Visualizing and Verbalizing students achieved a significantly greater improvement (+ 16 percentile points) than comparison students (+6) on comprehension. In addition, pre- to posttest results were statistically significant for Visualizing and Verbalizing students. 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
Number of Students:
·   34 Visualizing and Verbalizing
·   35 Comparison
Grade Levels: 4th
Lindamood-Bell Programs Implemented: Visualizing and Verbalizing®
Outcome Measures: Gray Oral Reading Tests-3rd (comprehension)