University of Northern Iowa Laboratory School (PDF)

FINAL RESULTS OF READING PEN II RESEARCH STUDY

June 2002

Kim Miller, Elementary Special Education Teacher

I included 4th, 5th, and 6th graders in my study. There were 6 students selected from
each grade, 3 students with reading difficulties and 3 students reading at grade level
according to the classroom teacher. The students were all trained on how to use the
Reading Pen II. Then they had one week to use the Pen during their reading period.

After one week, they were tested on how well they could scan 5 pre-selected words in a
story. They had to scan 4 out of 5 correctly (80%) in 2 scans or less (they had 2 scans to
get the word). 13 out of 18 students had at least 80% or higher in scanning the words. I
retrained the 5 students that didn't pass. This took five minutes or less; most of them
weren't starting to scan the word far enough back. After the retraining, all 5 of the
students passed. 4 passed with 100% accuracy and 1 passed with 80% accuracy. They
were all included in the rest of the study.

The following are the results from the 4th-6th grade students:

4th Grade
3/3 of the students with reading difficulties did better with the Pen and errors were cut in half or more.

• The student with the learning disability did better with the Pen and retained
  6/6 of the words scanned.
• 3/3 of the students with reading difficulties had a better retention rate the
  second day after using the Pen.

5th Grade
2/3 of the students with learning disabilities did better with the Pen.

• 2 of the students with learning disabilities retained 3/4 and 5/5 of the words
  scanned.

6th Grade
1/3 of the students with reading difficulties did better with the Pen.

• The student with the learning disability did better with the Pen and retained
  4/5 of the words scanned.
• The students without reading difficulties didn't do significantly better with
  the Reading Pen II.

They did indicate in their interviews that the Pen helped them and they enjoyed using it. This study would suggest that the Reading Pen II did make a difference in the error rate of the students with reading difficulties.

• 6 out of 9 students with reading difficulties did better in oral reading accuracy
  when using the Reading Pen II.
• 5 out of 9 of the students with reading difficulties were entitled to special
  education services with a learning disability.
• 4 out of 5 of the students with learning disabilities did better in oral reading
  accuracy when using the Reading Pen II. They also retained most of the words
  they scanned one day later.

For more information on this study see: www.pls.uni.edu/miller/readingpen.html