READS Lab

This study shows how item response theory can be used to estimate causal effects on psychological network structure, revealing intervention impacts on how skills or symptoms are interconnected beyond average score changes.

This study shows that sustaining a content literacy intervention from first to second grade improves reading comprehension by building knowledge schemas that enable students to transfer learning to new, content-rich texts.

This study shows that a short, first-grade content literacy intervention can significantly strengthen science knowledge and reading comprehension without harming foundational literacy skills or engagement.

This study shows that sustained content literacy instruction improves second-grade reading comprehension primarily by building interconnected networks of domain-specific vocabulary over time.

This study shows that a SMART-designed, adaptive K–2 literacy intervention can improve reading outcomes—especially for nonresponders—when personalized print texts and apps are paired with targeted parent text-message supports.

This meta-analysis shows that educational apps can meaningfully improve early literacy and math—especially for preschoolers and constrained skills—but their effectiveness varies widely based on age, skill type, and outcome measurement.

This study shows that parental text messaging is most effective when messages are personalized and thoughtfully framed, with certain combinations of message content producing stronger gains in student reading than others.

This study shows that modeling item-level heterogeneous treatment effects with the Explanatory Item Response Model can reveal meaningful intervention impacts on specific assessment items that are hidden by average test-score analyses.

This study shows how combining human scoring with automated text analysis can deepen understanding of writing intervention impacts by revealing the linguistic and cognitive mechanisms behind improved student writing.

This study shows that families engage with educational technology in distinct ways—and that multilingual, two-way text messaging is especially effective for supporting equitable family engagement in linguistically diverse communities.

This study shows that modeling item parameter drift with the Explanatory Item Response Model reveals durable transfer effects of a content literacy intervention, with especially strong and persistent gains on untaught vocabulary words.

This study shows that adding structured supplements to a single read-aloud lesson significantly improves third graders’ domain-specific reading comprehension by increasing teachers’ use of academic vocabulary and schema-building dialogue.

This large-scale replication study confirms that the MORE content literacy intervention substantially improves elementary students’ science and social studies vocabulary and argumentative writing, with vocabulary growth serving as a key mechanism for

This study shows that supporting teachers to make structured, asset-based adaptations within an evidence-based literacy intervention improves student engagement and science reading outcomes in online learning environments.

This study shows that a Tier 1 content literacy intervention significantly improves early-grade English learners’ argumentative writing and supports reading development through gains in academic vocabulary and oral language proficiency.

This study shows that a sustained, spiraled content literacy curriculum from Grades 1–3 produces lasting gains in reading, science comprehension, and mathematics that persist through Grade 4.

This meta-analysis found that educational apps can improve early literacy and math, especially for young children practicing specific foundational skills, but results vary widely by app design and study quality.

This study shows that using topic-connected, rigorous texts and pairing digital gamification with family text reminders can enhance young students’ summer reading engagement and achievement.

This study found that personalized, well-framed text messages improve student reading and family engagement, while generic messages can reduce their effectiveness.

This study reveals that analyzing item-level data uncovers how MORE strengthens students’ ability to transfer learning across subjects, even when overall test scores appear similar.