The Effect of Implementing the Orton-Gillingham Approach to Reading on the Decoding Abilities of Struggling Eighth and Tenth Grade Readers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the Orton-Gillingham approach to reading on eighth and tenth grade decoding abilities. This was a two-group quasi-experimental study that used students who were not randomly selected. Each class contained three students. The study used the results of the Woodcock Johnson Test of Achievement IV: Letter-Word Identification subtest measurement tool. Results of the statistical analysis indicated that the null hypothesis that intervention would have no effect on the students’ reading levels could not be rejected at the customary level of statistical significance. Further analysis using effect sizes, however, indicated that there was a strong treatment effect. Not rejecting the null hypothesis, therefore, was due to the small sample size rather than trivial treatment effects. If the study were replicated with larger samples, the null hypothesis would most likely be rejected at typical p-levels.