Marianne Rice

University of Tennessee at Knoxville | UTK · Department of Theory and Practice in Teacher Education

Reading comprehension is an essential skill for academic success in K-12 settings and professional success beyond schooling. Unfortunately, approximately 33% of students fail to master this essential skill in elementary grades. Students attending high-poverty schools are at a bigger disadvantage due to high teacher turnover and lack of high-quality...

Making inferences is essential to comprehending text. Teachers can ask inferential questions, model their thinking, and teach specific strategies to support upper elementary students in making inferences while reading.

Reading comprehension instruction was identified by the National Reading Panel as an effective instructional practice to improve students' reading comprehension. Teacher professional development (PD) is essential for effective reading comprehension instruction to occur in schools. The aim of this meta‐analysis is to examine the extent to which teac...

Theoretical models of reading comprehension have consistently highlighted the importance of inference generation in the meaning-making process. Additionally, previous research has indicated that instruction in making inferences is effective at improving inference ability and general reading comprehension. In this meta-analysis, we aimed to further...

Purpose: Research on how much early phonemic awareness (PA) instruction is optimal has produced inconclusive answers. We conducted a nonlinear meta-analysis to estimate the optimal cumulative dosage of early PA instruction on PA outcomes with an associated maximum effect size in preschool through first-grade students. Method: Sixteen experimental a...

This study examined the heterogeneity in the co-developmental trajectories of reading and math performance (i. e., parallel changes in the initial scores and growth patterns) and identified the number, size and shape of the codevelopmental trajectory across elementary and middle schools. In addition, this investigation focused on how an early child...

Inferencing is an important and complex process required for successful reading comprehension. Previous research has suggested instruction in inferencing is effective at improving reading comprehension. However, varying definitions of inferencing is likely impacting how inferencing instruction is implemented in practice and inferencing ability is m...

Universal screening in reading is a common, and often required, practice in early elementary school. Computer-adaptive screening tools, such as Istation’s Indicators of Progress–Early Reading (ISIP-ER), are often chosen for this purpose in schools. In our present study, we examine the validity evidence between the ISIP-ER in kindergarten and third...

Phonemic awareness is a key building block for later reading and spelling development. Students at risk for reading difficulties may have difficulties with phonemic awareness and need additional instruction or intervention to develop these skills. This article discusses evidence-based phonemic awareness instruction and the implementation of supplem...

Purpose Researchers have developed a constellation model of decoding-related reading disabilities (RD) to improve the RD risk determination. The model’s hallmark is its inclusion of various RD indicators to determine RD risk. Classification methods such as logistic regression (LR) might be one way to determine RD risk within the constellation model...

The National Reading Panel identified phonemic awareness (PA) as one of the five components of reading and found explicit instruction effective in developing PA skills in students. In the current meta-analysis, we explored the extent to which PA instruction was effective for developing PA skills in preschool through first grade students and examine...

Recent advocacy efforts and state policies have recognized the identification and support for students with dyslexia as a critical issue for schools. Current issues related to dyslexia identification include the lack of a universal definition for dyslexia and the possible confusion created by state legislation related to dyslexia. Tackling these is...

Dyslexia, a specific reading disability, is a common (up to 10% of children) and highly heritable (~70%) neurodevelopmental disorder. Behavioral and molecular genetic approaches are aimed towards dissecting its significant genetic component. In the proposed review, we will summarize advances in twin and molecular genetic research from the past 20 y...

Encouraging children to read extensively has been a widely recommended approach to developing reading. The National Reading Panel (NRP, 2000) published a review study reporting inconclusive findings regarding the benefits of such an approach. In this systematic narrative synthesis review, we provided an update and an extension of the NRP’s review....

Research on the question of creative benefit accompanying dyslexia has produced conflicting findings. In this meta-analysis we determined summary effects of mean and variance differences in creativity between groups with and without dyslexia. Twenty studies were included (n = 770 individuals with dyslexia, n = 1,671 controls). A random-effects robu...