Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies with Reading Differentiation
For more information about this project, please contact Sophie Weich.
Elementary school reading programs are designed to meet the diverse needs of young learners, ensuring each student receives the support and challenge necessary to develop their reading skills effectively.
AIR, along with partners at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, is studying Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies with Reading Differentiation (PALS-RD), a program that includes original components from Vanderbilt PALS as well as a newly developed differentiation component focused on enhancing students’ language skills to support post-pandemic learning acceleration. This new differentiation component relies on Vanderbilt’s progress-monitoring maze system with an updated tool to support instructional decision making.
The project includes:
- A pilot study to understand how teachers use PALS-RD;
- A randomized controlled trial to assess the promise of PALS-RD; and
- Scaling activities that include market analyses and interviews with practitioners.
The PALS-RD project utilizes a train-the-trainer model of delivery that relies on local coaches to provide job-embedded support to PALS teachers throughout the intervention.
What is Vanderbilt PALS?
Vanderbilt PALS is a research-validated, peer-mediated reciprocal reading program where pairs of students read together using strategies that promote their reading fluency, summarization, and prediction skills. There are four PALS strategies: Partner Reading, Retell, Paragraph Shrinking, and Prediction Relay.
Teachers train students to use the PALS strategies, and following training, teachers implement PALS three times a week for 16 to 18 weeks.
During this time, pairs of students read together using strategies that promote their reading fluency, summarization, and prediction skills. All students in a PALS classroom are paired and work together—taking turns being the reader and coach—on reading activities intended to improve reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension.
How is PALS-RD Differentiated?
Whereas PALS is differentiated by its peer-mediated decentralized nature and permits students to read text at different levels and using different levels of support, PALS-RD permits further differentiation by means of an additional activity that relies on student progress-monitoring data. This allows teachers the opportunity to further individualize instruction.
To that end, a fifth component called Word Play is added in PALS-RD. Word Play is designed to develop students’ language and morphology skills. Partners work together to identify unknown words in their texts and use affixes to decipher the meaning of words.
In addition to the Word Play component, the PALS-RD program relies on the Vanderbilt Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) Maze system. During this 2.5-minute whole class assessment, students read a passage with every seventh word replaced with three possible choices; students select the word that restores meaning. The student’s score is the number of correct replacements, which reflects both reading fluency and comprehension. In PALS-RD, a decision tool relies on CBM Maze scores to determine which PALS-RD activities will best support each student’s learning.
Benefits of the PALS-RD Program
Vanderbilt PALS has been shown to strengthen reading fluency and reading comprehension among K-6 students, with robust effects. This is attributed to the following features:
- Targeted support for students that meet their needs.
- Scripted lessons with specific instructions for teachers on how to introduce activities and engage effectively with students.
- Paired activities that create positive peer interactions and give lower-achieving students a chance to grow.
- Simple and efficient routines that become familiar and comfortable for both teachers and students.
- Concentrated time for students to read and receive immediate feedback.
Teachers who have used PALS-RD enjoy that is leads to:
- Enhanced understanding;
- Promotion of social skills;
- Increased engagement in the classroom; and
- Increased confidence.
