National Center for the Study for the Study of Supported Text in Electronic Learning Environments

Subgrant #223071E EXHIBIT A: STATEMENT OF WORK UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY RESEARCH FOUNDATION ETEXT USAGE STUDY - PHASE I Component Study - Impact of Electronic Text with Speech, Definitions, and Images on Comprehension and Vocabulary Procedure: Through a series of studies, evaluate the impact of: 1) digital text with electronic read aloud, and 2) digital text with definitions on reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition. Number of Schools/Students: Conduct studies in approximately 5 middle schools which have evidence of frequent use of Read & Write Gold (RWG) to support access to the general curriculum. A total of 100 students (approximately 20 students per school) with mild disabilities (e.g., learning disabilities, mild cognitive disabilities) will be recruited. Within those schools, fifty students will be randomly assigned to experimental groups, and 50 students will be assigned to control groups for each study. Process Steps: 1. Identify and contact 5 representative schools for conducting studies 2. Obtain University IRS approval for studies 3. Obtain district/school permission, parent consent and student assent for participation in the studies 4. Create study materials (e.g., reading passages, definitions, vocabulary measures, comprehension measures for each study) 5. Create checklist of RWG skills as a prerequisite for student participation 6. Collect student baseline data (e.g., demographics, previous reading measures) 7. Determine technology specifications for electronic delivery of reading passages and means for recording student responses 8. Schedule and conduct studies in the schools 9. Report results (e.g., student responses, observation data, etc.) 10. Attend meeting as needed at OSEP to report results of Phase I component studies Timeline: January 1, 2007 - August 31, 2007