NEWS

Scott Ardoin

Creative Research Medal 2015

Scott Ardoin, professor of educational psychology, has been a pioneer in the application of new methods for improving upon a popular reading intervention commonly referred to as repeated readings (RR). Although the procedure is recommended as a best practice by the National Reading Panel, the majority of research supporting RR demonstrates its effectiveness in helping students to read materials that they practice, rather than new, unpracticed material. Concerned with these limited generalization effects, Ardoin created innovative procedures to increase the probability that the intervention schools were providing to struggling readers would result in greater classroom gains. Whereas other RR procedures require one-on-one instruction, the modified procedures produced significant gains in students’ reading fluency with a 1:3 teacher student ratio, allowing the intervention to be provided to more students without the need of additional resources. More recently, Ardoin has employed previously unused technology, such as eye-tracking devices, to better understand how and why students’ reading improves.