Both legislative mandates such as those of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and developments in the provision of reading instruction such as Response to Intervention (RTI), increase the demand for high quality tutoring services. However, the U.S. Department of Education and state officials report that access to intensive supplemental tutoring may be limited in rural and urban areas due to limited availability of qualified providers. Online tutoring may be one way to provide supplemental reading instruction to students identified as at-risk of reading failure. Researchers have focused on distance education since the 1920s. The authors of recent meta-analyses report near zero effect sizes between distance education and traditional face-to-face instruction for adults, paraprofessionals, postsecondary, and K-12 students. Relatively little information is available about the effects of distance education on K-12 students at-risk of reading failure. To update and narrow the search of previous reviews, we systematically reviewed literature on distance education for at-risk K-12 students. We found 39 articles that met our search criterion. None of the 39 articles provided empirical evidence on the effects of distance education for at-risk K-12 students. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of online reading instruction for at-risk fourth-grade students in Utah and Philadelphia. A multiple baseline design was used to assess the extent to which at-risk fourth-grade students increase their oral reading rate given systematic supplemental online reading instruction. Tutoring consisted of four sessions per week with 50-minute lessons of direct instruction delivered over a web-based synchronous two-way audiovisual system. Analysis of the multiple baseline across participants revealed gains in oral reading fluency for all participants when placed into the synchronous online tutoring program. Additionally, all participants made standard score gains on basic reading skills as assessed by the Woodcock Johnson Test of Achievement and Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) benchmark assessments. Participating students and tutors reported an awareness of increased reading skills and value of synchronous online instruction. Finally, teachers and parents generally reported that students demonstrated increased reading skills after receiving instruction.

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The local district in this study has not made adequate yearly progress in the past several years in language arts literacy on state assessments. Particularly problematic were poor reading skills among district students. Poor literacy skills negatively affect student learning across the curriculum. The purpose of this case study was to identify teachers' and administrators' perceptions of best literacy practices, professional development, and administrative decisions regarding literacy learning for primary students in reading at a strong performing elementary school in the district. The target school was selected to help address reading failure for the low-performing schools in this district. Bloom's taxonomy of learning, which indicates that higher-level learning is based on foundational knowledge that is often provided at the primary level, was the framework for this study. A bounded case study was conducted that included a purposeful sample of 7 elementary teachers of language arts from Pre-K to 2nd grades and 2 administrators at the target elementary school. Classroom observations and interviews were used to collect data. NVivo was used to assist in coding, analysis of data, and identification of recurring themes. The findings indicated that an outcome-based curriculum incorporating Bloom's levels of learning coupled with supportive district decisions regarding literacy were key components driving literacy success at the target school. The findings were incorporated into a policy paper as a project to propose and support elementary level reading curriculum changes and administrative decisions regarding literacy success for elementary students in the local district. Implications for positive social change might be far reaching as elementary school students in this district benefit from literacy skills that improve their academic success and ultimately their overall quality of life.

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