Evidence indicates that first-grade students who struggle with reading and do not receive help are likely to become poor readers for their entire school careers and will have continued reading problems into adulthood. If a person cannot read well, the outlook is dismal for their employment, self-sufficiency, community participation, social inclusion, and overall well-being. Researchers have found that the solution for struggling readers is not to simply wait and hope they will catch up with their peers. Instead, it is essential to identify students who are at risk for reading failure and disabilities as early as possible and quickly provide evidence-based interventions. This regression discontinuity study examined the effects of Sound Partners, an evidence-based early reading intervention that was implemented by teacher candidates, on the correct letter sounds of 46 first-grade students identified as being at risk for reading failure. Findings indicated that the intervention was effective in raising participants’ reading scores. Additionally, stakeholder feedback from the participating university, schools, and teacher candidates helped to foster and develop a school-university relationship that yielded mutually beneficial results. Further research should be conducted that includes a larger sample of students using different measures and other evidence-based reading interventions, as well as following the students longitudinally.

Keywords: DIBELS, CLS, evidence-based practice, regression discontinuity, response-to-intervention, Sound Partners, teacher candidates