The effect of the strategies intervention model on the academic achievement of junior high learning-disabled students

The learning strategies approach is an instructional option which may improve the academic achievement of learning disabled adolescents. The Strategies Intervention Model (SIM) is the most comprehensive program available but unanswered questions remain about program effectiveness in mainstreaming contexts. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of the SIM, using a control group research design, and to provide data describing the cumulative effects of strategies instruction. The impact of the SIM on the reading, language and study skills achievement of learning disabled adolescents, as measured by the California Achievement Test (CAT, 1985), was examined. The study controlled for gender, age, grade, ethnic background, type of handicap and reading achievement. The dependent variable was academic achievement. The independent variable was the SIM. The research design was a variant of the experimental paradigm. The design consisted of two groups, one receiving the experimental treatment (SIM) and one not. However, the design was compromised because students were not assigned randomly to one of two groups. The design was a compromise experimental group-control group design with group equivalence achieved through matching on the controlled variables. The results demonstrated the experimental subjects performed slightly poorer than their control group counterparts on six of the seven pretest CAT measures. After SIM instruction, the experimental group performed higher on all seven of the posttest measures. The differences were not all statistically significant but several might be of practical significance. The first-year SIM curriculum used with seventh through ninth grade learning disabled students had a positive and statistically significant impact on language achievement, as measured by the CAT