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Available research as to the effectiveness of the Early Intervention Reading Program (EIR) centers on the work that Barbara Taylor has done in or those done in conjunction with Houghton-Mifflin (Institute of Education Sciences, 2007). There is no independent research testing the effectiveness of the program. The Institute of Educational Science (IES) (2007) published a report on Early Intervention in Reading. The IES publication can be found at the What Works Clearinghouse site published by the Department of Education []. IES reports abide by strict guidelines and use published articles in peer reviewed journals to summarize research and give their overall findings. There are many reports available on a number of programs, initiatives and published articles. Based on the research that Taylor has conducted the Clearinghouse concluded that the Early Intervention in Reading Program was found to have potentially effective results with alphabetics and comprehension. Houghton-Mifflin has adapted EIR for it’s Early Success intervention program. Chard (1997) and Taylor (2001) are reports that Houghton-Mifflin has published to support it’s Early Success Program. These are both cited in the IES report. The IES report finds that EIR has potentially positive effects in alphabetics and comprehension. Pikulski (1994) compares five intervention programs which he states are effective based on the reasearch he cites. For EIR, he cites Taylor (1992). Although he doesn’t test the effectiveness of the program, he lists several components of intervention programs which appear to be essential: · Core reading programs should be of high quality and be co-ordinated with the intervention program. · Students experiencing difficulty with reading should have more time receiving reading instruction than students not experiencing difficulties. · Interventions should be conducted in small groups ( at the least ) and then one-on-one intervention should be available for those who are resistant to the intervention · Intervention should be focused on grade one. · Texts used in interventions should be simple and predictable. They should use natural language and text should be of interest and might also include texts which encourage word identification skills · Reading the same text several times appears to be important for fluency and students should see reading as a process for constructing meaning. · Words and letters should be the intervention focus for early grades including phonemic awareness and phonics instruction. There should be a focus on word patterns. · Students should write daily thereby supplementing word identification skills. These activities should be brief, with attention to features of letters and words. · Ongoing assessment is necessary, he cites fluency assessment · There should be communication between school and home. · Professional development is necessary so that teachers can deliver instruction consistently and effectively. This professional development should continue for at least the first year of intervention implementation. Most if not all of these features are evident in the Early Intervention in Reading Progam. = Bibliography  = Chard, D. (1997). //Final evaluation report AY 1996-97: Early Reading Intervention Project, .// Springfield Public Schools,Springfield, Massachusetts: Houghton-Mifflin. Institute of Education Sciences. (2007, November). //What works clearinghouse: Early intervention in reading.// Retrieved October 2, 2009, from U.S Department of Education: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/beginning_reading/eir/index.asp Pikulski, J. (1994). Preventing reading failure: a review of five effective programs. //The Reading Teacher// //, 48// (1), pp. 30-39. Taylor, B. M., Short, R., Frye, B., & Shearer, B. (1992). Classroom teachers prevent reading failure among low-achieving first grade students. //The Reading Teacher//, pp. 592-597. Taylor, B. (2001). //The Early Intervention in Reading Program (EIR®): Research and development spanning twelve years (Tech. Rep.).// Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Company. Taylor, B., Frye, B. J., Short, R., & Shearer, B. (1991). Early Intervention in Reading: Preventing reading failure among low achieving first grade students.