I have been a special education teacher for the past 18 years. I work in the Special Day Class with high school students. These students typically read at the second to fourth grade levels. Despite years of Special Ed help, improvement is usually minimal.

But my SDC high school students using the Barton System have shown 4 to 7 years of growth in reading when tutored twice a week for 2 years.

With the state's demands for higher standards and test scores, we must offer our struggling students a reading program that works — like the Barton System.

Gail Myers, SDC Teacher
Pleasanton, CA


I have been home schooling for over 6 years, and I've been searching for a curriculum that would help my children with their reading and spelling, as well as be easy to use and not require a great deal of training outside the home. I had almost given up hope when I finally stumbled across the Barton Reading and Spelling System.

The Barton System's train-as-you-go style makes it extremely easy to use. All the lessons are laid out very clearly, and it's lots of fun. In just a few short months, my son's spelling has improved, and he has even commented on how the system has helped him to hear sounds in the words he spells.

My daughter, who was always reluctant to pick up a book, can hardly be found without one now, and her spelling has improved tremendously. They both look forward to our time together, especially the games at the end.

I am very excited about the Barton System. I hope many more homeschooling families will find it to be the key to their child's success in reading and spelling.

Linda Luebker
Castro Valley, CA


Jillian has been tutored for three months. We have already seen much improvement in her grammar, spelling and reading. She is very proud of her accomplishments. She now reads on her own, without prompting, and often brags about being able to figure out new words.

Greg Blandino
Pleasanton, CA


The Barton System works no matter what reading disability my students have been diagnosed with. I can now accomplish in a couple of months what it took me years to accomplish before.

June Campbell, Resource Specialist
San Jose, CA


I run a small private school for ADD/LD/Dyslexic middle school students. I purchased your program this past summer to implement in my classroom and in my private clinic.

I have been so impressed with the results I have been seeing using your program. We initially tested the kids in August prior to enrollment. We tested again in October and I saw a good growth pattern then. But now, in our January testing, I am amazed at our success (and yours). My students have gained an average of 2 years in the past 5 months in reading and spelling!

Anna Cunerty, The Brain Cell
Upland, CA

Research

Links

Research supporting the Orton-Gillingham approach Back to Top
Research shows that 95% of reading failure is preventable — by using appropriate reading systems and well-trained teachers.

Dr. Orton and Anna Gillingham developed a unique method and sequence to significantly improve the reading and spelling skills of children and adults with dyslexia way back in the 1930's.

The Barton Reading & Spelling System is an Orton-Gillingham influenced approach to reading and spelling. It is one of ten well-known Orton-Gillingham based systems.

All the latest scientific, independent, replicated reading research supports the Orton-Gillingham sequence and methodology as “best practices” when teaching reading to students with dyslexia. This is the approach recommended by the International Dyslexia Association. To view their Fact Sheets on Orton-Gillingham, click here for Fact Sheet #1, and click here for Fact Sheet #2.

So if your child has dyslexia and has qualified for Special Education services, this description of a reading program should be written into his or her I.E.P.:

Independent scientific replicated research supports as "best practices" the use of a reading system that is simultaneously multisensory, systematic, and cumulative with direct and explicit instruction in both synthetic and analytic phonics—to show how reading and spelling are related—with intense practice for a child with dyslexia.

Yet most teachers, reading specialists, and resource specialists have NOT been trained in any Orton-Gillingham-based system.

That's why most parents have to hire a tutor who is certified in an Orton-Gillingham System.

Here are links to some of that research:

• A Scientific Approach to Reading Instruction
by Barbara Foorman, Jack Fletcher, and David Francis
• Teaching Reading is Rocket Science:
What expert teachers of reading should know and be able to do
by Louisa Moats
• Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children
Learning First Alliance Report

• National Right to Read Foundation

• Put Reading First
The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read
The National Reading Panel issued a report in 2000 that responded to a Congressional mandate to help parents, teachers, and policymakers identify key skills and methods central to reading achievement.

The Panel's task was to review research in reading instruction (focusing on the critical years of kindergarten through third grade) and identify those methods that consistently lead to reading success.

This free Put Reading First booklet is a parent-friendly summary of their results.

• National Reading Panel – Entire Report

• New York Times Article
Peter Wright is now one of the top education-rights lawyers in this nation. His most famous victory was the landmark 1993 Supreme Court Case Florence County School District Four vs. Carter. which extended the rights of LD children to go to private school at public expense after their public school has failed to educate them.

To read the rest of this New York Times article, click here.

• Summary of NIH Reading Research
by G. Reid Lyon
Director of Research Programs in Reading Development and Disorders, Learning Disabilities, Language Development and Disorders, and Cognitive Neuroscience. Also Chief of the Child Development and Behavior Branch at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
www.schwablearning.org
select Reading from the Topic list,
click on Lyon: Developing Reading Skills

• Why Reading is Not a Natural Process
by G. Reid Lyon

• NIH Research Results
click here
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Early Intervention Research Back to Top

A Summary of the Research
Research on the long-term consequences of early reading difficulty provides an incentive for early intervention. Juel (1988) found that students who are poor readers in first grade are almost certain to remain poor readers at the end of fourth grade. Cunningham and Stanovich (1997) found that first-grade reading achievement strongly predicts 11th-grade reading achievement.

Other researchers have shown that students at risk for reading failure can be identified early, using tests of phonological awareness, and treated successfully with intensive, explicit instruction in phonological awareness, followed by systematic phonics instruction.

Early intervention for reading problems reduces the number of students identified as learning disabled (Dickson & Bursuck, 1999; Jenkins & O'Connor, O'Connor 2000).

One-on-one tutoring is the gold standard for reading instruction, and the benefits of that type of tutoring is supported by research (Cohen, Kulik, & Kulik, 1982; Juel, 1996; Waskik, 1998; Wasik & Slavin, 1993).

That's why the No Child Left Behind Act includes a mandate that failing schools make one-on-one tutoring available for their students.

Yet most schools do not have enough trained personnel available to offer one-on-one tutoring.

Innovative schools are using the Barton Reading & Spelling System to train volunteer tutors for their Early Intervention Programs—and are getting very impressive results.

 

American Educational Research Associates
Researchers Support Early Intervention for ALL Children
Who Experience Difficulty Learning to Read
Catch Them Before They Fall
by Joseph Torgeson
Identification and Assessment to Prevent Reading Failure in Young Children
No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act is an attempt to force schools to use research-based methods to teach reading, and to hold schools accountable for their student's reading scores. To learn more about this important act, click here.

The No Child Left Behind Act also requires low-performing schools to provide one-on-one tutoring. The Barton Reading & Spelling System is an ideal way to meet that requirement. To read more about that requirement, click here.
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Research on the Barton Reading & Spelling System Back to Top
The Barton Reading & Spelling System was released in June of 1999.

Here are the independent research reports that have been published and/or received to date.

Florida Center for Reading Research

The mission of the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) is:

  • To conduct basic research on reading, reading growth, reading assessment, and reading instruction that will contribute to the scientific knowledge of reading and benefit students in Florida and throughout the nation
  • To disseminate information about research-based practices related to literacy instruction and assessment for children in pre-school through 12th grade.
  • To conduct applied research that will have an immediate impact on policy and practices related to literacy instruction in Florida.
  • To provide technical assistance to Florida's schools and to the State Department of Education for the improvement of literacy outcomes in students from pre-K through 12th grade.

Florida Center for Reading Research recently published a glowing report on the Barton Reading & Spelling System on their website. To read their report, go to: www.BartonReading.com/FCRR.pdf

 

Arkansas RTI Study

The Benton School District in Arkansas implemented an early intervention, Response To Intervention (RTI) program in all four of their elementary schools. They screened their kindergarten and first grade students using Dibels to identify students at risk of reading failure -- and used Dibels to monitor the success of each type of intervention.

The Barton Reading & Spelling System was used as Tier 3 Intervention for students in the highest risk category. Groups of no more than 3 students received Barton tutoring at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes per session.

To view the spectacular results of this study, go to: www.BartonReading.com/AR-RTIStudy.pdf

 

Florida Dyslexia Study - more than 2 years gain in 40 weeks

Independent research conducted in Florida at two different Speech-Language clinics showed more than 2 years of gain in decoding and reading comprehension, and more than 1.5 years of gain in fluency, after 40 weeks of one-on-one Barton tutoring.

All of the participants had documented reading deficits due to dyslexia. They ranged from first graders to sixth graders. 52% of the children came from households below the poverty level.37% attended public school, 31.5% attended private school, and 31.5% were homeschooled.

Students were pre and post tested using the Phonetic Reading Test (PRT).

To read the study, and their impressive results, go to:
www.dys-add.com/FloridaCampbellStudy.pdf

 

Spelling Improvement Study

The Barton System teaches spelling as strongly as it teaches reading, and the improvement in spelling shows up quickly on Florida's new FAIR spelling assessment, as this teacher reported.

I have been using your program for 3 years and I love it!  I have seen results that are amazing!  When my principal asked our staff to reflect on one practice that has made a difference, I told her it was my working for 30 minutes each day in small groups using the Barton System -- and the data proves the impact it has on spelling.
 
In August, according to the FAIR spelling assessment:
 
            7 students  < 20th percentile
            9 students   21st percentile to 49th percentile
            5 students  > 80th percentile
 
In December, every single student made significant gains except the two who were already at the 91st  and 98th percentile. 
 
            1 student < 20th percentile
            2 students   21st to 49th percentile
            6 student   50th  to 79th percentile
            12 students  > 80th percentile
 
The most significant gains were made by my lowest 2 reader/spellers.  One went from 19th percentile to 49th percentile.  The other went from 19thpercentile to 69th percentile.  And two of my good readers who had been poor spellers went up 68 percentile points each.

Debbie Sanders
Thunderbolt Elementary
Fleming Island, FL

 

West Virginia Special Education Study

Although this study only included 6 special education students who were classified as Learning Disabled, it tracked those students over two years. The first year they did not receive Barton tutoring. The second year they received two 45-minute one-on-one tutoring sessions per week.

Their growth, per their results on the state standards tests, are as follows:

Grade at end of study Year ending Gains in Grade Equivalents Gains in Independent Reading Level Year End
Grade Equivalent

Student A 4th Grade

 06-2006
06-2007
0.2
0.8
1.1
1.0

1.6
3.1
Student B
5th Grade
 06-2006
06-2007
0.2
2.8
0.9
5.0

1.6
4.3
Student C
5th Grade
 06-2006
06-2007
0.4
1.6
0.8
2.3

2.2
3.4
Student D
6th Grade
06-2006
06-2007
0.0
2.5
-0.1
3.4

2.2
4.2
Student E
5th Grade
06-2006
06-2007
1.2
2.4
1.4
2.1

3.5
6.0
Student F
4th Grade 		06-2006
06-2007

0.2
2.3

0.6
2.6

2.6
5.4

Christine Taylor-Redmond
Mineral Wells Elementary
Mineral Wells, WV

 

Texas TAKS Study

Three years ago, we started using the Barton Reading & Spelling System in a small way in our district. We had 7 students who had not been able to pass the TAKS end-of-year statewide standards test. They flunked it all 3 times they were allowed to take it.

After only 9 months of one-on-one Barton tutoring for 45 minutes a day, all 7 students passed the TAKS test -- 2 with commendations, and 2 with perfect scores.

Last year, we expanded our use of the Barton System to the 55 students identified with dyslexia in grades 3, 4, 5, and 6. At the end of those grades, 53 of the 55 passed the TAKS test the first time they took it. (The 2 students who did not pass started Barton tutoring very late in the school year.)

That's why this year, we will be using the Barton Reading & Spelling System with struggling students in every school in our district.

Ernie Maldanado, Dyslexia Specialist
Weslaco School District
Weslaco, TX

 

Alaska Dyslexia Study - 2 years gain in 6 months

As part of a multi-year grant, four school districts in Alaska are testing students for dyslexia, then providing those students with one-on-one tutoring using the Barton Reading & Spelling System.

In early October, 45 of those students from grades 2 through 11 were given Form A of the GORT to establish "before" scores. Students in the elementary grades were then given 2 to 3 hours of one-on-one Barton tutoring per week. Middle and high school students received 5 hours per week. Those same 45 students were given form B of the GORT 6 months later, in April, to measure their progress.Their average growth rate was 2 years -- in just 6 months of Barton tutoring. To view their before-and-after data, click here. Camille Booth, the director of the STRIVE Dyslexia Program shared that her program is now serving 140 students in four public school districts in or near Craig, Alaska.

To view the data from the study and details of the STRIVE Dyslexia Program, go to: www.bartonreading.com/AlaskaData.pdf

 

Florida Early Intervention Study

Discovery Elementary School in Palm Beach, Florida, screened all first graders in January using DIBELS. They took the 20 lowest-scoring at-highest-risk students and provided 3 months of small-group instruction using the Barton Reading & Spelling System. In April, after just 3 months of intervention, 17 of the 20 students scores were above the DIBELS benchmark in Nonsense Word Fluency, which tests the ability to read by sounding out.

Their before-after scores were:

Student
NWF Before
NWF After
% increase
A
21
124
490 %
B
23
44
91 %
C
0, No Score
42
D
50
56
12 %
E
2
38
1800 %
F
0, No Score
40
G
47
53
13 %
H
23
71
209 %
I
19
40
111 %
J
36
49
36 %
K
31
71
129 %
L
22
28
26 %
M
30
66
120 %
N
18
46
156 %
O
26
37
42 %
P
28
70
150 %
Q
40
33
-18 %
R
36
57
58 %
S
19
56
195 %
T
26
37
42 %

Now that I have data to show such incredible improvement, my principal has agreed to allow K-2 intervention using the Barton Reading & Spelling System to take place all year long this coming school year.

Sue Hoyt
Discover Elementary School
Palm Beach, FL

 

California Early Intervention Study

This study was written up as an independent scientific journal article, which has been submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. It shows statistically significant gains in phonemic awareness, rapid naming, and phonological memory after only 5 months of twice-a-week tutoring using the Barton System. To read this article, click here.

 

Pleasanton (CA) USD Volunteer Tutors Study

To view the gains made by volunteer tutors using the Barton System in the Pleasanton Unified School District, watch the presentation they recently made to the California School Board Association, click here.

Here's a 3-minute You-Tube video from Christina Clark, their Barton Facilitator, explaining their program and sharing their before-and-after research data.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGPu-fCzg_g

here is a 3-minute You-Tube video from a student who did not get the right type of help until high school -- and the difference it made. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfF-CxX9fdA

By the way, that student just graduated and joined the Marines. He scored so high on their aptitude test that they put him straight into Aeronautical Engineering.

 

Data from Juvenile Corrections and Private LD Schools

To view this unsolicited independent before-after data from five unusual school sites, ranging from Byron's Boys Ranch (a juvenile correction facility) to a private school for students with learning disabilities, click here.

 

As more research articles are written, we will post them.
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Barton System Approved by California Department of Education
Back to Top
On May 1, 2003, the Barton Reading & Spelling System was approved by the California Department of Education.

These materials have now been added to the Instructional Materials Approved for Legal Compliance website. Click here to see that on the California Department of Education website.

So public schools in California can purchase the Barton System using textbook funds.

 

What Won't Work Back to Top
Most parents have tried one or more of the following products or treatments, and know they do not "close the gap." They do not bring the reading, spelling, and writing skills of children with dyslexia up to grade level.

• Hooked on Phonics or The Phonics Game
• Reading Recovery
• Accelerated Reader
• Vision Therapy
• Brain Gym or other neurodevelopmental exercises
• Special glasses
• Medicine
• Special diets
• Most commercial learning center chains, such as
Sylvan, Kuman and Score

Those were all listed as "Controversial Therapies" in the Summer 2001 issue of Perspectives, published by the International Dyslexia Association. If you would like a copy of that issue, call the Internationa Dyslexia Association at 800-ABCD-123.

If you want feedback on any OTHER methods you may have heard about, feel free to ask by clicking here.


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