A Review of Summarizing and Main Idea Interventions for Struggling Readers in Grades 3 Through 12: 1978–2016
Remedial & Special Education
Stevens, E. A., Park, S., et al. (2019).
Remedial & Special Education, 40(3), 131-149.
This meta-analysis investigates the effect of summarizing and main idea interventions on reading comprehension outcomes in struggling readers in third through twelfth grade.
Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education
January 1978 to March 2016
Experimental study designs; quasi-experimental study designs; single-case design studies
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"The results suggest that struggling readers benefit from main idea and summarizing interventions regardless of the group size (one to four vs. five or more) or number of sessions (12 or fewer vs. 13 or more)" (p. 144).
Based on a meta-analysis performed only on the included group design studies, main idea and summarizing interventions were indicated to have a positive effect on struggling readers with an effect size of 0.97. Results of the meta-analysis also indicated no difference of intervention effectiveness based on grade level, suggesting that students in upper elementary, middle, and high school grades benefit from main idea and summarizing interventions. A synthesis of the single-case design studies demonstrated strong evidence favoring main idea and summarizing interventions on oral and written retell measures.
