A Response to Recent Reanalyses of the National Reading Panel Report: Effects of Systematic Phonics Instruction Are Practically Significant
Stuebing, K. K., Barth, A. E., Cirino, P. T., Francis, D. J., & Fletcher, J. M. · 2008
grade Ccritiqueindependentmixednumbers spot-checked
Sample
40 studies / 225 comparisons (NRP corpus)
Population
Same NRP corpus.
Design
Reconciles NRP vs Camilli via an a-b-c identity: a=systematic-vs-no-phonics, b=some-vs-no-phonics, c=systematic-vs-some (c=a-b).
Key findings
Shows NRP's ~0.41 and Camilli's ~0.24 are the SAME data answering different questions ('vs no phonics' vs 'vs some phonics') and are statistically compatible. Both camps agree teaching GPCs beats teaching none; the live dispute is the marginal value of SYSTEMATIC over merely explicit phonics, which is small and not cleanly demonstrated.
Genetic confound
N/A (experimental corpus).
Replication notes
Directly rebutted by Camilli, Kim & Vargas (2008); the estimand dispute has no agreed single point estimate. Decomposition verified against full text.
DOI / URL
10.1037/0022-0663.100.1.123
Effects
| Outcome | Metric | Value | Measure | Timing | Vs | Horizon | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematic phonics vs no-phonics control (a) | d | 0.514 (Camilli Table 5) / 0.443 (regression) | mixed | end-of-treatment | business-as-usual | end-of-treatment | domain-skill |
| Some phonics vs no-phonics (b) | d | 0.243 | mixed | end-of-treatment | business-as-usual | end-of-treatment | domain-skill |
| Systematic vs some phonics (c = a-b) | d | 0.271 (agrees with Camilli's 0.24) | mixed | end-of-treatment | active-alternative | end-of-treatment | domain-skill |
| NRP-equivalent average (a+c)/2 | d | 0.39 (~ NRP 0.41) | mixed | end-of-treatment | unclear | end-of-treatment | domain-skill |
Cited by
- Systematic/explicit phonics vs whole language and balanced literacystrong supportconf: highgc: low