Supporting ‘Yellow’ Students: The impact of an intervention for students with impaired reading fluency

Last registered on October 03, 2025

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Supporting ‘Yellow’ Students: The impact of an intervention for students with impaired reading fluency

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0016857

Initial registration date

September 30, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

October 03, 2025, 10:42 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name

Vibeke Myrup Jensen

Affiliation

VIVE the Danish Center for Social science research

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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Mette Friis-Hansen

PI Affiliation

VIVE the Danish Center for Social Science Research

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PI Name

Henrik Balle Nielsen

PI Affiliation

VIA University College

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PI Name

Johanne Landin Ohnemus

PI Affiliation

VIA University College

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Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2025-03-01

End date

2027-06-30

Keywords

Education

Additional Keywords

Reading comprehension, School intervention, Primary school

JEL code(s)

I21 I24 I26

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

This study looks at 4th graders who have trouble reading quickly and accurately but don’t qualify for a dyslexia diagnosis. These students are sometimes called “yellow students” based on dyslexia screening results. Even though they struggle, they usually don’t get special help. The goal of the study is to see if focused teaching helps students who just miss being diagnosed with dyslexia. The special lessons developed in this study are given in small groups of 4 to 6 kids, with 29 sessions spread over about 14 to 16 weeks.
To measure progress, students take a reading comprehension test before and after the program. As we test both the treated students and their classmates we are able to estimate both treatment and peer-effects.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Friis-Hansen, Mette et al. 2025. "Supporting ‘Yellow’ Students: The impact of an intervention for students with impaired reading fluency ." AEA RCT Registry. October 03. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16857-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The intervention targets five core components of literacy: phonological awareness, orthographic skills, acquisition of orthographic word identities, morphological strategies, and comprehension monitoring. Instruction is delivered in small groups (4-6 students) over 29 sessions in 14-16 weeks. Each session follows a three-part structure.

Intervention Start Date

2026-01-01

Intervention End Date

2026-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

We use the HOGREFE test "the Lion and the Mosquito" developed by Lene Møller and Holger Juul. This is a test for reading comprehension for children in 3rd and 4th grade. This test gives an overall score plus details like how many questions they answered, how many were right or wrong, how precise their answers were, and how smoothly they read. We test all children in the participating classes.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

In this project, we cluster-randomize control trial (RCT-C). The randomization unit is the school. All students at the school receives the intervention at the same time. The intervention period is 14-16 weeks (1-2 sessions per week). Schools register participating students in September-October 2025 and complete all pre-tests in September-October, 2025. Randomization in November 2025 (conducted by the research team). Schools assigned to treatment will receive the intervention in January – June 2025 while the control schools teach as usual.
Inclusion criteria: In order to participate, the school must sign up at least 3 students in the target group.
Exclusion criteria: foreign students with less than three years of schooling in Denmark and disabilities making them unable to participate in the intervention (e.g., deaf or blind students).

Analysis plan: We use results from the reading tests before and after 14-16 weeks of using the intervention (for the treatment group classes) and 14-16 weeks of usual training (for the control group clases) to evaluate the overall effect of the intervention (intervention+peer effects).

For the effects of the intervention-treatment, we estimate ITT estimates, using students potentially in the target group for the intervention. This would be students in the second and third lowest category of the pretest. We also estimate treatment on the treated effects for policy evaluation using the sample of treated students and compare them to the pool of potential eligible students from the control schools.

Experimental Design Details

Not available

Randomization Method

In order to ensure equal allocation of the participating schools into the treatment and control groups, we use stratification before randomization. We stratify students in the 4th grade cohort on the number of students potentially in the target group meaning that the test indicate they have some learning difficulties. We stratify to ensure that treatment and control groups are balanced based on how challenged the schools are with respect to their students reading comprehension abilities.

Randomization Unit

schools

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes