These materials were used in a randomized experimental evaluation of structured vocabulary review following 20 weeks of the Word Generation curriculum developed by the Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP). The study examined whether short, structured review activities improve middle-grade students’ retention and use of academic vocabulary.
Lawrence, J. F., Galloway, E. P., & Hsu, J. Y.-L. (2025).
Estimating the Effect of Structured Vocabulary Review: An Experimental Evaluation.
Elementary School Journal.
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/736758
The review sequence was designed to be implemented over three days (approximately 60–90 minutes total). Activities included passage reading and discussion, semantic mapping using word charts, collaborative poster creation, and partner-based vocabulary puzzles.
Classrooms were randomly assigned to review different word sets, allowing estimation of review effects independent of initial vocabulary instruction.
This research was conducted as part of a long-standing research–practice partnership facilitated by the Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP). The authors gratefully acknowledge SERP for supporting the collaboration that made this work possible.
We thank Catherine Snow for her mentorship and intellectual guidance throughout the project. We also thank Matt Ellinger for his design of the instructional materials and his thoughtful contributions to the development of the intervention, and Chris Buttimer for his sustained collaboration and support with school-based implementation.
These materials are shared for research and instructional purposes. Word Generation materials are licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Please cite the associated publication when using or adapting these materials.