Nationally, two-thirds of high school students are unable to read and comprehend complex academic materials, think critically about texts, and synthesize information from multiple sources, or communicate what they have learned. Without a substantial change in their academic literacy, U.S. high school students face continued academic problems in…

A 2-year, randomized control trial with 9th to 10th grade students with significant reading problems was provided for 50 minutes a day in small groups. Comparison students were provided an elective class and treatment students the reading intervention. Students were identified as demonstrating reading difficulties through failure on their state…

In this mixed method research, we examined the effects of reading and singing software program (RSSP) as a reading intervention on struggling readers' reading achievement as measured by the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, the high stakes state test administered in the state of Florida, at one elementary school. Our team defined struggling…

"ACCESS", A Culture Creating Effective Systems for Success, was a three-year Investing in Innovation (i3) development grant funded by the Office of Innovation and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education. The "ACCESS" grant led the way for a district-wide redesign of educational practices based on the novel approach of…

This study evaluated the efficacy of the Word Learning Strategies (WLS) supplementary program designed to develop upper-elementary students' vocabulary skills in order to improve reading comprehension. The study used a true, group-randomized, experimental design, which randomly assigned 46 4th grade classrooms (n=1324 students) from 12 districts…

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation invested in the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) as one strategy to support teachers' and students' transition to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language arts. This report provides an early look at the implementation of LDC in eighth-grade history/social studies and science classes in two…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of two implementation variables (source of technical support and time of implementation) to first grade reading achievement across three naturally-occurring conditions over a six-year time span. Two of the conditions involved implementation of Direct Instruction (DI) curriculum programs,…

The achievement gap in reading between students of low versus high socioeconomic status (SES) is detrimental to students of low SES who struggle with basic reading skills such as fluency and comprehension. The purpose of this study was to investigate if the systematic use of Read Naturally, a repeated reading fluency-based program, significantly…

We conducted a randomized field trial to test an academic vocabulary intervention designed to bolster the language and literacy skills of linguistically diverse sixth-grade students (N = 2,082; n = 1,469 from a home where English is not the primary language), many demonstrating low achievement, enrolled in 14 urban middle schools. The 20-week…

In 2013, the Arizona State University (ASU) Preparatory Academy (ASU Prep) was awarded an Investing in Innovation (i3) Grant through the U.S. Department of Education. The district applied with an ambitious grant designed to innovate programming for a total of six schools: two elementary (one Kindergarten through grade 5; one Kindergarten through…

The Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) was created to support teachers in implementing college and career readiness standards in order to teach literacy skills throughout the content areas. Teachers work collaboratively with coaches to further develop their expertise and design standards-driven, literacy-rich writing assignments within their…

The Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) was created to support teachers in implementing college and career readiness standards in order to teach literacy skills throughout the content areas.Teachers work collaboratively with coaches to further develop their expertise and design standards-driven, literacy-rich writing assignments within their…

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation invested in the Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) as one strategy to support teachers' and students' transition to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English language arts. This report provides an early look at the implementation of LDC in sixth-grade Advanced Reading classes in a large Florida…

In 2010, Iredell-Statesville Schools was awarded an Investing in Innovation grant (i3) from the Office of Innovation and Improvement within the Federal Department of Education. Collaborative Organizational Model to Promote Aligned Support Structures (COMPASS) is a development grant that seeks to meet the needs of students with disabilities,…

School districts are spending millions on tutoring outside regular school day hours for economically and academically disadvantaged students in need of extra academic assistance. Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), parents of children in persistently low-performing schools were allowed to choose their child's tutoring provider, and together with…