Evaluation Report of the Impact of Post-Exit Progress Monitoring on Literacy Outcomes in the Reading Corps Program

Reading Corps trains tutors to evaluate student performance in reading and literacy growth. Tutors deliver research-based literacy interventions for students at-risk of reading failure in pre-kindergarten through third grade. Within the Reading Corps program, an emphasis is placed on the early identification and delivery of supplemental preventive support to struggling readers.

Study Goals:
The purpose of this report is to summarize three research studies that were undertaken: 

1. The first study sought to better understand the performance of students following an exit from the Reading Corps intervention. 
2. The second study precisely measured the rate in which students that exit Reading Corps regress in academic skills. 
3. The last study determined the effectiveness of a low-cost brief follow-up program modification to prevent the regression of academic skills. 
4. While the program targets pre-kindergarten through third grade, the evaluation examines results from kindergarten through third grade.

Research Questions:
The research questions are:

• What is the probability that students that did or did not meet exit criteria would go on to pass subsequent universal screening assessments?
• What is the typical rate at which students improve after exiting the Reading Corps program?
• What can be done to promote the maintenance of newly acquired reading skills?

Findings:
The overall conclusion is that the results of the evaluation show the Reading Corps program has a considerable, positive effect on students’ literacy outcomes.
The evaluation also found:

• Students that meet exit criteria for the Reading Corps program have a higher probability of going on to pass future benchmark assessments.
• All students that participated in Reading Corps demonstrated weekly growth rates that far exceeded students that were not considered at-risk for reading difficulties based upon normative information provided by FastBridge Learning.
• Kindergarten students that engaged in post-exit progress monitoring demonstrated higher weekly rates of improvement between Winter and Spring benchmark assessments, and were more likely to achieve proficiency on end-of-year state tests, relative to students in the business-as-usual condition.

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Full Report