The purpose of this report is to present the results of a two-year randomized control trial evaluation of the SPARK literacy program. SPARK is an early grade literacy program developed by Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. In 2010, SPARK was awarded an Investing in Innovation (i3) Department of Education grant to further develop the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a supplemental repeated reading intervention delivered through a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) program on the oral reading fluency (ORF) and generalization of second-grade students who were at risk for reading failure. Four African American students and one multiracial student in…

Curriculum-based measurement of reading (CBM-R) is used in research and practice to estimate the level and trend of student achievement. Although there is limited empirical or psychometric support to guide CBM-R progress monitoring practices, derived trend estimates are used to inform a variety of educational decisions including evaluations of…

To improve the reading comprehension outcomes of children in high-poverty schools, policymakers need to identify reading interventions that show promise of effectiveness at scale. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a low-cost and large-scale summer reading intervention that provided comprehension lessons at the end of the school year and…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the i3-funded SPARK program on the literacy development of students in kindergarten through third grade. The SPARK program represents a collaboration between Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Public Schools. In the study, two cohorts of students were randomly…

In East Africa, there is great effort directed toward ensuring that there is learning and value for money invested in universal education policies initiated over the past decade. Kenya and Uganda are two countries that typify this effort. The effort includes the work of research organisations such as Uwezo, which assess learning levels; RTI, which…

This article examines the effects of one year of exposure to "Learning to Read in a Healing Classroom" (LRHC) on the reading and math skills of second- to fourth-grade children in the low-income and conflict-affected Democratic Republic of the Congo. LRHC consists of two primary components: teacher resource materials that infuse…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the Everyday Arts for Special Education (EASE) program on elementary special education students' academic achievement (reading and math) and social-emotional learning. EASE was a 5-year program providing professional development and instruction in the arts in 10 New York City special education…

Act, Sing, Play (ASP) offered music and drama tuition to Year 2 pupils. The aim of the programme was to evaluate whether music workshops had a bigger impact than drama workshops in terms of pupils' maths and literacy attainment. The evaluation was based on the hypothesis that participation in high-quality music instruction promotes educational…

Accumulating research has identified family behavioral interventions as an empirically supported psychosocial treatment for students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The mechanisms behind the effectiveness of these interventions, however, have been less well studied. The current study examined possible mediators of improvement…

The MIND Research Institute contracted with the Evaluation Research Program at WestEd to conduct an independent assessment of mathematics outcomes in elementary school grades across California that were provided with the ST Math program. Spatial-Temporal (ST) Math is a game-based instructional software designed to boost K-5 and secondary-level…

This study uses an existing evaluation model and previously established measurement tools to evaluate the quality and success of Urban Compass, a private non-profit after-school program for elementary school children in the Watts district of Los Angeles. This evaluation had two major objectives. The first objective was to assess program quality by…

Summer setback, which is defined as a decline in academic achievement over the summer months, occurs in many academic areas but seems especially problematic in reading. We assessed students from a midwestern parochial school serving predominantly students from a low--socioeconomic status background for their reading achievement before they left…

The Instant Word Notebook study was a program evaluation completed by two educators who saw a need for an instructional tool to teach and assess Instant Words. In order to address reading deficits of students in first and second grades, teachers were expected to teach Instant Words. Unfortunately, teachers did not have a systematic process to…

In 2007, Georgia developed a comprehensive framework to define what students need to know. One component of this framework emphasizes the use of both formative and summative assessments as part of an integral and specific component of the teachers. performance evaluation. Georgia administers the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) to every…