WWC Quick Review of the Report "Supporting Literacy Across the Sunshine State

Download or read book WWC Quick Review of the Report "Supporting Literacy Across the Sunshine State written by What Works Clearinghouse (ED) and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 1 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Supporting Literacy Across the Sunshine State: A Study of Florida Middle School Reading Coaches" examined the effects on student test scores of hiring reading coaches to work with middle school teachers. The program was funded through the statewide "Just Read, Florida!" ("JRF") literacy initiative. The study included 987 Florida schools serving sixth- through eighth-graders. The authors analyzed school-level student reading and mathematics test score data from 1998 to 2006 drawn from statewide databases. Effects were measured by comparing school-level test score gains for several years before and after the reading coaches were hired and by comparing gains in schools that implemented the program to gains in schools that had not yet implemented it. The study examined effects separately for four cohorts of schools, based on the year the schools implemented the program. The authors reported higher reading and mathematics test score gains for the earliest cohort and higher reading score gains for the third cohort. What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) did not find the described research consistent with WWC evidence standards. Because the groups of schools compared in the analysis were not initially equivalent, WWC does not consider the reported results as conclusive. Although the authors control for these differences in their analysis, there could be other differences between the schools that could influence test score gains. [The following report was the focus of this "Quick Review": "Supporting Literacy Across the Sunshine State: A Study of Florida Middle School Reading Coaches." Julie A. Marsh, Jennifer Sloan McCombs, J. R. Lockwood, Francisco Martorell, Daniel Gershwin, Scott Naftel, Vi-Nhuan Le, Molly Shea, Heather Barney, and Al Crego. The RAND Corporation, 2008 (ED502636).].