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Research FAQs
For full reviews and details about Literacy Collaborative research and citations for all studies, please go to the Research Studies page.
Q: Is there research on the effects of the Literacy Collaborative program on teaching and student learning?
Yes. Literacy Collaborative research is conducted at the school level and the national level. At the school level, individual Literacy Collaborative schools assess their students annually and analyze their own data in order to monitor their school’s improvement over time. At the national level, Literacy Collaborative researchers (1) conduct internal program evaluations across schools, (2) contract with consulting groups to conduct outside program evaluations, and (3) collaborate with researchers in other universities to study the program’s effects on teaching and student learning.
Our most recent study, funded by the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE), is being conducted by researchers at Stanford University, University of Chicago, and Literacy Collaborative. Over four years (2004-2008), data on teaching and student achievement were gathered from 240 teachers and 10,000 K-3 students in 18 Literacy Collaborative schools in the South, West, Midwest, and Northeast. Preliminary results are described below.
Literacy Collaborative has also contracted with the Center for Research and Educational Policy (CREP) at the University of Memphis to study teaching and student achievement in five Literacy Collaborative schools and six non-Literacy Collaborative schools in Georgia. In all 11 schools there are large numbers of low-income students and students from Spanish-speaking homes. Preliminary results will be available soon.
Q: Is there evidence that Literacy Collaborative improves literacy teaching?
Yes. (1) In the USDOE study described above, 240 Literacy Collaborative teachers were observed in their classrooms and evaluated three times per year for three years. Analyses of the first two years of data showed that, on average, observed teaching skills improved. Furthermore, individual rates of teacher improvement were correlated with the amount of professional development and one-to-one coaching teachers received from their literacy coordinators. (2) In a study conducted in 2003-2004 by the Education Development Center (EDC) in Newton, Massachusetts, 54 teachers in grades 3-6 in 18 Literacy Collaborative schools were observed and evaluated three times over 18 months. Their rates of improvement were compared with those of 34 teachers observed in nine non-Literacy Collaborative schools. On average, observed teaching skills improved in the Literacy Collaborative schools but there was no improvement in the non-Literacy Collaborative schools.
Q: Is there evidence that Literacy Collaborative improves student literacy achievement, including in low-income schools?
Yes. (1) Preliminary results from the USDOE study described above showed that average rates of student literacy growth in grades K-3 increased by 15% in Year 1 of implementation and 28% in Year 2, as measured by DIBELS and Terra Nova. Forty percent of students in the study were low-income. (2) The Center for Education Evaluation and Policy (CEEP) at Indiana University studied several early literacy interventions in Indiana and found that both low-poverty and high-poverty Literacy Collaborative schools showed substantially greater year-to-year improvements in passing rates on Indiana’s 3rd grade state test than schools with no literacy interventions. (3) Researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Wheelock College in Boston found that in the high-poverty Boston Public Schools, 1st graders in four Literacy Collaborative schools showed higher average growth in writing than students in four schools with a different literacy program. (4) Literacy Collaborative researchers at The Ohio State University analyzed 2nd grade Gates-MacGinitie reading scores in 52 Literacy Collaborative schools over five years (1996-2001) and found that average scores rose from 40 NCEs to 49 NCEs (on a scale of 0-100), though the entering skills of the students in kindergarten remained the same. The greatest gains were made in schools in which more than 50% of the students received free or reduced-price lunch.
Q: Is there evidence that Literacy Collaborative reduces Special Education referrals and retention rates?
Yes. In their study of early literacy interventions in Indiana, the Center for Education Evaluation and Policy (CEEP) found that Literacy Collaborative schools in Indiana had lower 2nd grade special education referral rates and slightly lower 2nd grade retention rates than demographically similar schools without special literacy programs.
Q: Is there evidence that Literacy Collaborative helps improve student attitudes toward reading and writing?
Yes. In 2004, Literacy Collaborative researchers observed, interviewed, and surveyed Literacy Collaborative students in grades 3-5 in Westfield, Massachusetts. More than 90% of the students said that they liked to read and write. Those interviewed also reported that they engaged in literacy activities during their free time at home. Teachers reported in focus groups that the Literacy Collaborative program had improved student attitudes and motivation.