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In this section:
LC Highlights
Research Studies and Success Stories
Primary Literacy Collaborative (grades K-2). Originally called ELLI (Early Language and Literacy Intervention), the Primary was the first Literacy Collaborative program to be developed.
- An efficacy study of the Literacy Collaborative, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, measured the literacy skills of 8,500 students in grades K-2 in 17 Literacy Collaborative Schools over four years (2004-2008) with the DIBELS and Terra Nova assessments. 40% of the students were low income. The average rate of student literacy growth in the 17 schools increased by 16% in Year 1, 28% in Year 2, and 32% in Year 3. In addition, measured improvements in teaching correlated with the amount of coaching teachers received from their literacy coordinators.
The Center for Education Evaluation and Policy (CEEP) at Indiana University studied several early literacy interventions implemented in Indiana schools (1998-2002) and found that both low-poverty and high-poverty Literacy Collaborative schools showed substantially greater year-to-year improvements in passing rates on the 3rd grade state reading test than schools with no literacy interventions. The study also found that the Literacy Collaborative schools had lower 2nd grade special education referral rates and slightly lower 2nd grade retention rates than demographically similar schools.
Literacy Collaborative researchers at The Ohio State University found that 2nd grade Gates-MacGinitie reading scores in 52 Literacy Collaborative schools from rose from 40 NCEs to 49 NCEs over 5 years (2002-2006), though entering kindergarten scores remained the same. The greatest gains were made in schools where more than 50% of students received free or reduced-price lunch.
Intermediate Literacy Collaborative (grades 3-5/6). The Intermediate Literacy Collaborative was developed in response to the success of the Primary program.
Education Development Center (EDC) in Newton, Massachusetts, studied schools that adopted the Literacy Collaborative Intermediate program (2002-2004). 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 9 control schools. On average, observed teaching skills improved in the Literacy Collaborative schools but no improvement was seen in the control schools.
Literacy Collaborative researchers observed, interviewed, and surveyed Literacy Collaborative students in grades 3-5 in Westfield, Massachusetts (2004). 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.
A district in southern Georgia with a large low-income student population saw their 4th grade state Reading test scores rise over four years (2006-2009). The percentage of students that scored in the lowest category of “Does Not Meet Expectations” decreased from 30% to 14%, and the percentage of students that scored in the highest category of “Exceeds Expectations” increased from 17% to 33%. While in 2006 their 4th grade scores were far lower than those of the state, by 2008 they had closed the state-district gap.
Middle School Literacy Collaborative. This is the most recently developed Literacy Collaborative program.
Since 2003-2004, 34 middle school literacy coordinators have been trained at Lesley University.
A middle school in Georgia adopted the Literacy Collaborative in 2007-2008. That year a group of 15 6th grade struggling readers who had never passed the Georgia state Reading and ELA tests in grades 1- 5 all passed the tests for the first time. The literacy coordinator for the school said that “they went from hating to read to coming into class talking about the books they were reading on their own. They began to see themselves as readers.”
An urban middle school in Massachusetts adopted the Literacy Collaborative program in 2003-2005. Over a four-year period, the percentage of students in grades 6-8 who scored Proficient or Advanced on the state ELA test increased from 50% to 64%. In 2007-2008, three more middle school programs from the same district adopted Literacy Collaborative. One school began with and maintained high state scores for their 6th-8th graders. The other two schools saw their state ELA scores rise from 40% to 51% Proficient or Advanced and from 66% to 76% Proficient or Advanced in the first year of implementation.