Reading Recovery: An Evaluation of the Four-Year i3 Scale-Up

CPRE released its evaluation of one of the most ambitious and well-documented expansions of a U.S. instructional curriculum. The rigorous independent evaluation of the Investing in Innovation (i3) scale-up of Reading Recovery, a literacy intervention for struggling first graders, was a collaboration between CPRE and the Center for Research on Education and Social Policy (CRESP) at the University of Delaware. The CPRE/CRESP evaluation revealed that students who participated in Reading Recovery significantly outperformed students in the control group on measures of overall reading, reading comprehension, and decoding. These effects were similarly large for English language learners and students attending rural schools, which were the student subgroups of priority interest for the i3 scale-up grant program. The study included an in-depth analysis of program implementation. Key findings focus on the contextual factors of the school and teachers that support the program’s success and the components of instructional strength in Reading Recovery.
Authors citation
May, H., Sirinides, P. M., Gray, A., & Goldsworthy, H.
Publication
CPRE Research Reports
Year of Study
2016
Subject
Literacy
Program Evaluated
Reading Recovery
Tutor Type
Teacher
Duration
12-20 weeks
Sample size
6888
Grade Level(s)
1st Grade
Student-Tutor Ratio
1
Effect Size
0.43
Study Design
Student Randomized
May, H., Sirinides, P. M., Gray, A., & Goldsworthy, H. (2016). Reading Recovery: An Evaluation of the Four-Year i3 Scale-Up. CPRE Research Reports. https://repository.upenn.edu/cpre_researchreports/81