Literacy First is an AmeriCorps program that provides trained tutors for students in kindergarten through second grade in the Austin, Texas area. Literacy First’s early literacy program is designed to strengthen students’ early reading and comprehension skills (e.g., phonemic awareness, letter sound identification) through daily, 30-minute tutoring sessions. The program identifies struggling readers each fall and provides tutoring across the school year. Literacy First has established itself as a program that supports highly trained volunteers to implement an intensive tutoring intervention that is relies upon data to guide instruction.
Study Goals:
The goal of the study was to evaluate the impact of Literacy First on the early reading skills of struggling readers in kindergarten and first grade.
Research Questions:
The research questions were:
- Does participation in Literacy First one-on-one tutoring have significant impacts on kindergarten students’ early reading skills, as measured by the Letter Sound Fluency (LSF) and Kindergarten Decoding Fluency (KDF) assessments?
- Does participation in Literacy First one-on-one tutoring have significant impacts on first grade students’ early reading skills, as measured by the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF), DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (ORF), and Whole Words Read (WWR) assessments?
Findings:
The evaluation found the following:
- Literacy First significantly accelerated students’ reading skills across kindergarten through second grade in two Austin-area school districts and charter schools.
- Effect sizes found across the annual evaluations range from .24 to .83.
- First- and second-grade students who graduated from Literacy First scored statistically significantly higher than matched comparison students on the Development Reading Assessment.
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Full report
Further information
Program/Intervention
Literacy First
Implementing Organization
UT Austin Charles A. Dana Center
Intermediary(s)
UT Austin Charles A. Dana Center
AmeriCorps Program(s)
AmeriCorps State and National
Age(s) Studied
0-5 (Early childhood)
6-12 (Childhood)
Focus Population(s)/Community(s)
Schools
Outcome Category
School readiness
K-12 success
Study Type(s)
Impact
Study Design(s)
Experimental (RCT)
Level of Evidence
Strong
Researcher/Evaluator
Sarah Caverly, Ginger Stoker, Dong Hoon Lee, and Grace Fleming, American Institutes for Research
Published Year
2019
Study Site Location (State)
Texas