Washington Reading Corps: Implementation and Impact Evaluation

The Washington Reading Corps places AmeriCorps members in early learning centers and schools across Washington State. The program’s goal is to support the development of foundational and comprehensive literacy skills of struggling readers from pre-Kindergarten through Grade 6. The program seeks to achieve that goal through effective collaborations involving schools, community organizations, families, community members, business and state partners, and AmeriCorps.

Study Goals:

The goal of the study was to evaluate the implementation and the impact of the reading program.

Research Questions:

The evaluation includes both implementation and impact research questions. The research questions include:

• Implementation Questions:
  • To what extent:
    • are the Washington Reading Corps programs being implemented?
    • are the Washington Reading Corps programs providing their projected program outputs?
  • What barriers or contextual factors are influencing the Washington Reading Corps program implementation?
  • What best practices can be identified in the Washington Reading Corps program design and implementation?
  • To what extent are these changes sustainable?
• Impact Questions:
  • To what extent:
    • do student assessment scores differ between those served by Washington Reading Corps and those not served by Washington Reading Corps?
    • are the Washington Reading Corps programs on track to show increases in students achieving grade level reading proficiency?
    • are the Washington Reading Corps programs on track to show decreases in reading proficiency gaps?
    • are the Washington Reading Corps programs meeting the 3 CNCS National Performance Measures?
  • What is the relationship between school characteristics, Washington Reading Corps member characteristics, and student reading skills?

Findings:

The evaluation’s findings include the following:

• Implementation Findings:
  • A total of 77 sites participated and 117 members were retained in the Washington Reading Corps program in 2015–2016.
  • In kindergarten through Grade 6, 3,602 children participated and 2,504 were counted as completing the tutoring program; however, the number of students who completed the program is likely underreported due to missing data.
  • The majority of Washington Reading Corps sites implemented key aspects of the tutoring model.
  • Site supervisors strongly endorsed the usefulness of having a Washington Reading Corps member provide tutoring to improve struggling students’ reading skills.
  • The quality of regional professional learning cluster meetings had more mixed ratings than other types of professional development.
  • About a third of site supervisor respondents said their site provided some member training to support reading skills of English Language Learners or bilingual students.
  • Members were most commonly involved in implementing family literacy nights at their sites.
  • Several barriers to effectiveness were cited by site supervisors and members.
  • Best practices in support of program effectiveness identified by site supervisors included:
    • All elements of the Washington Reading Corps program design.
    • Coaching and training opportunities for members, including from site staff.
    • Member characteristics and member integration with students and staff.
  • In terms of reading support sustainability at sites, most elements were likely to be sustained, either fully or in a reduced way.
  • In terms of local sustainability through member retention, about 18% of members planned to return for the next academic year.
• Impact Findings:
  • About 46% of participating students with data met grade level reading benchmarks during 2015–2016.
  • Fully 92% of students with data were rated as showing improved academic performance in literacy during 2015–2016.
  • Site characteristics and Washington Reading Corps member perceptions did not significantly predict whether or not students met grade level reading benchmarks in 2015–2016.
  • Across all grades except Grade 6, student engagement and participation in tutoring significantly increased over the year.
  • Members consistently reported improvement in students’ reading behaviors, attitudes, and confidence in reading.

For more information, download the full report.