Reading First Impact Study

Contractors: Abt Associates, MDRC, RMC Research, and Westat

Background/Research Questions:

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 created the Reading First program to help ensure that all students can read at or above grade level by the end of third grade. The program targets low-income, low-performing schools and was funded at $393 million in FY 2008.

The Reading First legislation required the U.S. Department of Education to contract with an independent organization for a "rigorous, scientifically valid, and quantitative" evaluation of Reading First. The study will examine:

• What is the impact of the Reading First program on student reading achievement?
• What is the impact of Reading First on classroom instruction?
• What is the relationship between the degree of implementation of scientifically-based reading instruction and student reading achievement?

Design:

The study uses a quasi-experimental design (regression discontinuity) that provides unbiased estimates of program impact. This design includes districts that used a quantifiable rating/ranking process to choose which schools received Reading First funding. The study compares reading outcomes in schools scoring above the cutoff point for funding (Reading First schools) with reading outcomes in schools scoring below the cutoff point (non-Reading First schools).

The evaluation includes about 125 Reading First schools and 125 non-Reading First schools, collecting data over a three-year period (2004–2005 through 2006–2007). Data collection includes direct student assessments in reading comprehension (grades one through three) and decoding (grade one in spring 2007), and observations of classroom reading instruction in grades one and two.

Duration: 5.5 years (October 1, 2003–March 28, 2009)

Current Status: The interim report was released in May 2008, and the final report on all three years of data collection was released November 2008 (see http://ied.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20094038/).

Key Findings

• Reading First had a statistically significant positive impact on multiple practices promoted by the program, including the amount of instructional time spent on the five essential components of reading instruction (phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension) and professional development in scientifically based reading instruction.
• Reading First did not produce a statistically significant impact on student reading comprehension test scores in grades one, two or three.
• Reading First had a statistically significant positive impact on first graders' decoding skills in Spring 2007.