Success for All®

Success for All^® was found to have positive effects on alphabetics, mixed effects for comprehension, and potentially positive effects on general reading achievement.

Success for All (SFA)^® is a whole-school reform model that includes a reading, writing, and oral language development program for students in prekindergarten through eighth grade. Classroom reading instruction is delivered in daily 90-minute blocks to students grouped by reading ability. Immediate intervention with tutors who are certified teachers is given each day to those students who are having difficulty reading at the same level as their classmates.

This intervention report focuses on the reading component of SFA^®, which is often implemented in the context of the SFA^® whole-school reform program. Although the whole-school reform program has key components that are implemented in each school, school sites may vary considerably in the number of personnel used to implement SFA^®, particularly tutors and family support staff. The reading curricula are essentially the same at all schools, with each school receiving the same training, coaching support, and materials. Ratings presented in this report are not disaggregated by the variations in implementation of whole-school reforms.

One study of SFA^® meets the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards and six studies meet WWC evidence standards with reservations. Altogether, the studies included nearly 4,000 students attending more than 70 elementary schools across the United States. The seven studies focused on students in grades K–3 who received the SFA^® intervention for varying amounts of time.

Based on these seven studies, the WWC considers the extent of evidence for SFA^® to be medium to large for alphabetics, comprehension, and general reading achievement. No studies that meet WWC evidence standards with or without reservations addressed fluency.