Open Court Reading©

Open Court Reading©
August 2008

Effectiveness

No studies of Open Court Reading^© that fall within the scope of the Beginning Reading review meet WWC evidence standards. The lack of studies meeting WWC evidence standards means that, at this time, the WWC is unable to draw any conclusions based on research about the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of Open Court Reading^©.

Program Description ¹

Open Court Reading^© is an elementary basal reading program for grades K-6 developed by SRA/McGraw-Hill. The program is designed to systematically teach decoding, comprehension, inquiry and investigation, and writing in a logical progression. Part 1 of each unit, Preparing to Read, focuses on phonemic awareness, sounds and letters, phonics, fluency, and word knowledge. Part 2, Reading and Responding, emphasizes reading for understanding with literature, comprehension, inquiry, and practical reading applications. Part 3, Language Arts, focuses on communication skills such as spelling and vocabulary; writing process strategies; English language conventions such as grammar, speaking, and penmanship; and basic computer skills.

*The WWC identified 30 studies of Open Court Reading^©* that were published or released between 1985 and 2007.**
Seven studies are within the scope of the review and have an eligible design, but do not meet WWC evidence standards. Two studies do not establish that the comparison group was comparable to the treatment group prior to the start of the intervention. Five studies have confounding factors, such as combining with other interventions, which make it impossible to attribute the observed effect solely to Open Court Reading^©. Fifteen studies are out of the scope of the review because they have an ineligible study design that does not meet WWC evidence standards, such as having no comparison group. Seven studies are out of the scope of the review, as defined by the Beginning Reading protocol, for reasons other than study design. One study does not report disaggregated results for students in grades K-3. Six studies are not studies of the effectiveness of Open Court^© or do not measure the impact of Open Court^© in outcomes domains identified in the review protocol.

The WWC identified 30 studies of Open Court Reading^© that were published or released between 1985 and 2007.

Seven studies are within the scope of the review and have an eligible design, but do not meet WWC evidence standards.

Two studies do not establish that the comparison group was comparable to the treatment group prior to the start of the intervention.
Five studies have confounding factors, such as combining with other interventions, which make it impossible to attribute the observed effect solely to Open Court Reading^©.

Fifteen studies are out of the scope of the review because they have an ineligible study design that does not meet WWC evidence standards, such as having no comparison group.

Seven studies are out of the scope of the review, as defined by the Beginning Reading protocol, for reasons other than study design.

One study does not report disaggregated results for students in grades K-3.
Six studies are not studies of the effectiveness of Open Court^© or do not measure the impact of Open Court^© in outcomes domains identified in the review protocol.

¹ The descriptive information for this program was obtained from a publicly-available source: the program’s website (https://www.sraonline.com/productsamples.html?show=2&gid=342&tid=1, downloaded June 2008). Further verification of the accuracy of the descriptive information for this program is beyond the scope of this review.

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Effectiveness

Program Description1

What Works Clearinghouse Headlines

Program Description ¹