People and institutions involved
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Products and publications
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Book chapter
Unlu, F., Bozzi, L., Layzer, C., Smith, A., Price, C., and Hurtig, R. (2016). Linking Implementation Fidelity to Impacts in an RCT. In G. Roberts, S. Vaughn, S.N. Beretvas, and V. Wong (Eds.), Treatment Fidelity in Studies of Educational Intervention (pp. 100-129). New York, NY: Taylor and Francis.
Supplemental information
In this project, researchers from the University of Iowa and Abt Associates proposed to partner with the Chicago Public Schools to evaluate a widely used early language and literacy curriculum: Breakthrough to Literacy (BTL). This curriculum had previously shown promise in several smaller-scale quasi-experimental effectiveness studies.
At the time of project, the University of Iowa proposed to implement BTL in both pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms with a large sample of Chicago Public Schools.
Abt Associates was to design and conduct an independent evaluation of the implementation and impacts of BTL when it is taken to scale.
The evaluation will use a randomized cluster design in which schools will be randomly assigned either to BTL or to a control group, with two preschool and two kindergarten classrooms in each school. The evaluation will follow two cohorts of children beginning preschool. For schools assigned to BTL, the curriculum will be implemented in both preschool and kindergarten. Both cohorts of children will be followed through first grade. The earlier of the two cohorts will be followed into second grade. The impacts of BTL on children will be assessed based on standardized test of early language and reading skills. In both control and BTL classrooms, teacher practices and classroom environments will be assessed via state-of-the art observations of the literacy support and interactions in the classrooms. In addition, the fidelity of implementation of BTL will be studied in BTL schools only, using measures developed by BTL but administered by Abt Associates. The team brings together expertise in reading and reading instruction, language, and cognition.
The third partner is the Chicago Public Schools. Testing BTL will provide an important test of taking it to scale in a large, urban district with a high proportion of at-risk children. If evidence from several large quasi-experimental district studies can be corroborated in a district such as Chicago and if the implementation of BTL has a significant impact on the language and literacy skills that children need to become competent and successful readers (skills and comprehension) in a sample of primarily low-income children, the policy significance of the study will be immense. In addition, data on factors that impact the fidelity of implementation will be collected. The study will also have a strong emphasis on the impacts of BTL on children's language and pre-literacy skills. Not only will short-term impacts (e.g., prekindergarten and kindergarten) be measured, but children will also be assessed into early elementary school for longer-term impacts.
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