• Expertise
• Projects
• Research and Evaluation
• Professional Development
• Store
• Free Resources

Advanced Search

Find all of the words
or
Find the exact phrase

Site Browsing Options

- site map

- a-z site index

Research and Evaluation

Significant Work: Reading and Literacy

Current Work:

Open Court Reading: Imagine It! Randomized Controlled Trial: In partnership with other nationally recognized researchers, SEDL is conducting a national, large-scale randomized controlled trial assessing the effectiveness of McGraw-Hill Education’s Imagine It! elementary reading-language arts program, the next generation of the Open Court Reading series. The rigorous study, which will involve some 10,500 students in 60 schools across several districts, will use a multisite cluster randomized trial design to examine whether Imagine It! affects reading outcomes for K–5 students and whether outcomes vary significantly across students, schools, and districts.

Louisiana Striving Readers Randomized Controlled Trial: SEDL is conducting a 4-year randomized controlled trial of the Voyager Passport Reading Journeys curriculum for struggling adolescent readers (those reading 2 or more years below grade level) as part of the Louisiana Department of Education's Louisiana Striving Readers project evaluation. The study will evaluate whether students using the Passport Reading Journeys curriculum show greater advances in reading outcomes than students using other programs and under what conditions. This efficacy study will involve the random assignment of three cohorts of 1,200 sixth and seventh graders from 10 Title I middle schools and four districts in Louisiana over 3 years of data collection. The project is funded through a Striving Readers grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Academic Improvement and Teacher Quality Programs.

Past Work:

Madison Parish Early Reading First Grant Evaluation: Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, this 3-year project evaluated the implementation and impact of the Bright Futures Early Reading First project on outcomes for children, teachers, classrooms, and families in Madison Parish, Louisiana. SEDL implemented a quasi-experimental study design to measure and analyze gains in children's reading outcomes, teacher literacy knowledge, classroom quality, and parental involvement. Significant gains were found for children’s receptive vocabulary, letter recognition, and print awareness skills, and instructors showed significant increases in their literacy and language knowledge.

Year 3 Summary Evaluation Report: Bright Futures Early Reading First  (PDF 716 K)

Dissemination of the National Institute for Family Literacy (NIFL) K–3 Literacy Resources Evaluation: SEDL supported the national dissemination of NIFL literacy resources to teachers, parents, and family members of K–3 students (with a focus on family members with low-literacy skills) through an internal evaluation assessing both the perceived usefulness, relevance, and quality of the materials provided and the specific dissemination channels used. This multiyear study involved surveys of teachers, parents, and individuals associated with the national network of organizations participating in disseminating materials.

Recovery School District Literacy Coach Training and Support Initiative Evaluation: SEDL conducted an internal evaluation of its Literacy Coach Training and Support Initiative for the Recovery School District in New Orleans, Louisiana. This initiative provided training and ongoing support to school-based literacy coaches on research-based literacy strategies. SEDL's evaluation documented implementation as well as the effects of the initiative on participants (including district, school, teacher, and student outcomes). Using a mixed-methods approach, SEDL collected data through focus groups of trainers and literacy coaches, observations of literacy coach whole-group training sessions and cluster meetings, and surveys of literacy coaches.