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Research and Evaluation

Significant Work: Reading and Literacy

Current Work:

Open Court Reading Program: Imagine It! Randomized Controlled Trial: SEDL is conducting a national research study assessing the effectiveness of SRA/McGraw-Hill’s Imagine It! reading and language arts program in elementary school classrooms. In partnership with other nationally recognized researchers, SEDL staff will study the effectiveness of Imagine It! in 12 districts and 48 schools, encompassing approximately 200 classrooms and more than 5,000 students. The study will use a multisite cluster randomized trial design to determine whether Imagine It! affects reading outcomes for K–5 students and how any outcomes vary.

Madison Parish Early Reading First Grant: Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, this 3-year project evaluates 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 is implementing a quasi-experimental study design to measure and analyze gains in children's reading outcomes, teacher literacy knowledge, classroom quality, and parental involvement.

Louisiana Striving Readers Project Evaluation and Randomized Controlled Trial: SEDL will conduct a 4-year randomized controlled trial study of the Voyager Passport Reading Journeys curriculum for struggling adolescent readers to assess whether this supplemental program affects reading outcomes for students relative to the “business as usual” control students. The study will also assess under which conditions the program has the greatest impact. 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.

SEDL Literacy Coach Training and Support Initiative in the Recovery School District Evaluation: SEDL is the internal evaluator for this project, which aims to facilitate the implementation of research-based literacy strategies in Recovery School District schools in New Orleans by providing training and ongoing support of school-based literacy coaches. The evaluation will document the implementation of the literacy coach training and support initiative, as well as the effects of the initiative on participants (including district, school, teacher, and student outcomes). Using a mixed-methods approach, SEDL has collected data through trainer and literacy coach focus groups, observations of literacy coach whole-group training sessions and cluster meetings, and surveys of literacy coaches.

Past Work:

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 (especially those 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 the materials dissemination process.