Page 22 - S44 Compendium

Economically Disadvantaged • Implementation
Gain: 97L
209L
112L
16917L.2
62L
20
ATLANTIC CITY SCHOOL, NJ
STUDY PROFILE
Evaluation Period: 2009–2010
Grades: 3–7
Assessment: Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) Participants: N=36
Implementation: 45 to 60 minutes daily (Stand-Alone) OVERVIEW
Located in southern New Jersey, the Atlantic City School District (ACSD) enrolls approximately 6,300 students at 11 schools. The district’s student population is 40% African American, 37% Hispanic, 13% Asian/Paci c Islander, 9% Caucasian, and less than 1% American Indian/Alaskan Native. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of all students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
During the 2009–2010 school year, System 44 was piloted with students in Grades 3–7 at Sovereign Avenue School. The school principal sought to implement a Tier III intervention program that would provide more phonics instruction for students who were lacking a strong foundation in reading. Students were placed in System 44 based on a variety
of criteria, including scoring in the lowest 30–40% of the
New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK), performing poorly on SRI, and exhibiting dif culty with word- reading skills on SPI. System 44 was implemented for 45 to 60 minutes daily as a pull-out program for all students.
RESULTS
Fall 2009 and spring 2010 SRI Lexile (L) data were collected from 36 System 44 participants in Grades 3–7. As Graph 1 shows, after one semester of intervention, these students advanced from a pretest score of 112L to a posttest score
of 209L, averaging a statistically signi cant gain of 97L and surpassing annual grade-level growth expectations for middle school. Further analysis showed that students who completed more than 40 topics on the software averaged higher gains than those who completed fewer topics on the SRI (169L vs. 62L) (Graph 2).
Students show signi cant growth on SRI after one semester of System 44.
GRAPH 1
Atlantic City School District System 44 Students, Grades 3–7 (N=36) Performance on SRI 2009–2010
250 200 150 100 50
0
Fall 2009 Spring 2010
All Students
(N=36)
Note. The gain in Lexile was statistically signi cant (t=5.26, p=.00).
GRAPH 2
Atlantic City School District System 44 Students, Grades 3–7 (N=36) Change in SRI Lexile Score as a Function of
Software Usage, 2009–2010
180 160 140 120 100
80 60 40 20
0
Less Than 40 Topics
(n=24)
More Than 40 Topics
(n=12)
Note. The gain in Lexile was signi cantly higher for students who completed more than 40 topics on the System 44 software (t=9.27, p=.00).
Change in SRI Lexile Score SRI Lexile Score