Page 30 - S44 Compendium

Economically Disadvantaged • Independent Measure • Speci c Learning Disability
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NORTHEASTERN FLORIDA PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT
STUDY PROFILE
Evaluation Period: 2008–2009
Grades: 6–8
Assessment: Florida Oral Reading Fluency (FORF), Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI)
Participants: N=63
Implementation: 90 minutes daily (Stand-Alone
or Integrated With READ 180 ) OVERVIEW
This pro le focuses on the achievement outcomes from a public school district in northeastern Florida that serves approximately 122,000 students in 175 schools. The district’s student population is 45% African American, 41% Caucasian, 7% Hispanic, 4% multiracial, 4% Asian/Paci c Islander, and less than 1% American Indian/Alaskan Native. Fifty- ve percent of all students are eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunch and 14% are students with disabilities.
During the 2008–2009 school year, a public school district in northeastern Florida piloted System 44 with 63 middle school students in nine classes. Students were placed into System 44 if they performed poorly on SRI and exhibited poor word-reading skills on SPI. Of the 63 middle school students participating in System 44, 76% were African American, 16% were Caucasian, and 8% were Hispanic. Eighty-one percent quali ed for free or reduced-price lunch and 71% were students with disabilities who were classi ed as having either learning, intellectual, or emotional disability. Teachers integrated System 44 into a 90-minute reading block. In three of the nine classrooms, a stand-alone version
of System 44 was implemented. In six classrooms, System 44 was incorporated into an existing READ 180 program. In all classrooms, students were expected to use the software for 15–20 minutes per day. For the purposes of this report, both models were analyzed together.
Middle school students demonstrate oral reading uency and comprehension gains on FORF and FCAT.
RESULTS
In order to measure changes in oral reading uency, data from the Florida Oral Reading Fluency (FORF) assessment was obtained from 48 System 44 students with fall 2008 and spring 2009 scores. Dependent t-tests revealed that these students improved, on average, from a fall pretest score of 62 words correct per minute (WCPM) to a posttest score of 73 WCPM, resulting in a statistically signi cant gain of 11 WCPM (Graph 1). System 44 students also exhibited improvements in their reading comprehension as measured by performance on SRI. Results indicate that the 52 students who had pretest and posttest SRI data averaged a statistically signi cant gain of 147 Lexile (L) measures over the course of the 2008–2009 school year (Graph 2).
Consistent with these ndings, System 44 students demonstrated gains on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) Reading test. Overall, the 59 students who had spring 2008 and spring 2009 FCAT Developmental Scale Scores (DSS) achieved an average pretest score of 1051 and an average posttest score of 1182, resulting in a statistically signi cant gain of 131 DSS points (Graph 3).