Project ARC - Achievement in Reading and Content Learning

The Problem

In 2000, almost four out of every 10 American fourth-graders (37 percent) scored “below basic” in their reading ability, meaning they were unable to read after completing their K-3 instruction. (NAEP 2000)

Traditional literacy instruction occurs only in the 1-3 grades. Students still need to improve and teachers need to continue to teach reading skills in the upper grades.

ARC State-of-the-Art Solution

ARC strengthens instruction by having teachers implement a two-hour literacy block with explicit instruction daily in fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary in the whole group. For struggling readers, additional small group instruction is implemented. Teacher training emphasizes implementation of guided reading, teaching text structure and the use of expository texts to further the students’ reading skills.

Professional development conferences are held four times each year. Teachers also receive on-site coaching and team teaching with a district grant literacy specialist. Research assistants help students practice fluent reading and administer assessments.

In the second year of ARC, there were sixty treatment and twenty-eight control teachers and their 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classrooms. There were 1,300 treatment and 800 control students in the project. Of the treatment, 362 students were in the 20th percentile.

The ARC Goal

Increase the literacy achievement of intermediate-grade bottom-quartile students by strengthening teachers' abilities to provide research-based, individualized literacy strategies, including explicit daily instruction in:

• fluency
• comprehension
• vocabulary

Brigham Young University education faculty and five literacy specialists train 60 fourth, fifth, and sixth-grade teachers to expand students’ literacy skills as part of the Achievement in Reading and Content Learning Project, now in its second year. About 1,400 students will benefit from the project this year. BYU plans to reapply for funding through 2008.

One literacy specialist is assigned to each of the five public school partnership districts—Alpine, Jordan, Nebo, Provo, and Wasatch—and provides one-on-one help and group training workshops for teachers. The classrooms are chosen to target students of low socio-economic status.

The project focuses on three areas: fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. It is training teachers to integrate reading instruction within all subjects.

Since children can still learn to read after third grade, there is a need to continue to teach literacy strategies.

Future Plans

Project goals include an effective content-based instructional program, a school-based professional development framework, and evidence of student performance gains. Outstanding classrooms and teams will serve as models for further professional development efforts. A training manual outlining instructional procedures, strategies, and assessment tools will be shared with educators across the state and nation.

Outcomes

Teachers increased reading instruction:
Observations of ARC teachers showed that all teachers increased literacy instruction time. Half of the participating ARC treatment teachers consistently implemented small group guided reading sessions four to five days per week. Prior to the grant, less than 10% of the teachers held small group reading instruction.

Teachers implemented targeted ‘best practices’ in fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary:
The majority of teachers (75%) implemented explicit strategies in whole group fluency instruction. Small group fluency instruction was conducted effectively and frequently by 50% of the teachers. In comprehension instruction, more than half of the teachers highlighted text structure and signal words, mapped texts, and summarized. Vocabulary strategies were consistently implemented by 75% of the teachers.

ARC students demonstrated greater gains in reading:
Reading achievement of students receiving ARC instruction increased, with more ARC students performing above their pre-instruction percentile rank than students in the comparison group. The Gates MacGinitie Reading Tests showed that the mean percentile rank growth for students in ARC (7.72) was greater than the mean percentile rank growth for students in the control classrooms (1.9). At the end of the school year, there were more ARC treatment students than controls who made greater than 1-year-equivalency growth.

Sudents in ARC classrooms performed better than students in the control classrooms:
ARC teachers and project staff documented the progress in reading and set individualized objectives for students in the bottom 10th percentile. Performance of students was monitored to illustrate impact of intervention, track gains, and make necessary adaptations in instruction. Significant positive changes were reported in the performance of students in the bottom quartile.

Quotes on literacy