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2006 – 2010 Randomized Study of High School Disciplinary Classes That Embed Reading Apprenticeship® Instruction

When high school students can’t read their textbooks, many teachers try to “protect” their students and assign less reading. A workable and more responsible solution may be to embed reading instruction within content area classes. The federal government’s Institute for Education Sciences has funded SLI to conduct a randomized controlled study in U.S. history and biology classes to find out what differences result when high school teachers incorporate Reading Apprenticeship instruction - focused on the literacy and reasoning practices of their disciplines - into their regular content instruction. The SLI research team is collaborating with WestEd's Science and Math Division as well as the UCLA CRESST Center to carry out the study.

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2005 – 2008 U.S. Department of Education Randomized Study of Effect of Academic Literacy Course on Achievement of Low-Performing Ninth Graders

Is ninth grade too late, or can lagging readers really benefit from focused intervention? The U.S. Department of Education has selected SLI’s Academic Literacy course as one of only two ninth grade reading interventions to be evaluated in a rigorous national study. Students and their teachers in 32 schools across the country are participating in the experimental study, conducted by independent research agencies MDRC and AIR, to measure course implementation and student outcomes, including persistence in school, course-taking patterns, and performance on high stakes tests.

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2005 – 2008 Randomized Study of Integrated Biology and Reading Apprenticeship® Instruction to Narrow Achievement Gaps

Can low-achieving students simultaneously increase their science and literacy learning when teachers integrate literacy instruction in their high school biology classes? In this randomized experimental study funded by NSF, SLI is providing professional development for certified biology teachers in high schools that have high proportions of students historically underrepresented in the advanced sciences. The SLI research team is collaborating with WestEd's Science, Mathematics & Technology Program as well as the UCLA Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) to carry out the study.

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2004 – 2006 AYP Gains for Below-Proficient Readers in a Top-Ranking High School

Woodrow Wilson Senior High School in Washington, DC, has built a national reputation with its Advanced Placement program for top students. Recently, Wilson teachers renewed their commitment to reach all students, whether in developmental reading classes or the school’s 22 AP courses. After a two-year schoolwide focus on Reading Apprenticeship, AYP reading proficiency jumped 24%. Additionally, among students in Reading Apprenticeship English classes, 60% raised their reading level — an average of two full grades.

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2001 – 2004 Reading Apprenticeship Classroom Study Linking Professional Development for Teachers to Outcomes for Students in Diverse Subject- Area Classrooms

In this research study, SLI researchers took an in-depth look at teacher learning, classroom practice, and student learning in eleven middle and high school classrooms. The purpose of the Reading Apprenticeship (RA) Classroom Study was to learn how teachers who participated in inquiry-based professional development incorporated Reading Apprenticeship® approaches into their subject area instruction, and how these literacy experiences in turn affected student reading achievement and engagement.

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2001 – 2004 Increasing Student Achievement Through Schoolwide Reading Apprenticeship®

The Strategic Literacy Initiative's professional development work in the greater Bay Area has provided data on schoolwide implementation of Reading Apprenticeship. Here we present data from two schools identified as academically underperforming that have documented rising Academic Performance Indices.

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1999 – 2002 Studies of Student Reading Growth in Diverse Professional Development Networks

Over the 1999-2002 school years, two partnerships – with the Bay Area Coalition of Essential Schools in Oakland, CA. and with a network of teachers involved in the Humanitas network in Los Angeles, CA. – offered an opportunity to see how Reading Apprenticeship®, integrated into diverse subject area classrooms, might impact student reading achievement.

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1997 – 2000 A Study of Teacher Learning and Student Reading Outcomes in an SLI Professional Development Network

In 1997, SLI began a three-year study of teacher learning, changes in classroom practice, and student achievement. Teachers in this study – cross-disciplinary teams of middle school and high school teachers – were involved in a professional develop network for approximately forty hours each year in the first two years of the study. SLI researchers found important shifts in teachers' conceptions and classroom practice related to reading in their content areas and increased student reading achievement.

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1996 – 1999 9th Grade Academic Literacy Course Studies

This set of three linked studies documented the impact of an Academic Literacy course for 9th grade students in an urban high school. The course was designed to accelerate students' engagement and skill in reading and responding to academic texts across disciplines. In addition to significant changes in their attitudes and behaviors related to reading, students in one study, across all ethnic groups, gained an average of two years growth in seven months as measured by a standardized reading test.

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1995 – 1997 9th Grade Students Literacy Case Studies

SLI's research team worked with teacher colleagues from three San Francisco Unified School District high schools creating case studies of thirty 9th grade students to gain a more detailed sense of their reading histories, strengths, and challenges. These case studies served to inform SLI's future work with teachers learning to support students' academic literacy development.

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