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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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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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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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