Results

Reading Achievement:

• On average, students jump an entire grade level in reading skills after only 26 hours of Reading Partners tutoring.

• Students advance, on average, two and a half times faster than before they had intervention from Reading Partners.

  • In 2010-11, based on pre- and post-assessments, on average, students entered the program progressing at a rate of approximately 0.6 years for every year in school and finished the program progressing at a rate equivalent to 1.63 years for every year in school.

  • What's important about this rate of improvement is that it means students are gaining ground and breaking the vicious cycle of falling further and further behind. For the first time, students are improving at a rate that puts them on the road to proficiency.

• In 2011 Reading Partners completed a three-year randomized evaluation study with the School of Education at Stanford University that assessed reading skills for over 450 students in California.

  • Results from Rigby PM Ultra assessments showed that the Reading Partners program has a significant effect on program participants regardless of grade, reading level at enrollment, background characteristics (gender, ethnicity, or English Learner status), or school attended.

  • The study showed that our program is consistently effective across school sites.

  • Although a significant effect was not found for Reading Partners students on the California Standards Test (CST) English Language Arts achievement test, there was a statistically significant correlation between Rigby and CST scores.

• To gather even more robust evidence for our program, Reading Partners has partnered with MDRC, a leading research and evaluation firm, to design and implement a randomized control trial (RCT) study of student outcomes during the 2012-13 year. This rigorously designed impact study will compare program outcomes across schools for students who have and have not participated in the program. In addition, MDRC will conduct an implementation study to provide valuable feedback on program operations at the schools involved in the impact study.

Increased Student Participation & Self-Confidence:

• Teachers report that students who improve their reading skills in Reading Partners also gain the confidence to participate in class.

• Formerly refusing to read aloud when called on or shrugging their shoulders when asked a question, students now eagerly raise their hands in class to volunteer an answer or read a passage in a story.

Volunteer, Teacher & Principal Satisfaction:

• 98% of volunteers, 99% of teachers, and 100% of principals are satisfied with their overall experiences in Reading Partners, according to annual surveys.

Program Recognition for Outstanding Achievement:

• Reading Partners outperforms leading for-profit tutoring peers.

• In a study conducted by the students of the Stanford Graduate School of Business comparing Reading Partners and its for-profit peers, including Sylvan Learning, Reading Partners out-performed two of these peers and performed the same as another. On average, Reading Partners needs nine fewer hours of tutoring than its for-profit peers to achieve the same rate of gain.

Reading Partners' Methods for Measuring Results:

• Reading Partners measures students' reading skills using the Rigby PM Ultra assessment tool.

• Students are tested at the start of the school year, mid-year and at the end.

• Teachers, principals and volunteers are surveyed at mid-year and at the end of the school year.