Summary of Findings:
Reading Plus Students Achieved Significantly Larger Gains Across all tier groups, students who completed the recommended amount of Reading Plus instruction during the school year achieved significantly larger proficiency gains than students who did not engage in Reading Plus instruction.
These results show that students in all tier groups who engaged in the recommended amount of Reading Plus instruction over the course of the 2018-2019 school year significantly increased their capacity to comprehend increasingly complex texts, developed their capacity to understand higher levels of general academic vocabulary, and improved their reading efficiency. Students who completed more Reading Plus lessons achieved significantly larger gains than their peers who engaged in little or no Reading Plus practice. The results also showed that students who engaged in more Reading Plus instruction developed more reading confidence and increased their interest in reading. This in turn increases the likelihood that they will continue to use reading as a means to expand their knowledge, to be entertained, and to seek inspiration.
Study Design:
This report describes the progress achieved by Reading Plus students who were enrolled in grades 2 through 5 during the 2018-2019 school year. The focus is on students who completed the Reading Plus InSight silent reading assessment on at least two occasions, once near the start of the school year and again during the spring, so that growth over the school year was measured. Students were divided into three tier groups based on their performance on the initial assessment.
Students Excluded
Students for whom valid reading rates could not be calculated.
Key Results:
Across all tier groups, Reading Plus practice had a significantly positive effect on students’ self-reported reading interest. Differences in reading self-confidence (self-efficacy) were not significant, most likely because most elementary school students were near the top of the confidence scale to begin with. Changes in reading motivation are shown in Figure 5. Previous research has shown that reading motivation and reading success are closely linked.
