Summary of Findings:

Despite nationwide school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students in all tier groups who engaged in the recommended amount of Reading Plus instruction over the course of the 2019-2020 school year achieved expected growth on par with prior year results. Reading Plus students significantly increased their capacity to comprehend increasingly complex texts. Students who completed more Reading Plus lessons achieved significantly larger gains than their peers who engaged in little or no Reading Plus lessons.

Study Design:

This report describes the reading progress achieved by Reading Plus students who were enrolled in grades 2 through 12 during the 2019-2020 school year. The focus of the report 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 could be measured.

Students Excluded

Students for whom valid reading rates could not be calculated.

Key Results:

More intensive use of Reading Plus is recommended for students who are reading below grade level and need to catch up with their peers.

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This report describes the progress achieved by Reading Plus students in grades 2 through 12 who received free or reduced-price meals at school through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) during the 2018-2019 school year. These are students from households with incomes at or below 18.5 percent of the poverty line. Data are reported for all students in this category who completed the 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.

Study Design:

These results show that students receiving free or reduced-price meals at school who engaged in Reading Plus instruction over the course of the 2018-2019 school year significantly increased their capacity to comprehend more complex texts, developed their capacity to understand higher levels of general academic vocabulary, and improved their reading efficiency. Students who completed more Reading Plus practice achieved larger gains than their peers who engaged in little or no Reading Plus instruction. These results replicate previous studies documenting the effectiveness of using Reading Plus with lower-income students. These results also show that students who engaged in more Reading Plus instruction generally increased their reading confidence and their interest in reading.

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This study focused on the impact of Reading Plus on student achievement as measured by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) English (ELA) assessment. Changes in the reading proficiency of students were measured in relation to the amount of Reading Plus reading practice the students engaged in during the course of the 2016-17 school year.

Study Design:

A quasi-experimental ex post facto methodology was used for this study. This design creates “treatment” and “comparison” groups ex post facto (after the fact) to approximate the random assignment of students that would occur in an experimental design study. Students who completed at least 80 Reading Plus lessons were matched with students who completed fewer than 20 Reading Plus lessons. Matching was based on student demographic characteristics and initial SBAC ELA performance to create “baseline equivalence” between the two groups. In this study, 408 students in grades 4-8 (94% economically disadvantaged) from a large suburban school district in Southern California were matched based on the described methodology.

Key Results:

Students who completed at least 80 Reading Plus lessons achieved nearly four times the SBAC ELA scale score gains in comparison to a group of demographically similar students who had minimal or no Reading Plus use (significant at p<.001). These scale score gains translated into larger percentages of Reading Plus students advancing to a higher SBAC ELA achievement level or maintaining their current achievement level.

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Research has shown that students’ perceptions about themselves as readers can affect not only overall levels of reading effectiveness, but also the extent to which they engage in reading and use reading as a strategic learning tool. Relatedly, students with high intrinsic motivation are likely to read three times as many minutes per day as compared to those with low intrinsic motivation. The resulting differences in reading experience can amount to millions of words over the course of a single year and contribute to an ever-expanding gap in reading proficiency and academic success.

This study examined relationships between reading motivation and proficiency, and growth in these measures, in a large national sample of students who engaged in Reading Plus during the 2015-16 school year.

Study Design:

This study was based on a national sample of 142,223 elementary, middle, and high school students who completed two InSight assessments during the 2015-16 school year, 92% of whom also completed reading practice lessons in Reading Plus. The InSight assessment was used to measure motivation, with a focus on reading interest and confidence, as well as each student’s reading comprehension level, vocabulary level, and silent reading rate. The latter measures were also combined to yield an overall proficiency score (see InSight Technical Brief for more information)

For the analyses, students were divided into four groups in various ways; i.e., comprising those with increasing levels of reading interest, reading confidence, or those who achieved progressively larger gains in reading proficiency.

Key Results:

All analyses pointed to the same conclusion: Reading proficiency and reading motivation develop together.

Across all grade groups, students who reported higher levels of interest and confidence also demonstrated significantly higher levels of reading comprehension and reading efficiency. Further, increases in interest and confidence over the school year were significantly larger in students who increased their reading proficiency to a greater extent.

Students in all grade groups who engaged in at least 100 practice lessons in Reading Plus achieved significantly larger reading proficiency gains than students who did not complete lessons. Further, the amount of proficiency growth achieved by those who completed lessons was similar regardless of their initial levels of interest or confidence in reading. In other words, Reading Plus can help students become more proficient readers even if their reading motivation is low.

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The present study measured the comprehension-based silent reading efficiency of U.S. students in grades 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. Students read standardized grade-level passages while an eye movement recording system was used to measure reading rate, fixations (eye stops) per word, fixation durations, and regressions (right-to-left eye movements) per word. Eye movement recordings were regarded as valid only if students demonstrated a comprehension level of at least 70% after reading a passage and answering a series of true/false questions. Reading rates increased over grades, with two exceptions: (a) between grades 6 and 8, growth in reading rate appeared to plateau; and (b) between grades 10 and 12, reading rate increases were seen only among students in the upper two quartiles. Changes in the other three efficiency measures reflected similar patterns of reading efficiency development over grades. The reading efficiency of students in this study was also compared with that of a sample of students from 1960, using norms reported by Taylor (1965) and validated by Carver (1989). Comprehension-based silent reading rates in grade 2 were comparable across the 50-year span, but the cross-grade growth trajectory was much shallower in the present study than it was in 1960. These results suggest that present-day students may not achieve the same level of word-reading automaticity as did their 1960 counterparts.

“The present research adds to an ample body of evidence suggesting that the reading proficiency of students in the U.S. is declining. The majority of our high school graduates lack adequate reading proficiency and have little experience with the sorts of challenging text they will face in postsecondary educational settings.”

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One fundamental goal of reading instruction is to develop the reading fluency, comprehension, and stamina required to use reading as a tool for learning. This goal is the same for all students, regardless of background or initial level of English proficiency. English language learners (ELLs) often require more reading practice than students learning to read in their first language. This article reviews research measuring the impact of structured silent reading instruction on the performance of ELLs on a state reading assessment. The results showed that ELL students who used Reading Plus with fidelity achieved gains 1.5 to 2 times as large as those achieved by students who did not use the program.

“These observations provide compelling evidence that structured silent reading practice is a highly effective educational support for developing reading proficiency in ELL students.”

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This study focused on the impact of Reading Plus on student achievement as measured by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) English Language Arts (ELA) assessment. Changes in the reading proficiency of students were measured in relation to the amount of Reading Plus reading practice the students engaged in during the course of the 2015-16 school year.

Study Design:

A quasi-experimental ex post facto methodology was used for this study. This design creates “treatment” and “comparison” groups ex post facto (after the fact) to approximate the random assignment of students that would occur in an experimental design study. Students who completed at least 80 Reading Plus lessons were matched with students who completed fewer than 20 Reading Plus lessons. Matching was based on student demographic characteristics and initial SBAC ELA performance to create “baseline equivalence” between the two groups. In this study, 265 students in grades 5-8 from a large suburban school district in Southern California were matched based on the described methodology.

Key Results:

Students who completed at least 80 Reading Plus lessons achieved three times the SBAC ELA scale score gains in comparison to a group of demographically similar students who had minimal or no Reading Plus use (significant at p<.001). These scale score gains translated into more than twice as many Reading Plus students advancing to a higher SBAC ELA achievement level.

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Reading Plus was widely used in Florida’s Miami-Dade County School District during the 2013-2014 school year. Among those using the program were many students designated as English Language Learners (ELLs) and receiving English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) services. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of Reading Plus reading practice on the scores ELL students achieved on the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test 2.0 (FCAT). At the time, this was the standardized state test administered to all Florida public school students in grades three through ten.

Study Design:

Included in the study were ELL students for whom valid 2013 and 2014 FCAT scores were available (n = 46,171). Among these were 12,845 students who were on English Proficiency Levels 1-4 and receiving ESOL services. The remaining 33,326 ELL students had received ESOL services previously but no longer did so because they had attained English proficiency.

Changes in FCAT scores and levels over the course of one year were examined in relation to English Proficiency Levels and the amount of reading practice students engaged in. The latter was quantified in terms of the number of reading practice lessons completed.

Key Results:

At the elementary, middle, and high school levels, ELL students who engaged in more Reading Plus practice (e.g., 100 or more ~15-minute lessons) achieved significantly larger scale score gains on the reading portion of the FCAT and were significantly more likely to advance to a higher level on the FCAT; e.g., from below satisfactory to satisfactory or above. The largest FCAT score and level gains were seen among ELL students with lower initial levels of English proficiency.

Within the Reading Plus program, ELL students who engaged in more reading practice also achieved significantly larger reading rate gains and were more likely to advance to higher levels of text complexity while continuing to demonstrate good comprehension.

These results indicate that the Reading Plus program is an effective tool for developing reading proficiency in ELL students.

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This study evaluated the effect of Reading Plus practice on the results achieved by lower- and higher-performing General Education students on the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test 2.0 (FCAT). The FCAT is the standardized state test that was administered to Florida public school students in Grades 3 through 10 in 2014 and prior years.

Study Design:

Included in the study were general education students (i.e., not receiving services for ELL or SPED) in grades 4-10 with valid 2013 and 2014 FCAT data (n = 104,475). Of these, 74% were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch and 61% completed reading practice lessons.

This study evaluated the changes in performance levels between the spring 2013 and spring 2014 administrations of the FCAT in relation to starting level on the FCAT and the amount of reading practice students engaged in. Reading practice was quantified in terms of the number of reading practice lessons completed.

Key Results:

Of the elementary, middle, and high school students who scored below satisfactory (below FCAT level 3) in reading in 2013, a significantly larger percentage of students who engaged in Reading Plus practice achieved satisfactory levels (FCAT level 3) or higher in 2014 as compared to students who did not engage in Reading Plus practice.

Students who had already achieved FCAT Level 3 (satisfactory) or higher at the end of the 2013 school year, and then completed at least 100 Reading Plus lessons (~30 hours), were significantly more likely to advance to Level 4 (above satisfactory) or Level 5 (mastery of most challenging content) on the FCAT at the end of the 2014 school year.

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This study evaluated changes in the reading proficiency of students who were eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunch under the National School Lunch Program, often used as a proxy for socioeconomic status, in relation to the amount of Reading Plus reading practice the students engaged in during the course of the 2013-14 school year. These results were also compared with the performance of students not eligible for subsidized lunch.

Scores and levels on the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test 2.0 (FCAT) were used as the measure of reading achievement. At the time, the FCAT was the standardized state test administered to all Florida public school students in grades three through ten.

Study Design:

Included in the study were students in grades 4-10 with valid 2013 and 2014 FCAT data (n = 104,475). Of these, 77% were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch and 63% completed reading practice lessons.

Changes in scores and levels between the spring 2013 and spring 2014 administrations of the FCAT were examined in relation to lunch status and the amount of reading practice students engaged in. The latter was quantified in terms of the number of reading practice lessons completed.

Key Results:

In all grade bands, a significant positive relationship was found between increasing amounts of Reading Plus practice and larger scale score gains on the FCAT. This was true for all student groups regardless of their subsidized lunch status.

As well, students who completed at least 100 Reading Plus lessons (~30 hours) were significantly more likely to advance from below satisfactory to satisfactory or higher levels on the reading portion of the FCAT. This also was true regardless of a student’s subsidized lunch status.

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