A Building-Based Case Study of Evidence-Based Literacy Practices

Abstract

This study investigated the multiyear effects of a school-wide implementation of evidence-based literacy practices and a program to prevent early reading failure in one elementary school. Guided by a collaborative partnership/professional development model, the researchers hypothesized that teachers would implement and sustain their use of a range of new evidence-based practices and that these practices would produced accelerated levels and rates of growth in classroom reading behaviors broadly across students and in curriculum-based measurement (CBM) reading fluency. Results over 3 years indicated the following: (a) teachers did implement new evidence-based practices; (b) use of these practices with kindergarten and first-grade cohorts was associated with larger slopes in silent reading in second grade, a common point in time, compared to an older third-grade cohort not exposed to these strategies and to students at risk and with disabilities, who did not differ in their levels of classroom reading behavior; (c) classroom reading behaviors occurred most often in the presence of peer tutors, reading partners, or teacher-led one-on-one, small-group, or independent instructional arrangements as compared to entire group, teacher-led instruction; (d) growth in reading fluency was substantial overall; however, comparison of cohorts' progress at second grade indicated no differences in CBM fluency growth associated with students' differential histories of exposure to evidence-based practices, whereas differences in growth as a function of level of risk were found. Students at high risk progressed more slowly in attaining reading fluency than did typical students and low-risk students. Implications are discussed.