DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. – READ USA released results Monday morning on its first literacy tutoring reading intervention study in seven Duval County elementary schools.
The school board and READ USA revealed the findings of the first-ever randomized controlled trial.
“The study results show that students who participated in READ USA literacy tutoring were 68% more likely to increase their performance level in reading skills, compared to the students in the students in the control group at those same schools,” READ USA CEO Dr. Rob Kelly said.
Here’s how it works:
- 7 DCPS elementary school students participated in the study
- All students were in grades 2 to 5
- 159 students received READ USA tutoring
- Another 154 students (the control group) did not receive the tutoring
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Tutoring lasted for three months, three days per week, 40 minutes per day by tutors in either high school or college.
Tearica Watts’s daughter was one of the students who received tutoring and saw major academic improvements because of it.
“She wasn’t doing too well in her reading class and the teacher was very concerned because she is a leader, and she is not kind of leading. She recommended that we sign up for READ USA and within a couple of months, she went back from an F to an A student,” Watts said.
READ USA’s results were measured by the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking, known as FAST.
The findings showed that tutoring was equally effective for all student demographics despite race, gender, and learning disability.
READ USA students also saw improvement in word reading accuracy, oral reading fluency, and reading comprehension.
“The evidence is in the data and the results,” Interim Superintendent Dana Kriznar said.
Parents can learn more about signing up for the program by visiting this website.