Leavenworth and Atchison (Kan.) LiNK Evaluation
The Iowa Reading Research Center was selected as an external evaluator for a literacy project funded under a $27 million federal grant awarded to Kansas. The center is collecting and analyzing data related to four outcomes for the Leavenworth Unified School District 453 and Atchison Unified School District 409, which are working together as a consortium. The IRRC is also monitoring the consortium’s adherence to project goals, tracking students’ literacy development from birth through Grade 12, and providing data-driven guidance and recommendations to the consortium over the program’s three-year duration.
Green Hills Area Education Agency Literacy Professional Development Evaluation
The Iowa Reading Research Center evaluated a specific literacy training provided by the Green Hills Area Education Agency (GHAEA) for kindergarten through Grade 3 educators in four rural districts served by the GHAEA. The center monitored the fidelity with which teachers implemented the literacy instructional approach and analyzed students’ literacy data to determine if the training contributed to changes in teachers’ instruction and in students’ subsequent literacy performance.
Writing Development in the Marshalltown Community School District
The Iowa Reading Research Center is evaluating the writing development of Grades 1-6 students in the Marshalltown Community School District. The center developed writing prompts and passages, created scoring rubrics, and is scoring student writing samples in English and Spanish. The IRRC also is determining if different types of writing scores are predictive of students’ performance on state writing assessments.
Focus–Cedar Rapids Community School District
The Iowa Reading Research Center worked with the Cedar Rapids Community School District to create the Focus instructional cycle and provide professional learning for middle school teachers to implement the cycle in support of delivering evidence-based reading comprehension and vocabulary instruction. The center is also providing student data analysis to determine outcomes of the implementation.