By Jessica Sanders
Fancy words and catchy images don’t always translate to success—in fact, they almost never do when it comes to learning tools for Title 1 schools. What matters is the data—you want to know if your students will improve, if scores will go up and more.
These five tools are not only effective, but they have the data to prove it.
More: 5 Noteworthy Reading Programs for Title 1 Schools
1. SuccessMaker 8
This program, created by Pearson, provides both math and reading support, and is built with software that adapts and tracks the learning of every student. With this technology, instruction can be more personalized and effective.
The Data
Students using SuccessMaker Math outgained peers using a competitor product by 34 percentiles. This data was gathered from sixty-three diverse 3rd, 5th and 7th grade classrooms from eight urban and suburban school districts in seven different states during the 2009-10 school year.
Students using SuccessMaker Reading also outperformed students using a competitor product by 10 percent. The program was evaluated in eighty diverse 3rd, 5th and 7th grade classrooms from eight urban and suburban school districts in seven different states during the 2010-11 school year.
2. Whooo’s Reading
This online reading log allows teachers and admin to motivate and track independent reading. It uses gamification features, such as personalization, goal setting and rewards and recognition, to encourage students to become better readers and critical thinkers.
The Data
A 2015 case study of one middle school class at a Title 1 school in Ohio found that after just four months of using Whooo’s Reading, those who began reading at or above reading level improved 1.5x the national expected growth average (Based on 2013-14 National Lexile Assessment), and students who began reading below grade level improved 4x the expected growth.
In addition, when surveying four classes—2 classes acted as the control group, and 2 classes used Whooo’s Reading—in 6th grade at a Title 1 school in South Carolina during the 2015-2016 school year, the RIT scores of students using Whooo’s Reading improved 50 percent more than the control students. This growth significantly exceeded average expected increase in RIT score.
More: 5 Reasons I Use Whooo’s Reading in My Classroom
3. Language!
This program, designed for students from elementary to high school, helps struggling readers to reach their full potential. By integrating reading, writing, spelling, vocabulary, foundational skills and more, Language acts as a well-rounded approach for improvement.
The Data
An unknown number of students in grades 3-7, at Caldwell County Schools in North Carolina, used Language for 8 months (2006-2006) and saw significant improvements in student reading level. The data assessed general education students, as well as those with free and reduced lunch and those in special education programs.
4. Read 180
This blended learning solution, for students in grades 4-12, uses adaptive technology, professional development and up-to-date brain science to accelerate learning for all students.
The Data
Students with a variety of disabilities, in grades 4-11 in the San Antonio Independent School Districts, showed significant gains on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) during the year in which they used Read 180 (2010-11). The data found improvements in students across the board, including those with specific disabilities and health impairments.
More: How Gamification Helped More Than 10,000 Teachers Improve Reading
5. Success For All
Success For All provides a suite of Title-approved programs, divided up for use by grade level. Each program is designed with the student in mind, providing a learning experience that is both engaging and effective.
The Data
Elementary school students in California who used Success for All saw significant improvements on the California Standards Test (CST)—Reading scale. Specifically, grades 2-6 saw a 21.5 percentage-point increase in the number of students who scored proficient or above. Overall, California elementary schools gained 18.3 percentage points.
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Kara Lewis
March 29, 2016 at 1:05 pm
Who compiled the data on those programs?
Jessica Sanders
March 29, 2016 at 3:09 pm
Myself, the author, did some digging through each tool’s research pages to find the best data points to share. Many edtech tools make this publicly available, so it’s rather easy to find.
Monica Knuppe
March 29, 2016 at 6:35 pm
why is the data so old? 2006? 2011?
Jessica Sanders
March 30, 2016 at 1:34 pm
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find more up-to-date data for some of the tools, but I thought that what I did find was strong enough to present as evidence. Thanks for checking it out!
Sidney Smith
April 2, 2016 at 6:33 am
I can only speak for the program “success for all” Our school used it. At first it seemed to be successful. But in not so many years it leveled off and it wasn’t there any longer. Same happened in my sisters school in a different city. This is the case with many of these programs. No long term imptovements.
Jessica Sanders
April 4, 2016 at 9:14 am
Thanks so much for sharing – that’s definitely an interesting thing to note. I can only speak for Whooo’s Reading, our tool, which we are constantly updating and improving. We pride ourselves on making changes that our teachers specifically request. We’ve made more than 10 updates in the past 6 months, all of which were based on large amounts of requests for the addition or modification of certain features. If you’re still in the education world, I recommend checking out Whooo’s Reading. We’d be more than happy to give you a free 30-minute web demo. Email me at Jessica@WhooosReading.org if you’re interested!
AmyBelle Young
April 2, 2016 at 3:18 pm
Here’s the problem I have with things like this. One research study doesn’t prove that these things work. You need multiple studies over more than three years to show that these things work. The only program for schools that I have seen with that type of research proof is the research done on the effectiveness of school library programs. More than 20 studies over 20 years show that effective library programs, operated by certified teacher librarians improve student achievement on multiple measures. When the programs in this post have that kind of research base, I will buy.
Jessica Sanders
April 4, 2016 at 9:11 am
Thanks for your input, and I agree—this data is not the end all be all. However, I do think some data is better than none, and most of these tools have many studies, we just chose to call these particular ones out in the article. For those who want more info, a simple browsing of their website will turn up a lot more information that can help you make a truly informed decision. Thanks again!
AmyBelle Young
April 14, 2016 at 4:29 pm
If you are relying on a vendor website for research results, you will never find data that proves their products don’t work! What is needed real research from unbiased sources to make a truly informed opinion.
Jessica Sanders
April 17, 2016 at 9:38 am
Agreed! We wanted to present what we were able to find, and this is what we found. Thanks for your thoughts and for checking it out!