Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment
Reading
Reading First is a federal grant program authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act and administered by the U.S. Department of Education. States award funds to school districts to implement a comprehensive reading program that includes a scientifically-based core reading program, a reading coach to support teachers, and an assessment system that screens, monitors, and evaluates student progress. A team from the Center for Research Evaluation and Assessment conductes the statewide evaluations of Reading First in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Washington and Wyoming; the team also collaborates on portions of the Arizona evaluation. Additional information can be found in the NW Report or by contacting the project director: Theresa Deussen.
Washington Reading Corps is a statewide volunteer tutoring project to improve reading abilities of K-6 students through research-based tutoring of struggling readers and effective collaborations among schools, families, community members, businesses, state, and federal partners. NWREL is conducting a formative and summative evaluation of the program.
The Reading Excellence Act was authorized by Title VIII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The program awarded grants to states that, in turn, funded school districts to implement reading programs based on scientifically validated reading methods to improve reading skills of students in grades K-3. The funds were used for professional development, tutoring, family literacy, and transition programs for kindergarten students. The Evaluation Program provided evaluations of Reading Excellence Act projects in Alaska, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.