A HISTORY OF TEXT READING LEVELS
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Discontinued Rates and Gains in Text Reading Levels |
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| School Year | Total Served | Number Discontinued | Percentage Discontinued |
Exit Text Reading Level |
Year-End Text Level | n | Median Gain (Fall to Year-End) | ||||||||
| n | Mean | Mean | Mode | SD | n | Mean | Median | Mode | SD | ||||||
| 1991-1992 | 163 | 102 | 63% | 100 | 14.4 | 14.0 | 14.0 | 2.6 | 102 | 18.1 | 18.0 | 14.0 | 4.9 | 95 | 17.4 |
| 1992-1993 | 475 | 296 | 62% | 296 | 14.4 | 14.0 | 14.0 | 2.9 | 267 | 16.8 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 3.5 | 248 | 15.8 |
| 1993-1994 | 862 | 471 | 55% | 471 | 15.4 | 16.0 | 14.0 | 3.1 | 440 | 18.6 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 4.1 | 384 | 18.0 |
| 1994-1995 | 1415 | 754 | 53% | 747 | 15.4 | 16.0 | 14.0 | 3.2 | 727 | 18.4 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 4.1 | 668 | 17.7 |
| 1995-1996 | 1723 | 930 | 54% | 924 | 15.9 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 3.1 | 907 | 18.7 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 3.8 | 840 | 18.0 |
| 1996-1997 | 1967 | 896 | 46% | 890 | 16.7 | 16.0 | 18.0 | 2.9 | 872 | 19.1 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 3.6 | 809 | 18.4 |
| 1997-1998 | 2188 | 1092 | 50% | 1084 | 17.1 | 17.0 | 18.0 | 2.7 | 107 | 19.3 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 3.6 | 988 | 18.5 |
| 1998-1999 | 2282 | 1155 | 51% | 1145 | 17.1 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 2.9 | 1139 | 19.6 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 3.6 | 1011 | 18.8 |
| 1999-2000 | 2524 | 1313 | 52% | 1299 | 16.9 | 16.0 | 18.0 | 3.1 | 1271 | 19.5 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 3.7 | 1102 | 18.6 |
| 2000-2001 | 2439 | 1406 | 58% | 1399 | 17.0 | 16.0 | 18.0 | 3.6 | 1385 | 19.7 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 3.7 | 1224 | 18.7 |
| 2001-2002 | 2469 | 1418 | 57% | 1415 | 16.6 | 16.0 | 18.0 | 3.5 | 1388 | 19.5 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 4.0 | 1213 | 18.4 |
| 2002-2003 | 2457 | 1411 | 57% | 1409 | 16.4 | 16.0 | 18.0 | 3.8 | 1372 | 19.3 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 3.7 | 1201 | 18.1 |
| Total | 20,966 | 11,244 | 55% | ||||||||||||
Discontinued: Meeting or exceeding the average achievement level in mainstream classes within the short, 20-week period of Reading Recovery lessons.
Exit Text Reading Level: The text level criteria considered "average of the class" that students must meet within the 20-week period of Reading Recovery lessons.
Year-End Text Level: The level achieved by Reading Recovery students at the end of first grade, several months after their Reading Recovery lessons have ended.
What Text Levels Mean: Text levels 14 - 16 = National standard for achievement at end of first grade; Text levels 18 - 20 = National standard for achievement at beginning of second grade
What the Data Tell Us
Percentage discontinued: indicates that between 50 to 60% of students successfully achieved average reading levels for their classes with 20 weeks of Reading Recovery lessons. This finding is remarkable given that Reading Recovery students start out as the lowest achievers in first grade. Moreover, Maine Reading Recovery success rates would likely be higher if students had adequate time to complete their programs. Typically, 16% of Reading Recovery students served in the second half of the school year are unable to complete their programs given the high number of snow days and the short Maine school year.
Exit Text Reading Level: Over the past eleven years, the average exit text reading level has steadily risen, suggesting that Maine first grade literacy performance has increased as a result of Reading Recovery.
Year-End Text Level: Over these twelve years, there has been a steady increase in exit, year-end and mean gain (fall to year-end) text reading levels of Reading Recovery students. The average of mean exit text reading levels over the past 11 years is 16.1, the average of all year-end text levels is 18.8 and the average mean gain from fall to year-end over the same period is 18.02. These findings shows that Maine Reading Recovery students exiting grade 1 have exceeded the national standard for grade one. They also show that Reading Recovery students continue to make progress after completing their Reading Recovery lessons. In sum, Reading Recovery has provided Maine students with the skills they need to benefit from classroom reading instruction without additional help.
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ŠThis is an official publication of the
University of Maine |
