Study Reveals Impacts of Read to Me Project
Independent study documents statistically significant increases in reading abilities among student readers and higher early literacy skills in children being read to.
In 2018, RtMP sent out an RFP to solicit professional help in analyzing data about the effectiveness of the program on the pre-kindergarten-aged children being read to (“Little Ones”) and on the 4 th , 5 th and 6 th grade students who read to their siblings at home (“Student Readers”). Hamai Consulting was engaged to analyze RtMP’s impact on program participants by comparing data to non-participants in Greenfield Union School District during the 2015-2019 school years.
The following are some of the conclusions from Hamai Consulting’s “Evaluation Impact Report,” released in October 2019.
Overall, the report found that Read to Me Project was successful in helping participants, both Student Readers and Little Ones, be better equipped with the skills required to be successful in school as measured by standardized assessments.
The following positive outcomes were found:
RtMP Student Readers showed…
- Statistically significantly higher increases in reading scores compared to non-participants.
- Significantly improved overall literacy and reading scores for fourth-grade student readers.
- Significantly improved oral reading fluency and reading comprehension from the beginning to end of the school year among fourth- and fifth-grade student readers.
- Fourth- and fifth-grade female students performed statistically significantly better than male student readers.
RtMP Little Ones showed…
- Significant, positive differences in early literacy skills in phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
- Higher early-literacy and early reading skill scores.
- Higher written, oral and composite English language scores.
- Being read to 100 days or more yielded the highest average early-literacy skill scores by the end of the school year, well above the benchmark.
The Read to Me Project helps under-served children achieve kindergarten readiness and a lifetime of literacy by empowering school age brothers and sisters to read to their young siblings at home. We also raise public awareness about the literacy crisis and the need for language development and pre-reading skills during a child’s first five years of life.