At a glance
- Programs: System 44®, Read 180®
- Subjects: Literacy Curriculum, Intervention Curriculum
- Report Type: Efficacy Study
- Grade Level: Elementary, Middle, High
- Region: Southwest
- Population: Students with Disabilities
- District Urbanicity: Suburban
- District Size: Large
- Implementation Model: 60-79 Minutes, 80+ Minutes
Read 180 now incorporates the comprehensive foundational literacy skills scope and sequence from System 44.
Students with disabilities achieve statistically significant gains after one year of System 44.
Located outside of Houston, Texas, the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District (CFISD) enrolls more than 105,000 students in 52 elementary schools, 16 middle schools, 11 high schools, and four special program campuses. The district’s student population is 42% Hispanic, 31% White, 16% African American, 8% Asian American, and less than 1% American Indian. Forty-six percent of all students receive free or reduced-price lunch, and 22% of all students are limited-English proficient (LEP).
During the fall of 2009, CFISD implemented System 44 at 39 campuses—including elementary, middle, and high schools—with over 500 students with disabilities. In addition to their disability classification, 459 students in Grades 4–12 were selected to participate based on a number of criteria, including performing poorly on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS™) Reading, scoring below 400L on the Reading Inventory®, and exhibiting difficulty with word-reading skills on the Phonics Inventory®. All classrooms implemented a stand-alone model of System 44, with the classroom period varying from 60 to 90 minutes based on school schedule. All classrooms followed a rotational model, including a whole-group introduction, followed by 20- to 25-minute rotations in small-group instruction or on the instructional software.
Fall 2009 and spring 2010 Reading Inventory data were collected and analyzed from 459 students in Grades 4–12 who used the program during the 2009–2010 school year. Findings revealed that System 44 students demonstrated gains on the Reading Inventory during the 2009–2010 school year. System 44 students improved, on average, from a pretest score of 173L to a posttest score of 256L, resulting in a statistically significant gain of 83L (Graph 1). Elementary students in Grades 4 and 5 demonstrated a significant gain of 41L, middle school students in Grades 6–8 exhibited a significant gain of 103L, and high school students in Grades 9–12 achieved a significant gain of 87L. As Table 1 shows, results were particularly impressive for eighth-grade and ninth-grade students who demonstrated a significant achievement gain of 123L and 121L, respectively.
GRAPH 1. Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District System 44 Students with Disabilities, Grades 4–12 (N=459)
Performance on Reading Inventory, 2009–2010
Note. The gains in Lexile® score were statistically significant for all students (t=11.46, p=.00), elementary school students (t=4.29, p=.00), middle school students (t=9.18, p=.00), and high school students (t=6.04, p=.00).
