“The results of this study echo what educators across the country have been telling us,” said Lesa Scott, President of Heinemann. “LLI works. It utilizes consistent, short term, small group intervention to inspire young students to conquer their struggles with literacy. We know that helping them become strong readers is the key to so many other educational opportunities.”

LLI is a small-group supplemental literacy intervention system designed to help struggling K-2 students quickly achieve grade-level competency. It emphasizes systematic and explicit instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension, and the expansion of oral language skills. In the course of 12-18 weeks, students participating in LLI increase their literacy by participating in daily lessons that utilize a series of leveled texts developed to align with the F & P Text Level Gradient™. In the LLI system Fountas & Pinnell have also provided educators with professional development tools and thorough training to prepare them for using LLI in small-group supplemental instruction.

The CREP study was conducted during the 2009-2010 school year in the rural Tifton County Schools (TCS) in Georgia and the suburban Enlarged City School District of Middletown (ECSDM). Both school districts had more than half of their students identified as “economically disadvantaged.” Researchers wanted to assess the efficacy of LLI across all three grade levels for which it is designed. Struggling readers eligible for LLI were split into two groups (the control group, who received no supplemental LLI instruction, and the treatment group, participating in LLI). They were all given benchmark tests before and after the treatment period. Teachers were also asked to fill out a survey asking whether or not they felt the system was effective for their students.

The results of the study showed that students across all grade levels benefited from participating in LLI. Additionally, the study suggested special application especially for ELL students, students with a special education designation, and minority students in both rural and suburban settings. The assessment tests showed students achieving between 1½ and 5½ benchmark levels after LLI, versus one to three benchmark levels without. Overall, the study proved the efficacy of the LLI system in helping students make significant progress in literacy compared to students who only receive regular in-class instruction.

“This empirical study confirmed that LLI is indeed effective in improving reading skills,” said Dr. Carolyn Ransford-Kaldon, one of the researchers on the project. “While a wide variety of students benefited from the system, the Center for Research in Educational Policy found the system particularly beneficial for students who are English language learners, those who are eligible for special education services, and those who are economically disadvantaged.”

The results will be formally presented to a group of participating educators and parents on October 28th in Tifton and at a board of education meeting on November 4th in Middletown.

To view the study results, or learn more about the Leveled Literacy Intervention system, please visit www.fountasandpinnell.com