The purpose of this study was to expand the previous research evidence of HMH Into Reading’s effectiveness by examining the impact of HMH Into Reading^® on students’ literacy skills in Kansas. The study, conducted by Cobblestone Applied Research & Evaluation, Inc., used a single-group pre-post design to examine whether students using the HMH Into Reading program improved in their reading achievement over the course of the school year.

During the 2023–2024 school year, all elementary schools in the district participated in their first year implementing HMH Into Reading as the core English language arts curriculum. Located in a rural agriculture setting, the participating Kansas school district includes 1600 students with the following demographics: White (85%), Hispanic (4%), African American (2%), Native America (2%), and Asian (< 1%). Of the students, 16% are eligible for special education services, 60% are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, and no students were classified as English learners (NCES, 2023).

HMH Into Reading is a research-based, evidence-informed, comprehensive English language arts program built to support teachers in delivering explicit and systematic instruction across all literacy strands—phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing—using a structured literacy approach. The program engages students in building knowledge and skills through culturally relevant texts organized around science, social studies, and arts topics. HMH Into Reading provides standards-aligned K–5 content and assessments, data insights, and differentiated resources to meet diverse classroom needs during whole- and small-group instruction. In addition, to support the delivery of effective instruction, HMH Into Reading features research-based approaches to professional learning that support teachers in becoming developers of high-impact learning experiences for their students. 

Comprehensive professional learning solutions are data and evidence driven, mapped to instructional goals, and centered on students, and they build educators’ collective capacity. HMH® allows teachers to achieve agency in their professional growth through effective instructional strategies, embedded teacher support, and ongoing professional learning relevant to everyday teaching.

A total of 375 students were included in the analytic sample for Grades 2–5 (See Table 1 for participating students’ demographic characteristics). The district provided the research firm with students’ 2023–2024 school year demographic and FastBridge assessment data to analyze students’ reading outcomes. Students were included in the analysis if they had both demographic information and FastBridge aReading assessment scores for the beginning of the year (BOY), middle of the year (MOY), and end of the year (EOY). Note, Grades K–1 were not included in the analytic sample because the FastBridge Early Reading assessment for Grades K–1 does not produce a composite score that can be analyzed across the school year.

The Formative Assessment System for Teachers™ Adaptive Reading assessment, also known as the FastBridge aReading assessment is a computer adaptive test that is designed to individually measure students broad reading ability. The question-and-response format is similar to common state-wide administered standardized tests. The test items address five target areas: concepts of print, phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension. Administered three times a year to screen and estimate annual growth, the test provides scaled scores ranging from 350 to 750 (Renaissance, 2024).

All elementary schools in the school district were implementing HMH Into Reading for the first full year, as their core English language arts curriculum. Nearly all of the teachers participated in the HMH Into Reading “Getting Started” virtual training. The majority of teachers reported using HMH Into Reading instruction, practice, and assessment activities daily for at least 61 to 120 minutes, along with HMH Into Reading writing activities daily for at least 16 to 30 minutes. The HMH Into Reading structured literacy lessons for foundational literacy skills instruction were provided as an option for all K–2 teachers, with more than 50% of teachers reporting use.

The study used a single-group pre-post design. To determine the impact of HMH Into Reading on the literacy skills of students in Grades 2–5 during the 2023–2024 school year, a series of repeated measures ANOVA tests were executed for each grade level to assess if there were significant differences in students’ composite scores on the FastBridge reading assessment at BOY, MOY, and EOY.

Grade 2

There was a significant effect of time of measurement of the FastBridge reading assessment (i.e., BOY, MOY, EOY) on Grade 2 students’ scores, F(2, 176) = 92.80, p < .001, with time of measurement accounting for 51% of the variance in scores, η²p = .51. Post-hoc tests showed that there was a significant difference between students’ FastBridge BOY scores (M = 470.8; SD = 25.4) and MOY scores (M = 482.2; SD = 24.1), MMOY-MBOY = 11.4, p < .001, as well as between their MOY scores and EOY scores (M = 489.8; SD = 22.2), MEOY-MMOY = 7.6, p < .001¹ (see Figure 1). 

These results suggest that Grade 2 students using HMH Into Reading performed significantly better on the FastBridge reading assessment over the school year, with performance improving from BOY to MOY, and further improving from MOY to EOY.

Grade 3

There was a significant effect of time of measurement of the FastBridge reading assessment (i.e., BOY, MOY, EOY) on Grade 3 students’ scores, F(2, 172) = 67.79, p < .001, with time of measurement accounting for 44% of the variance in scores, η²p= . 44. Post-hoc tests¹ showed that there was a significant difference between students’ FastBridge BOY scores (M =495.4; SD = 21.6) and MOY scores (M = 499.4; SD = 20.8), MMOY-MBOY = 4.0, p < .001, as well as between their MOY scores and EOY scores (M = 505.6; SD = 20.2), MEOY-MMOY = 6.2, p < .001 (see Figure 1). 

These results suggest that Grade 3 students using HMH Into Reading performed significantly better on the FastBridge reading assessment over the school year, with performance improving from BOY to MOY, and further improving from MOY to EOY.

Grade 4

There was a significant effect of time of measurement of the FastBridge reading assessment (i.e., BOY, MOY, EOY) on Grade 4 students’ scores, F(1.9, 180.7) = 41.30, p < .001², with time of measurement accounting for 30% of the variance in scores, η²p= . 30. Post-hoc tests¹ showed that there was a significant difference between students’ FastBridge BOY scores (M =508.1; SD = 23.5) and MOY scores (M = 510.9; SD = 20.8), MMOY-MBOY = 2.8, p < .001, as well as between their MOY scores and EOY scores (M = 518.0; SD = 20.3), MEOY-MMOY = 7.1, p < .001 (see Figure 1). 

These results suggest that Grade 4 students using HMH Into Reading performed significantly better on the FastBridge reading assessment over the school year, with performance improving from BOY to MOY, and further improving from MOY to EOY.

Grade 5

There was a significant effect of time of measurement of the FastBridge reading assessment (i.e., BOY, MOY, EOY) on Grade 5 students’ scores, F(2, 184) = 19.54, p < .001, with time of measurement accounting for 18% of the variance in scores, η²p = . 18. Post-hoc tests¹ showed that while there was no significant difference between students’ FastBridge BOY scores (M =518.6; SD = 22.2) and MOY scores (M = 519.9; SD = 21.5), MMOY-MBOY = 1.3, p = .723 there was a significant increase from their MOY scores to their EOY scores (M = 524.5; SD = 22.2), MEOY-MMOY = 4.6, p < .001 (see Figure 1). 

These results suggest that Grade 5 students using HMH Into Reading show improved performance on the FastBridge reading assessment over the school year, with significantly improved performance from the MOY to the EOY.

The HMH Into Reading Kansas study examined the impact of the HMH Into Reading program on Grades 2–5 students’ reading outcomes during the 2023–2024 school year. Cobblestone Applied Research & Evaluation, Inc. designed a single-group pre-post study that included students from all elementary schools in the school district. FastBridge reading assessment data were analyzed separately for each grade level to address the research question, comparing students’ performance at three points (BOY, MOY, EOY). The study results indicate that students in Grades 2–5 showed significant improvement over the year. This study further expands the research evidence for the program which has previously demonstrated a positive impact across grade levels, using various outcome measures and in different states.

Renaissance (2024). Technical manual: Psychometric evidence of the FastBridge universal screener and progress monitoring system. https://renaissance.widen.net/s/zh2slrtqdr/pefastbridge

U.S. Department of Education. Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (2023). Common Core of Data (CCD): Public elementary/secondary school universe of data (2022–2023). https://nces.ed.gov/ccd