Sample Research

Research shows that SPI:

  • Improves 6-12 literacy education;
  • Closes achievement gaps for diverse student populations;
  • Increases academic achievement for all/diverse learners;
  • Decreases dropout rates;
  • Increases high school graduation rates;
  • Increases teachers satisfaction; and
  • Improves teacher and school leader effectiveness.

SPI Research + Evaluation

Changing Lives, Raising Scores

SPI's work in schools is innovative, sustainable and cost-effective. To
achieve these core goals, SPI has implemented sound and objective research
which further informs our practice.

Testimony from teachers and students offers a compelling argument for the effectiveness of the SPI literacy model, but anecdotal evidence is not enough. To demonstrate reliable and valid statistics, SPI compares:

  1. Reading and Writing skills measures against baseline levels, utilizing
> longitudinal results from City and State standardized test scores; and
  2. Empirical measures of students' short-term and long-term attitude change
with regard to literacy, motivation, and self-concept to name a few.

Data utilizing City-wide reading and writing assessments have produced powerful results. As noted in the graphics below, SPI significantly improved the reading and writing skill development of 9th and 10th grade classroom in NYC high schools. The trajectory for SPI classrooms shows a steep incline in skills.

The growth in writing performance of students who participated in SPI's project-based reading and writing curriculum significantly exceeded that of students who did not participate in an SPI project (p < .01).

Reading performance of students who participated in SPI's project-based reading and writing curriculum in 9th and 10th grade significantly exceeded that of students who did not participate in SPI projects (p < .01).

Data Analysis

On a scale of 1 to 4 (1=insufficient, 4=skillful), aspects of students' reading and writing skills were assessed up to three times a year and then transformed into holistic reading and writing scores. To assess validity of these results, evaluators drew scores from control classrooms not participating in SPI projects. The control classrooms were similar in their demographics and had matching initial literacy skill levels. Students in the SPI classrooms finished the school year with significantly higher reading and writing scores than the control classrooms (Graph reference).

Looking to the Future

To expand our program of evaluation, SPI will supplement reading and writing scores with additional representative data. Beyond Reading and Writing skills, we are interested in assessing changes in attitude and motivation - potential correlates with skill enhancement. SPI values the individual experience of students' learning, a focus of research in education for several decades. Integrating into the research students' attitudes toward reading and writing, evaluators will assess changes in students¹ self-concepts as writers, their beliefs about intelligence, and other related psychological measures. We hope that the resulting data will further inform the field of literacy achievement and assessments. Tapping into teacher attitudes, beliefs, and practices, we are gleaning valuable information in the field of professional teacher development. Results of these studies will be posted Summer 2010.