The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with MetLife Foundation, is proud to present the fourth in a series of four issue briefs examining critical issues facing middle school youth and the vital role afterschool programs play in addressing these issues. This brief focuses on literacy education. While literacy's definition continues to expand to…

The Illinois Striving Readers (ISR) Project had two purposes: (1) implement a supplemental reading intervention for students in ninth grade who were reading below grade level; and (2) study the impact of the intervention on students' performance on standardized assessments using a randomized control trial design. The Illinois Striving Readers…

In the action research project report, the teacher researchers found that many kindergarten and first-grade students did not have the reading readiness skills to be reading at their benchmark target. The purpose of the project was to improve the students overall reading ability. The dates of the project began on September 8 through December 20,…

This report describes a program for improving reading skills. The targeted population consisted of first and second grade students from urban and rural communities in Northern Illinois. The problem of underachievement in reading was documented by reading inventories, writing samples, and writing prompts. Analysis of probable cause data revealed…

A project developed processes for improving the reading comprehension of third- and fourth-grade students in two progressive suburban communities in northern Illinois. Analysis of probable cause data revealed that students lacked knowledge of reading strategies and a review of the district's general curriculum and textbooks revealed systematic…