Research for Better Schools

Memphis Striving Readers Project (MSRP)

Memphis City Schools has been awarded a five-year Striving Readers grant by the U.S. Department of Education to improve literacy through models that will impact both whole school populations and specific subgroups of struggling readers. Experts from the University of Memphis have designed the program and are providing the professional development it entails. This grant also includes a rigorous research and evaluation component, which is being conducted by Research for Better Schools.

This program is being implemented in eight Memphis middle schools, involving approximately 6,000 students and 200 teachers. The evaluation design includes both experimental and control groups.

The main features of the intervention models are briefly described in the figure below.

Literacy Intervention Model: Whole School Designer/Developer of Intervention Model Professional Development Provider
Memphis Content Literacy Academy (MCLA) Robert R. Cooter, Jr. Ed.D. Memphis Content Literacy Academy Instructors

Basic features of literacy intervention model:

  1. 180 hours of professional development over a two-year period focusing on evidence-based reading strategies applied in core subject areas for grades 6-9. Uses the principles of distributed learning over time to improve teacher capacity.
  2. On-site coaching for participants to insure fidelity of implementation.
  3. Provide an instructional materials center housing content literacy materials on differing reading levels matched to subject area content.
  4. Training for principals on ways they can support their teachers in creating and sustaining content literacy school wide.
Literacy Intervention Model: Targeted Designer/Developer of Intervention Model Professional Development Provider
READ 180 Scholastic, Inc. Scholastic, Inc.

Basic features of literacy intervention model:

  1. Students needing remediation in reading are identified for enrollment and randomly assigned to be in the program.
  2. Students receive 90 minutes of differentiated instruction per day.
  3. Instruction occurs in 20-minute rotations: whole class, small group, independent reading, and computerized instruction.
  4. Student progress is tracked through various report systems (SRI, Fluency Assessments, Segment Status, Growth, Time-on-Task, Word Zone, etc.)

For additional information, please contact info@rbs.org.

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