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System 44: Atlantic City School District

At a glance

  • Demonstrates a Rationale
  • Programs: System 44®, Read 180®
  • Subjects: Literacy Curriculum, Intervention Curriculum
  • Report Type: Efficacy Study
  • Grade Level: Elementary, Middle
  • Region: Northeast
  • District Urbanicity: Urban
  • District Size: Medium
  • Implementation Model: 40-59 Minutes
  • District: Atlantic City School District, NJ
  • Participants: N=36
  • Outcome Measure: Reading Inventory
  • Evaluation Period: 2009–2010
  • Study Conducted by: Scholastic Research

Read 180 now incorporates the comprehensive foundational literacy skills scope and sequence from System 44.

Overview

Students show significant growth on the Reading Inventory after one semester of System 44.

Located in southern New Jersey, the Atlantic City School District (ACSD) enrolls approximately 6,300 students at 11 schools. The district’s student population is 40% African American, 37% Hispanic, 13% Asian/Pacific Islander, 9% White, and less than 1% American Indian/Alaskan Native. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of all students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.

During the 2009–2010 school year, System 44 was piloted with students in Grades 3–7 at Sovereign Avenue School. The school principal sought to implement a Tier III intervention program that would provide more phonics instruction for students who were lacking a strong foundation in reading. Students were placed in System 44 based on a variety of criteria, including scoring in the lowest 30–40% of the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK), performing poorly on the Reading Inventory®, and exhibiting difficulty with word-reading skills on the Phonics Inventory. System 44 was implemented for 45 to 60 minutes daily as a pull-out program for all students.

Results

Fall 2009 and spring 2010 Reading Inventory Lexile® (L) data were collected from 36 System 44 participants in Grades 3–7. As Graph 1 shows, after one semester of intervention, these students advanced from a pretest score of 112L to a posttest score of 209L, averaging a statistically significant gain of 97L and surpassing annual grade-level growth expectations for middle school. Further analysis showed that students who completed more than 40 topics on the software averaged higher gains than those who completed fewer topics on the Reading Inventory (169L vs. 62L) (Graph 2).

2 1 Atlantic City Graph 1

GRAPH 1. Atlantic City School District System 44 Students, Grades 3–7 (N=36)

Performance on Reading Inventory 2009–2010

Note. The gain in Lexile was statistically significant (t=5.26, p=.00).

2 1 Atlantic City Graph 2

GRAPH 2. Atlantic City School District System 44 Students, Grades 3–7 (N=36)

Change in Reading Inventory Lexile Score as a Function of Software Usage, 2009–2010

Note. The gain in Lexile was significantly higher for students who completed more than 40 topics on the System 44 software (t=9.27, p=.00).