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System 44: Modesto City Schools

At a glance

  • Demonstrates a Rationale
  • Programs: System 44®, Read 180®
  • Subjects: Literacy Curriculum, Intervention Curriculum
  • Report Type: Efficacy Study
  • Grade Level: Elementary, Middle, High
  • Region: West
  • District Urbanicity: Urban, Suburban
  • District Size: Large
  • Implementation Model: 80+ Minutes
  • District: Modesto City Schools, CA
  • Participants: N=74
  • 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 with disabilities demonstrate higher performance on the Reading Inventory.

Located in California’s central valley, Modesto City Schools (MCS) serves approximately 30,600 students in Grades K–12. Approximately 36% of the student population is Hispanic, 29% White, 7% Asian/Pacific Islander, 5% African American, 1% American Indian, and 2% include other ethnic origins. One-quarter (26%) of students are English learners (EL), and 13% are students with disabilities.

During the 2009–2010 school year, MCS implemented System 44 with students with disabilities in elementary, middle, and high school Special Day Classes (SDC). These students performed at the Below Basic or Far Below Basic performance level on the California Standards Test of English Language Arts (CST ELA) or scored at performance level 1, 2, or 3 on the California English Language Development Test (CELDT). They evidenced low reading comprehension scores on the Reading Inventory® and difficulty with word-reading skills on the Phonics Inventory®.

Teachers integrated System 44 into a 90-minute reading block. In the majority of classrooms, System 44 was incorporated into the existing READ 180® program. A stand-alone version was implemented in the district’s Language Academy. In all classrooms, students were expected to use the software for at least 20 minutes each day.

Results

Fall 2009 and spring 2010 Reading Inventory Lexile® (L) data were collected from 74 MCS System 44 students in Grades 4–11. Reading Inventory results indicated that on average, System 44 students improved from a pretest score of 143L to a posttest score of 261L, a statistically significant gain of 118L. As Graph 1 shows, over the course of the school year, elementary, middle, and high school System 44 students achieved average gains of 32L, 97L, and 219L, respectively.

2 1 Modesto Graph 1

GRAPH 1. Modesto City Schools System 44 Students, Grades 4–11 (N=74)

Performance on Reading Inventory by Grade Level, 2009–2010

Note. The gains in Lexile were statistically significant for all students (t=4.73, p=.00), middle school students (t=2.78, p=.01), and high school students (t=4.21, p=.00). Gains in Lexile are rounded to the nearest integer.