System 44: Richland School District

Richland School District is a small public school district serving approximately 10,700 students in Washington State. In 2009, the district’s student body was largely White (82%), while most of the remaining students were Hispanic (9%), Asian/Pacific Islander (5%), African American (3%), and American Indian (1%). Nearly a third of students (30%) qualified for free or reduced-price lunch, 12% were students with disabilities, and 2% were classified as Transitional Bilingual.

In the fall of 2009, 20 students in Grades 9–12 were identified for placement into System 44. Students were selected for inclusion in the program based on a combination of factors including low performance on the Northwest Evaluation Association Measures of Academic Progress (MAP^®) assessment, Reading Inventory^®, and Phonics Inventory^®. System 44 was implemented in two high schools. In one high school, it was integrated into an existing READ 180^® program for 100 to 110 minutes each day. In the other high school, System 44 was used in two Life Skills classrooms serving students with physical and cognitive impairments. In the Life Skills classrooms, a 50- to 55-minute stand-alone version was used. In all classrooms, students were expected to use the System 44 software for 20 minutes each day. For the purposes of this study, both models were analyzed together.