Improving Vulnerable Populations’ Emergent Reading Outcomes by Training Preservice Teachers in an Evidence-Based Program

ABSTRACT

This article details a large-scale tutor-to-teacher pipeline created in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The program addressed two vital needs: 1) improving outcomes for striving readers in high-needs communities, and 2) improving teacher training in both evidence- and research-based instruction. Across school year (SY) 2020–2021 and 2021–2022, 608 preservice teachers delivered an evidence-based (Reading Rescue) or research-based (Reading Ready) early literacy intervention. Through a coordinated effort between the City University of New York (CUNY) and the NYC Department of Education (NYC DOE), 857 NYC DOE students received one-on-one, interactive, remote tutoring three to five days a week, for an average of 21 sessions. Results demonstrated that students who received the emergent word reading program, Reading Ready, improved in their phoneme segmentation and nonword reading skills by 31–47%, and students who received the follow-up evidence-based program, Reading Rescue, consistently improved by one intervention reading level per 10 sessions, and showed age equivalent reading gains of one-half to almost a full year of growth as measured by a standardized, nationally normed assessment. Discussion focuses on the value of this high-quality training and tutoring experience for preservice teachers and on the critical support provided to striving readers in underserved communities in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19 pandemic learning loss
• early literacy interventions
• high-dosage tutoring
• preservice teacher training
• Reading Rescue
• remote tutoring

Disclosure statement

Katharine Pace Miles is the author of Reading Ready and the academic advisor for Reading Rescue. Both programs are used by CUNY for free.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Tiger Foundation, Heckscher Foundation for Young Children, Altman Foundation, The Benedict Silverman Foundation, Fund for Public School, Hollyhock Foundation, and Robin Hood Foundation.