Nashville, TN Test Results
Project Starfish was established as a summer program in the Metropolitan Nashville School District. The plan focused on the following questions:
- What is it that you know works best to improve academically at-risk children's learning?
- What will it take to accomplish the goal of dramatically improving these children's academic achievement?
- Who are the best people to work on achieving our goals?
An educational plan was developed which included five hours of instruction each day focusing primarily on improving reading and writing skills with a secondary focus on improving math skills. The program was designed to be eight weeks long.
Of the 489 children indicating prior interest in attending this program, 354 actually attended. An additional 48 enrolled as the project began. Final enrollment was 402. The significant difference from those indicating prior interest and those actually attending may be attributed to one or more of the following: the voluntary nature of the program, the high mobility of this population, and/or lack of parental follow through.
Ready Reading was used for the primary instruction in reading. A sample of students were tested several weeks after school began in the fall. Testers were "blind" to which children attended Project Starfish. Using the Woodcock Johnson Reading Comprehension test, with Normal Curve Equivalents, results were compared to the Terra Nova test administered the previous spring. Comparison scores for students not participating but eligible to Project Starfish showed a 3.2% change in the fall. Comparison scores for Starfish students are shown on the chart .