Florida School Moves from D Grade to A with Reading Mastery

Alta Vista Elementary School in Florida implemented McGraw Hill's Reading Mastery, a core reading program. The program was implemented across kindergarten through grade 5 in a public Title I elementary school serving approximately 723 students in Sarasota, Florida. The school includes grades PreK–5. The student population includes 34% Hispanic, 32% Caucasian, 26% African American, 7% Native American, and 1% other backgrounds. Seventy-six percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, 32% are classified as Limited English Proficient (LEP), and 34% participate in Exceptional Student Education (ESE). 

The report describes outcomes observed after the adoption of Reading Mastery as the school’s core reading program in grades K–5. Student performance was tracked using the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT), a statewide assessment used to measure academic achievement. Reported outcomes include reading proficiency levels for students in grades 3–5 and learning gains among students in the lowest performance quartiles in reading and mathematics.  Reported results indicate that the percentage of students in grades 3–5 scoring proficient in reading increased from 51% before the program was fully implemented to 69% by 2006. The school’s state accountability grade improved from a D in 1999 to an A beginning in 2004, and it met all No Child Left Behind guidelines for the first time in 2006. In addition, 77% of students in the bottom quartile demonstrated learning gains in reading on the FCAT in 2005 and 2006, the highest gain among elementary schools in the district in 2006. In mathematics, 93% of students in the lowest quartile showed learning gains on the FCAT in 2006, also the highest in the district.