Fort Hall Elementary Writes its Story with Reading Mastery Signature Edition

The case study highlights Reading Mastery Signature Edition, a Direct Instruction literacy and language arts program designed to provide explicit, systematic reading instruction. The program was implemented across kindergarten through grade 5 classrooms at Fort Hall Elementary School.  Fort Hall Elementary is a public K–5 school located on the Fort Hall Reservation in Pocatello, Idaho, within Blackfoot School District 55. Approximately 99.9 percent of the student population is identified as Native American. Prior to the program’s introduction, the school had historically ranked among the lowest-performing elementary schools in Idaho on state assessments.  The initiative involved implementation of Reading Mastery Signature Edition across all K–5 classrooms in a single elementary school. Most teachers were newly recruited and participated in two professional development sessions before the program was introduced. School staff monitored student progress using AIMSweb, a universal screening and progress monitoring system used to support Response to Intervention (RTI) and tiered instruction. Additional outcomes include performance on the Idaho Reading Indicator (IRI) and other state reading assessments. Observations of student decoding accuracy and reading participation were also discussed by staff. Results indicate substantial changes in reading performance indicators. AIMSweb data showed an inversion of prior performance trends, with measurable improvement in decoding and reading accuracy as students began sounding out words rather than guessing. Staff also reported increased student engagement in reading activities.  Benchmark data show that in fall 2012, kindergarten through grade 3 had an average of 10 students scoring in the lowest performance category (“red”). By fall 2015, that number had decreased by approximately two-thirds. By January 2016, the school reported notable improvements on the Idaho Reading Indicator and other state reading assessments. Some students who had previously been one to three years behind in reading demonstrated gains equivalent to one to two years of progress after implementation. In several classrooms, reading outcomes began to exceed those of other schools in the surrounding community.