Institute of Education Sciences: What Works Clearinghouse, Reading Mastery

This What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) report evaluates the effectiveness of Reading Mastery, a Direct Instruction curriculum from McGraw Hill designed for students in grades K-6. The program is available in three versions: Reading Mastery Classic, Reading Mastery Plus, and Reading Mastery Signature Edition. The program focuses on systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, word analysis, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, spelling, and writing. The WWC review included two studies with 361 students in grades 4 and 5 in the midwestern and northwestern United States. The review found that Reading Mastery had potentially positive effects on reading fluency and no discernible effects on comprehension for adolescent learners. The extent of evidence for Reading Mastery was considered small for both the reading fluency and comprehension domains.