Native American School Uses Reading First Grant to Implement Direct Instruction

This descriptive study examined the implementation of McGraw Hill’s Reading Mastery Plus and Language for Learning (Direct Instruction programs) at Nay Ah Shing School, a tribally operated school serving approximately 216 Native American students in Grades K–12 in Onamia, Minnesota. Funded by a Reading First grant, the school implemented Reading Mastery Plus as its core reading program in Grades K–3 at the start of the 2004–2005 school year and added Language for Learning for pre-school students in the 2005–2006 school year. Reading achievement outcomes were measured by DIBELS and Stanford-10 assessments. Over the course of the implementation, reading achievement scores increased. School-wide, the percentage of students scoring at the Benchmark level on DIBELS rose from 22% in fall 2004 to 69% in spring 2006. DIBELS scores for each grade level rose from the beginning of the year to the end of the year in both the 2004–2005 and 2005–2006 school years. Additionally, on the Stanford-10 assessment, the percentage of students scoring at benchmark changed from 2005 to 2006 across grades: Kindergarten rose from 81% to 92%, Grade 1 rose from 53% to 61%, Grade 2 rose from 11% to 61%, and Grade 3 declined from 67% to 40%.