Oregon Reading First Project Uses Reading Mastery Plus As Core Reading Program

This descriptive study examined the implementation of McGraw Hill’s Reading Mastery Plus as the core reading program in the Milton-Freewater Unified School District 7, located in Milton-Freewater, Oregon. The five-year project was funded by a Reading First grant and involved all students in Grades K–2 at Grove Elementary School and Grade 3 students at Freewater Elementary School, within a district serving approximately 2,059 students in Grades K–12. Outcomes examined included Grade 3 reading achievement measured by the Oregon Statewide Assessment. Over the course of the project, reading performance changed, and the achievement gap between Hispanic students and all students was closed. In 2003, before the program was implemented, 60% of Hispanic students and 66% of all students met or exceeded state reading standards. By 2006, after three years of implementation, 95% of both Hispanic students and all students met or exceeded state reading standards.