Reading Program: Reading Mastery/SRA/McGraw-Hill

Reading Mastery/SRA/McGraw-Hill

Reading Mastery¹ is a direct instruction program designed to provide explicit, 

systematic instruction in English language reading. Reading Mastery is available

in two versions, Reading Mastery Classic levels I and II (for use in grades K–3)

and Reading Mastery Plus, an integrated reading-language program for grades 

K–6. The program begins by teaching phonemic awareness and sound-letter 

correspondence and moves into word and passage reading, vocabulary 

development, comprehension, and building oral reading fluency. Later lessons

continue to emphasize accurate and fluent decoding while teaching students

the skills necessary to read and comprehend and to learn from expository text.

Lessons are designed to be fast-paced and interactive. Students are grouped 

by similar reading level, based on program placement tests. The program includes

placement assessments and a continuous monitoring system. Although not 

designed exclusively for English language learners, Reading Mastery can be 

used with this group of students.

Reading Program Research

One study of Reading Mastery met the WWC evidence standards.² This 

study included both English language learners and English speaking students

in grades K–4 in Oregon. The investigators used the Reading Mastery program 

as a supplement to normal reading instruction for Spanish speaking students

who were markedly behind expected reading achievement. The WWC reports 

only the outcomes pertaining to the English language learner subsample.

Reading Program Effectiveness

Reading Mastery was found to have potentially positive effects on

the reading achievement of English language learners.

¹ This program is sometimes known as Direct Instruction using the Reading Mastery 

texts or SRA Direct Instruction—Reading Mastery.
² The evidence presented in this report is based on available research. Findings and 

conclusions may change as new research becomes available.
³ These numbers show the average and range of improvement indices for all 

findings across the study.
⁴ Due to a very small sample size, these results should be interpreted with caution. 

See the WWCReading Mastery Technical Appendices for further details.

Teachers, Parents
and Administrators:
Please give your input on Reading Mastery

WWC is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Education's

Institute of Education Sciences, the WWC:

Produces user-friendly practice guides for educators that address

instructional challenges with research-based recommendations for

schools and classrooms; Assesses the rigor of research evidence

on the effectiveness of interventions (programs, products, practices,

and policies), giving educators the tools to make informed decisions;

Develops and implements standards for reviewing and synthesizing

education research; and

Provides a public and easily accessible

registry of education evaluation researchers

to assist schools, school districts, and program

developers with designing and carrying out

rigorous evaluations.

All reports are reprinted from the

US Department of Education website

WWC for informational purposes.

Complete Reports Can Be Found

@ http://ies.ed.gov/

 

Reading Program Overview