Intervention: Start Making a Reader Today® (SMART®)
Reading Program Overview
Start Making a Reader Today® (SMART®) is a volunteer tutoring program
widely implemented in Oregon for students in grades K–2 who are at risk of
reading failure. The program is designed to be a low-cost, easy-to-implement
intervention. Volunteer tutors go into schools where at least 40% of students
are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch and read one-on-one with students
twice a week for half an hour. Typically, one volunteer works with two children
on four types of activities: reading to the child, reading with the child, re-reading
with the child, and asking the child questions about what has been read. The
program also gives each student two new books a month to encourage families
to read together.
Research
One study of SMART® met the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC)
evidence standards. The one study included more than 125 students in first
grade in six schools across four school districts in Oregon. 1 The WWC
considers the extent of evidence for SMART® to be small for alphabetics,
fluency, and comprehension. No studies that met WWC evidence standards
with or without reservations addressed general reading achievement.
Effectiveness
Start Making a Reader Today® was found to have potentially positive
effects on alphabetics, fluency, and comprehension.
1 The evidence presented in this report is based on available research.
2 These numbers show the average and range of improvement indices for
all findings in the study. The range is provided only if more than one outcome
was measured within a domain.
Teachers, Parents and Administrators:
Please Give your Input on Start Making a Reader Today® (SMART®)
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
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
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