Research and Evaluation
Research and Evaluation
Implementation and evaluation go hand in hand at In2Books. Research and evaluation guide the development of the In2Books curricula, demonstrate the positive impact the program has on student literacy and continue to shape its evolution. Experts in children's literature and literacy continue to play an active role in the development and improvement of the In2Books experience.
2008 Publications:
ePals has published a white-paper, Reaching the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) with ePals, to demonstrate how ePals provides a Global Community for teachers, educators, students and parents to participate and collaborate within that systematically employs communication and collaboration tools and curricula. ePals is building 21st century citizens through its solutions which integrate innovative pedagogy using the Internet, social networks and collaborative tools. The white-paper has been authored by Ferdi Serim, Nina Zolt, founder of In2Books and the co-founder of ePals and the Chief Learning Officer of both, William H. Teale, Professor of Education at University of Illinois at Chicago, as well as Neag Fellows J. Gregory McVerry and W. Ian O'Byrne from the University of Connecticut.
2007 Publications:
Two respected journals, The Reading Teacher and Phi Delta Kappan, reported recently on the positive effect In2Books has had on student literacy. The articles extensively discussed the In2Books program and reasons why it produces these results. These reports are discussed below and are available in full text by clicking the links above.
The authors of these reviews, William H. Teale and Linda B. Gambrell (with Zolt, Glasswell and Yokota in PDK) base their analyses and findings on both their work with the In2Books curricula in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Illinois, and other locations over a period of years, and the research studies described below.
Research to Date:
In the 2003-2004 school year, the In2Books program was externally evaluated by Dr. Susan Goldman. Children in classrooms participating in the In2Books program scored significantly higher on reading achievement tests than did non-participating students. Read Dr. Goldman's report.
In summary, the research found:
- Students who used In2Books in grades 2-4 scored significantly higher on SAT-9 standardized reading
tests than students in the district who did not.
- Students whose teachers had used In2Books for two or more years scored significantly higher in
reading than non-I2B students.
- Schools that persisted in implementing the program, so that students had the experience at more than
one grade level, got more robust developmental growth patterns in letter writing quality than schools
where students had only a one-year experience in the program.
- Four practices were cited as contributing to higher reading test scores:
- Reading high-quality, age-appropriate, appealing books from a variety of genres that
addressed substantive issues important to students.
- Reading the program books repeatedly and discussing them.
- Engaging in a process approach to writing in order to compose the letters to the pen
pals about the books.
- Participating in ongoing professional development.
- Finally, students who participated in In2Books were more efficient writers, had greater motivation
to write, and wrote more complex sentences.
- These findings echo the previous findings by Westat (discussed below) that In2Books increased
students' critical thinking skills.
- See the full Summary of Findings and Discussion here,
authored by William H. Teale, Professor of Education and Chair of the Department of Curriculum and
Instruction at the University of Illinois at Chicago; Director of the UIC Reading Clinic.
Westat Evaluation
National Research firm Westat (Rockville Maryland) reported in 2001 on its independent evaluation of the In2Books program in 7 District of Columbia elementary schools:
"Previous evaluations indicate that literacy skills and habits are hard and slow to change and difficult to measure. Thus, the results of this evaluation of one year of In2Books programming are especially positive and promising.
- In2Books appears to have made a significant difference in the writing abilities of students....In2Books students also became more efficient writers, improving content while writing a similar number of words.
- Data from the Student Reading Survey and the Writing Sample indicate that In2Books students were more likely to have improved in higher-level thinking skills than comparison students. This finding was also supported by teachers in interviews for the evaluation, who expressed that In2Books had a strong and positive effect on students' higher level thinking skills."
(Westat evaluation report)
For a copy of the full 119 page Westat summative evaluation report, please email research@corp.epals.com.
Critical Review in The Reading Teacher and Phi Delta Kappan
The Reading Teacher, "Raising urban students' literacy learning achievement by engaging in authentic, challenging work," May 2007. Authors: William H. Teale; Linda B. Gambrell.
"The importance of documenting and understanding literacy learning success stories in large urban school districts has become increasingly clear. In settings where the norm is for disproportionate numbers of students to experience difficulty in reading and writing, close examination of the factors that contribute to measurable improvement can provide insight on what can be done to raise literacy achievement on a large scale. Upon finding evidence that In2Books was associated with improvements in reading achievement, we attempted to look beneath the surface of those improvements to gain insight into what actually made a difference.
Many reforms have shown that it is possible to produce short-term boosts in test scores. The purpose of conducting the preceding analysis was to identify factors that may contribute to sustained achievement gains in literacy."
The full article is available here.
Phi Delta Kappan, "Getting Children In2Books: Engagement in authentic reading, writing, and thinking," March 2007. Authors: William H. Teale; Nina Zolt; Junko Yokota; Kathryn Glasswell; and Linda B. Gambrell.
"Getting children excited about -"in2" - reading and writing is the first step in developing high-level literacy. An innovative program based on this premise is producing excellent results with urban elementary students who had struggled with language arts. The authors suggest this program shows that there are better approaches than focusing merely on phonemic awareness, phonics and word recognition."
The full article is available here.
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