CONTINUED ACADEMIC SUCCESS

Using a cross-sectional design, the evaluation has followed earlier cohorts of CFSRP children at the end of each academic year (kindergarten through 3rd grade) to assess the extent to which they experience continued academic success. Due to COVID-19 interruptions, the evaluations in the past two years did not include these follow up analyses. The current evaluation resumes this process.

In prior years, the assessments included the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) for students at the end of their kindergarten, first and second grade years and the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) at the end of their third grade year. As an alternative, the current evaluation uses the MAP® Reading Growth™ Assessment to measure student achievement at the end of each year and to measure student growth over time32. For kindergarten, first and second grade students, the MAP® assessments have replaced the ITBS. For third grade students, the MAP® Reading Growth™ assessment presents an alternative to STAAR for several reasons, primarily because it provides consistent measures from one grade level to the next as well as standardized measures and measures of academic growth.33

To be consistent with earlier evaluations, and because of the highstakes nature of STAAR, the evaluation also included analyses of the Spring 2022 STAAR data for third grade students. However, there is limited evidence that suggests that the quality of prekindergarten programs can be assessed through third grade criterion referenced assessments;34 therefore, these results are provided in Appendix J rather than discussed in the report.

As with the analyses of the prekindergarten and kindergarten readiness assessments, analyses of the MAP® Reading Growth™ assessments compare results of the CFSRP students at each grade level with a demographically similar group of students who did not attend one of the CFSRP centers. The kindergarten, first, second, and third grade groups are different cross-sectional samples. They are not longitudinal samples that follow the same students from year to year. For each group, the results identify:

• the percentage of students at or above average grade level achievement at the end of the 2021-2022 school year, based on the national normed sample (see Figure 20),

• the percentage of students who met their growth targets at the end of the 2021-2022 school year (see Figure 21), and

• the percentage of students with average or above average growth by the end of the 2021-2022 school year, compared to the national sample (see Figure 22).

32 CFSRP also reviewed results of the MAP® Fluency™ and MAP Math Growth™ Assessments for internal use.

33 Differences include the following: (1) STAAR is a criterion referenced assessment measuring whether a student meets a designated grade level standard at a given time. (2) As a standardized assessment, MAP® Reading Growth™ provides measures of end-of-year student achievement relative to other similar students from a norm-referenced nationwide sample. (3) MAP® Reading Growth also includes measures at the end of the year that indicate the extent to which students meet projected growth targets. The targets set for each student are based on their baseline beginning of year scores and the observed growth for similar students in the norm-referenced sample. (4) MAP® Reading Growth™ assesses the amount of students’ growth from beginning to end of year, relative to the amount of growth observed in the norm-referenced sample.

34 Heckman, J. (2015). “Pre-K researchers can’t get past the third grade.” The Hechinger Report. October 15, 2015. https://hechingerreport.org/pre-k-researcherscant-get-past-the-third-grade/

End of Year Reading Achievement

As shown in Figure 20, results of the end-of-year achievement level analyses for kindergarten, first, and second grade are mixed, with higher ratings for the CFSRP students in some areas and higher ratings for the comparison group students in other areas (highlighted in yellow).

However, at third grade, CFSRP students outperform comparison group students on all measures. The differences are statistically significant for measures of Vocabulary and Analyzing Text, as well as Overall Reading Achievement (highlighted in green). The evaluation will continue to examine the MAP® Reading Growth™ results to identify potential trends in these group differences over time.

For all comparison charts, Yellow = stat. significant, p<.05 ; Green = 5 point or higher difference

Reading Growth

When considering the extent to which students met their projected growth targets at the end of the 2021–2022 school year, and the amount of growth from the beginning to the end of the year, the results are also mixed. In kindergarten and first grade, higher percentages of students in the comparison group met their growth targets, while in second and third grade, higher percentages of CFSRP students met their growth targets (Figure 21). Similarly, a higher percentage of first grade students in the comparison group showed average or above average reading skill growth than the CFSRP group, and a higher percentage of third grade students in the CFSRP group showed average or above average reading skill growth than the comparison group (Figure 22).35

CFRSP: AT OR ABOVE AVERAGE

CFRSP: AT OR ABOVE

COMP: AT OR ABOVE AVERAGE READING GROWTH

COMP: AT OR ABOVE

35 Comparisons are relative to the MAP® Reading Growth’s norm-referenced sample.