Cornerstone Literacy’s external evaluations document the success of our efforts to improve student literacy achievement. The evidence is clear in both the series of evaluation findings produced by the New York University Institute for Education and Social Policy (IESP) and also in the more recent findings produced by Policy Studies Associates (PSA).

IESP documented and assessed Cornerstone Literacy’s work with school systems from 1999 to 2006. The major student-outcomes finding of the IESP analyses was the overall student literacy growth among students in Cornerstone Literacy schools when growth was measured over at least two years, rather than a single year. For schools in at least their second year of implementation, all experienced gains in reading and English language arts when measured over two years.

In 2007-08, Policy Studies Associates (PSA) analyzed data on achievement outcomes on Cornerstone Literacy implementation in Muscogee County (GA) School District, Springfield (MA) Public Schools and Stamford (CT) Public Schools. The analysis produced two important findings:

Students attending Cornerstone Literacy schools achieved higher reading scores than did similar students in other schools in the same district:

• Attendance at a Cornerstone Literacy school was associated with a score on the 2008 end-of-year assessment that was 2.0 to 2.5 scale-score points higher than was achieved by students in nonparticipating schools, after controlling for prior achievement, demographic characteristics, and eligibility for at-risk services of students in the two groups of schools in Muscogee and Stamford.
   
• Students in Springfield and Stamford in Cornerstone Literacy schools also posted higher performance on the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) than did students in nonparticipating schools in the same districts.

Students in Cornerstone Literacy schools with higher levels of implementation had higher reading achievement than did students in other Cornerstone Literacy schools:

• Students in the Stamford and Springfield Cornerstone Literacy schools with the highest implementation ratings were more likely to achieve their grade-level benchmarks on the DRA than were students in lower-rated Cornerstone Literacy schools in the same district.
   
• In Stamford and Muscogee, students in Cornerstone Literacy schools with higher ratings on principal leadership in the implementation of Cornerstone Literacy were more likely to meet their benchmarks than were students in schools with lower ratings on this component.
   
• In Springfield and Muscogee, higher ratings on the implementation component “using the school environment to promote literacy” were associated with higher scale-scores on the state assessment.

To view the complete 2007-08 PSA evaluation of Cornerstone Literacy, click here.