Classroom-Proven Research Results!

In a 2012 scientifically based research study in Fairfax County (VA) Public Schools, independent researchers report:

• "[Benchmark Education] students improved their reading fluency and comprehension at a noticeably greater rate than the control students."
• "While all results are impressive, the analyses comparing students based on their free and reduced lunch eligibility…showed score changes that were very impressive."

90% of Grade 3 students using Benchmark Literacy scored Proficient or Advanced on the VA State (SOL) Reading Test, a jump of 7 percentage points from 2011.

Even more impressive, both the Title I and ELL cohorts achieved an 18-point jump from 70% to 88% Proficient or Advanced—nearly as high a level as their Grade 3 classmates.

Title I students using Benchmark Literacy gained an average of 9.8 DRA levels vs. only 4.3 DRA levels by control school Title I students, a 131% greater improvement in reading level.

The researchers commented: "Impressively, the size of the gains [10 DRA levels] was similar for both the typically disadvantaged (e.g., poor and minorities) as the advantaged students."

 Click Here(3 MB) for more info in the research study's Executive Summary

• Anchor Comprehension Workshop posters
• Content Connections and Shared Reading Classics Big Books
• My First Reader's Theater and Nursery Rhymes & Songs Lap Books and Big Books
• Reader's Theater nonfiction and fiction multi-leveled scripts
• Genre and Fluency posters
• Benchmark Literacy precisely leveled books (with Text-Dependent Comprehension Question Cards for each title) including:
• Early Explorers leveled books
• Early Connections leveled books
• Genre Workshop leveled books
• Navigators leveled books
• Bridges leveled books
• PRIME Science and Social Studies leveled books
• Benchmark Universe Talking e-Book, Interactive Whiteboard, and Comprehension Strategy Assessment online resources
• Professional Development (Customized) - Initial product training followed by monthly on-site coaching in whole-group and small-group differentiated instruction and close reading.

Scientifically Based Research

The U.S. Department of Education states that all schools should be using instructional programs that have been proven effective in the classroom by scientific research.

To that end, Benchmark Education participated in a rigorous scientifically based research study during the 2011-12 school year designed to determine the effects of introducing its Benchmark Literacy program with On-Site Professional Development in Grades K-6 classrooms.

The study was conducted in the Fairfax County (VA) Public Schools by Main Street Academix, an independent, university-based research company. Main Street Academix designed the study, helped match the experimental and control schools, oversaw administration of pretests and posttests, made Fidelity of Implementation visits/interviews, and compiled the results.

Results showed substantial gains in the % of students "At/Above Proficient" on the VA State Reading Test, as well as dramatically increased DRA reading-level growth for students using Benchmark Education materials compared to control students using other literacy programs.

BEC has published a National Literacy Research Summary which details additional recent scientific research results, including evaluations by product line. You will also find extensive and specific research citations in the Bibliography and throughout the Summary. See pdf links below. See pdf links below.

 I. Introduction (214 KB)

 II. Benchmark Education Literacy Research Study—Fairfax (VA) PS (717 KB)

 III. Benchmark Education Literacy Research Study - East Hartford (CT) PS (683 KB)

 IV. Benchmark Education Literacy Research Study - Tyler (TX) ISD (605 KB)

 V. K-6 BookRoom Collections and Bridges/Navigators Text Pairs with Comprehension Strategy Posters (143 KB)

 VI. Reader's Theater (493 MB)

 VII. Phonics Skill Bags/Phonetic Connections (1.4 MB)

 VIII. Word Study & Vocabulary Skill Bags (369 KB)

 IX. Content Connections Big Books: Science, Social Studies, Math (244 KB)

 X. Shared Reading Classics (141 KB)

 XI. Readers' & Writers' Genre Workshop (201 KB)

 XII. PRIME Science and Social Studies (194 KB)

 XIII. Early Explorers (221 KB)

 XIV. English Explorers and Math Explorers (362 KB)

 XV. VCL - Vocabulary (349 KB)

 XVI. RIGOR (325 KB)

 XVII. Fluency Kits (74 KB)

 XVIII. Reading Explorers (525 KB)

 XIX. Comprehension Skill Bags (77 KB)

 XX. Bibliography (174 KB)