Validation of a Multi-Phase Scale-Up Design for a Knowledge-Based Intervention in Science and Reading Comprehension

Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton FL

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of the proposed project is to extend the science and reading comprehension intervention known as Science IDEAS to larger scales. The intervention combines science inquiry with reading comprehension and writing activities in two-hour daily time blocks in grades 3 through 8. The proposed project would expand the program to almost 40,000 students and would study the implementation and its effects. To help to insure its effectiveness, the project also provides the necessary infrastructure of leadership training, mentorship, and coaching. The proposal thereby addresses capacity issues in schools as mitigating the success of interventions and perpetuating deficiencies in students' science and reading achievement. A twofold research design is proposed, involving a school-level randomized experiment and a multiple baseline study of intervention efficacy in terms of maintaining previously attained student performance outcomes of the intervention during its scale up. Investigators anticipate advancing the process of educational reform through this research by validating and disseminating a multi-phase design for scale up.