8/6/2024

An Independent Study of Lexia Core5 Reading Funded by the Education Endowment Foundation

PURPOSE: The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is a charity organization in the U.K. dedicated to breaking the link between family income and education achievement. EEF funds evaluations of programs aimed at raising the achievement of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In this study, EEF sponsored a research project to evaluate the efficacy of Lexia® Core5® Reading to improve the reading ability of struggling readers in Year 2 (grade 1 in the U.S.).

METHOD: Core5 was evaluated in a randomized control trial. The study involved 57 schools and 697 students. Half of the struggling readers in each school were randomly assigned to use Core5, while the others received regular instruction. Participants were in the lower half of Year 1 reading ability in their schools. Composite scores on Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests—Third Edition (WRMT-III) served as the outcome measure. The study also employed survey data to assess how Core5 was implemented in the schools.

KEY FINDINGS

• Core5 students scored 3.63 points higher than control students on the WRMT-III. This difference has an effect size of 0.08, which relates to one month of additional learning.
• For students who received free school meals, Core5 students scored 9.47 points higher than control students on the WRMT-III. This difference has an effect size of 0.18, which relates to two months of additional learning.
• In compliance with recommendations, 93% of students completed at least 720 minutes of Core5 usage.
• Nearly two-thirds of schools reported they accessed myLexia reports on a weekly basis in compliance with recommendations.
• More than 90% of educators said they received sufficient training to deliver Core5, and nearly two-thirds reported they would recommend Core5 to other schools.