7/30/2024

RAND Study: Lexia Core5 Reading Supports Student Learning

PURPOSE: Educators always look for effective ways to help students advance their reading skills. RAND Corporation conducted a large-scale study to evaluate the effects of  Lexia® Core5® Reading during the post-pandemic 2021–2022 school year. Researchers compared the reading gains of students who used Core5 with those of a matched group of students who did not use Core5.

METHOD: This is a quasi-experimental, matched comparison group study. Students in a school district that used Core5 were compared to similar students across the United States who did not use Core5. To gauge students’ reading abilities, schools in the district administered NWEA’s MAP Growth Reading assessment. NWEA maintains a nationwide database of MAP results, and the researchers used an NWEA service to create a matched comparison group from the database.

KEY FINDINGS

• Core5 students outperformed their counterparts in the comparison group with an effect size of 0.11.
• Advantages for Core5 students were found across all race/ethnicity subgroups.
• Core5 students who had high usage showed a larger effect than Core5 students who did not.
• Core5 students made gains relative to national norms.